Pronunciation Diary 1

Hey guys!

Our task this week was to look at various websites in order to improve our pronunciation skills. I really liked this task because I am very interested in how people from different countries pronounce words differently. I know that it is really important for me to work on my pronunciation skills because my English accent is not as good as it should be because often it sounds too German to me. For this reason I started to listen more carefully to my tandem partner (who is from Australia) and to pay attention how she pronounces certain words. I always try to repeat the words I would have pronounced differently (=wrong  in 95% of all cases).

The pronunciation websites were really helpful. I started with Rachel’s English page for American English. She divided her videos into the categories “sounds” and “pronunciation”. I watched some videos of the “sound” category and was pretty amazed. Did you know that there are three different “uh” sounds in English? I never thought of this before but Rachel explains the sounds very well and gives examples as well as “instructions” on how to pronounce them correctly. She took pictures of every word she pronounced so that it is easier for language learners to copy them. I also looked at some of her “words of the week” videos where she takes a close look on one single word. The best videos on her website are those where she does not only focus on pronunciation but also on culture. One of her videos is about Rachel’s Halloween party where you can see some of her guests talking to each other and can listen to native conversation.

Than I watched some videos by “VideoJug” on YouTube where Gareth Jameson explains how to do different accents such as Irish, Cockney, Australian, American or British. The best video was the one called “How to lose your native accent”. As I wrote above  I am very interested in losing my German accent while speaking English. Gareth recommends listening to native speakers and trying to emulate them. He states that losing your native accent is hard work because you have to work on every single sound. He also explains that rhythm is very important.  In American English there is no difference in pronunciation between the “t” and “d” sound. Although Gareth’s Australian accent is really cute my tandem partner’s one is “better” (sounds more natural).

To sum up, my aim this semester is to work on my pronunciation skills and to try to get rid of my accent.

Comment on summary

Countries within the Eurozone have to face the hazards of rising deflation and a potential risk of a serious Euro crisis. As the Euro becomes increasingly valuable, countries such as Italy and Spain, which are already struggling to handle their debts, are getting more and more in arrears. These countries are not capable of paying back the runaway-debt, which continually becomes higher. They encumber themselves with even more credits, simultaneously cutting wages or other earnings of the citizens. In this problematic cycle of debt, the only possible solution seems to be the devaluation of the Euro, hence inflation. By shortening down the runaway-debt, these countries could pay back a great sum of money and thus accelerate the process of developing their economic growth. However, Germany refuses to rise the percentage of inflation as the country derives a great benefit from the deflation. Germany's politicians forget to consider the risk of being affected by the potential Euro crisis too. Once the Euro crisis befalls even the more prosperous countries such as Germany and French, severe damages could occur. Not only are the indebted countries endangered, but every European state will sooner or later feel the full impact of the Euro crisis.

200 words

I like your summary although I think that you should have written an introduction sentence where you mention the author, the source and what the article is about. Your summary starts rather abrupt. I also think that you should have divided your summary into paragraphs (at least: one for the introduction sentence, one for what the article was about and one concluding paragraph). However, I have the feeling that you understood the topic very well and wrote a nice summary (from my point of view). You used some really sophisticated words and topic related terms such as “arrears” or “prosperous” (one of the Porter words for PC1 J). All in all, I liked your summary and would advise you add an introduction and divide it into paragraphs.

Porter book game

Hey guys!

Last Thursday we had so much fun in class because of an awesome but simple game :). The instructiosn: Everyone had to cut a piece of paper into eight pieces and write a number on it (from one to eight). Then we looked for an unfamiliar word in the porter book, wrote a sentence with this word on the first page and passed it to our neighbor. He/She had to draw our sentence and pass it on. The next one drew what his/her neighbor had written and so on... It was (of course) not allowed to cheat and have a look what the other person had written/drawn. 
After eight rounds we looked through the texts and read them out.

I proudly present the "bleak house story". Have fun!

What I learned

Dear Mr. Bower,

My name is Katrin Wiesinger and I am from Spannberg in Lower Austria. My mother tongue is German, I study English and Austrian Sign Language and my Matrikel number is 1210373. As you can see from my Matrikel number, I started university in 2012. My teachers last year were Melissa Kercher in SUK1 and Fiona Begley in SUK2. My grades in SUK1 and 2 were not outstanding but I will do my best to improve them this year. In SUK1 I had a D and in SUK2 I was really happy to achieve a C.

