Sound more natural and confident when you speak English by learning about rhythm, stress patterns, linking sounds and intonation. Understand your pronunciation as it relates to sounds that may not exist in your first language to improve the clarity of your English and increase others’ understanding of your speech.
Class activities include group practice, discussions on a variety of topics, and games and pronunciation exercises. If you have questions about pronunciation and want to build confidence in your speaking and listening, this practical and focused course is ideal.
By the end of the course, you’ll be able to:
- identify and improve challenging vowel and consonant sounds that may differ from those in your first language
- correctly pronounce the different vowels of North American English
- understand the relationship between word stress and vowel length
- count syllables and understand the importance of correct word stress
- identify and emphasize the focus words and de-emphasize function words in sentences
- better understand conversational English
Throughout the course, you receive continual and immediate feedback in class to help correct common mispronunciations. With the help of recordings, you’re encouraged to self-assess and reflect on your progress.
Please note that participants in this course should already have at least an intermediate to advanced level of English.
Sample Course Outline (Course content might differ slightly from instructor to instructor)
Depending on the level of the class, prior experience and student goals, instructors may adjust the course schedule.
Week 1: Syllables, Phonetics and Vowels
Week 2: Word Stress Patterns, Vowel Clarity, Vowel Length
Week 3: Sentence Rhythm and Focus Words
Week 4: Sentence Rhythm and Stress, Consonants Overview
Week 5: Consonants and Voicing
Week 6: Linking Consonants
Week 7: Linking and Connecting Speech, Intonation
Week 8: Final Analysis and Practice, Reflection, Self-Study
This course can be applied to the UBC Award of Achievement in Business English for International Professionals or it can be taken as a stand-alone course.
Course Format
This course is 100% online.
About Online Learning
Our online English communication courses offer you a real-time virtual classroom experience where you can see and interact with your teacher and classmates. Each week, you log in at a set time to your class using our intuitive learning management platform, Canvas. Through Canvas, you access Zoom, a web conferencing app, for your live class. Just like in a classroom, you do individual, pair and group work, ask questions and receive verbal feedback from your instructor.
Outside of class time, you can access handouts and other materials online at your own pace and rhythm. You might be doing readings or watching videos to prepare for your next class, or practising with the material you have learned in your previous class. You do get out what you put in.
In order for a virtual classroom to be successful, we want to see your faces! Please be prepared to participate with your video turned on. We provide virtual drop-in sessions for you to test out the Zoom app before your first day of class. We will also send you instructions on accessing Canvas before your course begins.