Sound Practice

A. Listen to the following sentences. Lay stresses and tone marks. Transcribe them. Find the most frequent allophones of the schwa phoneme: 1) /^/ like in a book /^ /, 2) /^/ like in a teacher /^{ |}^/, 3) /^./ like in buttered /^|^./, 4) the shortest allophone of // like in compose /()^|/.

1. As long as you agree to^.gether no enemy can overcome you if you quarrel, you will fall an easy prey.”

2. He ^| made them ^.bring a ↑bundle of →sticks  and ^|started by ^|giving them the ^|bundle as it _/was | and ^|telling them to ^|break the _\sticks

3. ^-A ^\farmer  whose ^|sons were always at _/logger^.heads  ^|tried to per^\suade them  to ^|mend their ^\ways but ^|found that no _\words  made ↑any im_\pressin on them.

B. Analyse the sentences you have just heard (Task A). Find out: a) how many consonant phonemes are represented in them; b) how many vowel phonemes are not represented in the sentences.

C. Look through the sentences (Task A) and state which vowels and consonants never occur in the initial position.

Intonation Practice

A. Listen to the fable sentence by sentence. Write it down. Divide each sentence into intonation groups. Analyse prosodic means of intensifying the semantic weight (value) of a word(s) or an intonation group. Pay special attention to the following: a) pitch differences (special rise); b) sliding, scandent, ascending scales; c) two or more kinetic tones in an intonation group; d) a pause preceding the intensified word; e) tonetic interval and range; f) increased/decreased loudness; g) accelerate/decelerated tempo; h) voice quality, etc. Choose the examples (not less than 15) from different recorded language sources (The New English Course, Sound Right, etc.). Give written explanation of each example.

B. Ask tag-questions (disjunctive questions) to each sentence of the fable. make them sound certain / uncertain. Record them. Comment on the use of tones in them. Do it in writing.

C. Retell the fable imitating the speaker’s intonation.

Comprehension Practice

A. Listen to the fable. State whether the sentences you hear after the text are true or false. Correct the false sentences. Do it in writing.

1. A farmer whose sons were always at logger^.heads tried to persuade them to mend their ways (T)

2. His sons always obeyed their father. (F)

3. Once the farmer decided to give his sons a lesson. (T)

4. The sons brought a bundle of sticks (F)

5. They asked their father to break the bundle of sticks. (F)

6. The sons easily broke the sticks one by one. (T)

7. As long as you agree together every enemy can overcome you. (F)

8. Di_\vided men are vulnerable; it is union that makes them strong (T)

B. Listen to the fable again. Write down your questions revealing the plot of the fable.

C. Listen to the text, divide it into communicative blocks, entitle them.

D. Listen to the fable, find the logical centre of each communicative block and of the whole text. Write them down.

E. Listen to the jumbled sentences and put them in the right order to complete the fable.

1. Try as they would they could not.

2. As long as you agree to^.gether  no enemy can overcome you if you quarrel, you will fall an easy prey.”

c) So he decided to give them an object lesson |

d) He made them ^.bring a bundle of sticks and started by giving them the ^|bundle as it was and telling them to break the sticks

e) “It will be the same with you my children,” he said.

f) Divided, men are vulnerable; it is union that makes them strong

g) A farmer whose sons were always at logger^.heads tried to persuade them to mend their ways but found that no words made any impressin on them.

h) Then he untied the bundle and handed them the sticks one at a time, so that they could break them easily.