As my grades were not the best, I knew that I had to work really hard for the FDE oral exam. I studied hard and finally got a one in all three languages, which was amazing for me. The FDE oral exam grades was my highest point in the first year. Unfortunately, I also had some low points. The low points were all the progress checks last year. Before the exams, I studied at home and did my best to prepare myself but I often failed or got a D. After the exam I was often frustrated and did not want to continue but then I motivated myself again and started studying for the next one. Frustration and disappointment but also hope and ambition marked my first year in English.

Although I was often frustrated, I think it would have been worse if I had not been to New Zealand in 2012. After I had finished school in June, I did an internship for six weeks at a school in Nelson. Living in an English-speaking country and working at a school helped me improve my English and become more self-confident in terms of talking to native speakers.

During my internship the teachers showed me some great resources to practice and improve my English. I am still using these sources. They recommended that I should listen to the BBC podcasts “Six Minutes English” and “The English We Speak”. A teacher even lend me one of her favourite books “Twenties Girl” by Sophie Kinsella. I loved it so much that I immediately bought another book written  by her in a New Zealand book store. I am still ordering her books and enjoy reading them.

In New Zealand I also started watching series and shows in English. My host mother was (and I presume still is) a huge fan of “The Big Bang Theory”. I had not heard of this series before but loved it from the beginning. During the summer, I watched four or five seasons – in English - because I hate the dubbed version. I also spent my summer reading various English books I bought online. Some of them were really interesting and the two books I liked most were “Me before you” by Jojo Moyes and “Tricks of the mind” by Derren Brown. (No paragraph!!) The second one, in particular, was great practice for  my English because it contained many, to me, unknown words. I learned and read about homeopathy, different placebo effects, faith healing and mind reading. While reading Browns book, I found out that he also produces TV shows and went on watching them on YouTube.

YouTube is a great source for watching online tutorials on English grammar but my favourite EFL website  is www.quickanddirtytips.com. I have bookmarked this website because Mignon Fogarty, the author of it, explains grammar, punctuation and vocabulary in a fun way. I use her website to inform myself and to study for exams because many of her tips are listed in the major No-No’s. To avoid these major No-No’s I bought an interesting book I really like and can definitely recommend. “Forbetter your English” by Eric T. Hansen. The author mentions all the typical mistakes German English learners tend to make. He also points out how important a monolingual dictionary is for language learners. My personal favourite is dictionary.cambridge.org.

I found out that he also produces TV shows and went on watching them on YouTube.

YouTube is a great source for watching online tutorials on English grammar but my favourite EFL website  is www.quickanddirtytips.com. I have bookmarked this website because Mignon Fogarty, the creator of it, explains grammar, punctuation and vocabulary in a fun way. I use her website to inform myself and to study for exams because many of her tips are listed in the major No-No’s. To avoid these major No-No’s I bought an interesting book I really like and can definitely recommend. “Forbetter your English” by Eric T. Hansen. The author mentions all the typical mistakes German English learners tend to make. He also points out how important a monolingual dictionary is for language learners. My personal favourite is dictionary.cambridge.org.

With the online dictionary, Eric T Hansens book, quickanddirtytips.com, the BBC podcasts and everything I learned in year 1, I think I am ready for a new and hopefully successful semester.

Yours sincerely,

Katrin Wiesinger

Comment:

When I wrote this homework I did my best to avoid common mistakes and major No-No’s. When I handed the letter in I thought that it was okay (not perfect – but okay and without tremendous mistakes). After I looked through the corrected version and the suggestions, I know now that my text wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. I had three major No-No’s in my text – they were all in one (!!!) paragraph (I am really embarrassed to admit this to you but it is true). And, what’s even worse: I was not aware that they were in there (If I had known it, I would have correct the mistakes). So, the most important thing I learned from this homework is, that I should proof-read my homework more seriously, that I should scan my next texts for major No-No’s (because they are not acceptable) and that I should look up everything (words, phrases) I am not a 100 per cent sure about.