MEMO: no use of study guide during mid-term

REMINDER:

Of course, you are NOT allowed to bring and use your study guide for the mid-term exam!!!

As your email, as well as the study guide itself, state - the study guide is meant for PREPARING the test, not for bringing all the solutions, so leave it at home. The only thing you can bring finished is the critical response for the essay part.

Next 2 mini lessons: Mon., Oct. 6 and homework

The next two mini lessons will be on Monday, October 6th:


1) Jacob Talbert (sentence diagramming)
2) Emily Muren (accept/except; access/excess; affect/effect)



HOMEWORK for ALL for Mon., Oct. 6:

Read about sentence diagramming in Grammar for Grammarians, so that you have a fairly good overview of how it's done (important for in-class activity).

AND: Bring the book Grammar for Grammarians!!!

For those who hold the mini lesson:
Please don't forget to submit your one-page overview about what you're going to teach for the 6 E's!


The next blog summary is due on Mon., Oct. 6th, by Ken Stoner. The responses are due on Wednesday, Oct. 8th. It's a text about the Tourette syndrome, and you've got it in your email (pdf file).

Homework for Monday, Sept. 29th

Read the following page about the world-famous experiment with children with autism and the control group, children with Down's Syndrome. (Click on the link "Autism experiment" on the website that opens. The font looks tiny; just click on it with the cursor, and you'll see it through a magnifying glass!)

The last article we read about autism (see blog summary) mentioned this experiment, without describing it in detail.

Be prepared to be able to describe the experiment in the mid-term exam - it is about the difference in logical thinking between those two groups of students/children.

Puebla Accent

Today we are going to be learning the Puebla accent and dialect. If and when you are offered a movie role that requires you to use a Puebla accent there are many things about their distinct accent you will need to know. When using this accent you will need to drop the "ed" on past tense words, such as "managed" which becomes "manage". The "th" sound will become "d", an example of this could be "there" becoming "dere". The short "a" sound will become "ah", like "ah"merican (American). You will also need to learnt to roll some of your "r" sounds, you can do this by placing you tongue behind your teeth and exhaling so it will make a purring sound. Your inflection should get higher toward the end of a sentence kind of like when you ask a question. IN the Spanish language there is no "H" sound so a Pueblan speaking English would over ephmasize the "h" sound as well as the "sh" sound.

Now that you have some tips on how to use the accent you will need to listen to it. Click on the link below to hear an actual Puebla accent. Listen closely and you will hear all the things listed above and you may even find some differences on your own.
http://web.ku.edu/idea/northamerica/mexico/puebla/puebla.htm



You can also watch this short video on youtube.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xftOiTbHMo

Now let's do an exercise using a Puebla accent! Say the following phrases aloud:

1. Would you like some cake?

2. We walked on the beach.

3. No one like my chili peppers.

4. Do your friends like to play twister?

5. Let's all go play the accordion.

This is just a taste of the Puebla language. Still feeling unsure? Write your own sentences and say them aloud.

Heather Mormino, Raquel Maxey, Melisa Ogle, and Sharita Haralson

Swedish Accent

Good morning, class! Today we're going to be learning how to speak English with a Swedish accent.



To start, we're going to listen to an actual Swedish person speak in English. Please click here. You'll be listening to the clip called "Sweden 3". Feel free to read along with the transcription. You'll find the link to it to the right of the link to "Sweden 3".



Don't worry if you didn't catch everything you were supposed to while you were listening to the recording. Luckily for you, we've provided you with a lovely chart explaining how to pronounce every letter with a Swedish accent.

A like in our "bar"
B just like in our English.
C can be pronounced like the c in "city" or the k-like c-sound in "cafe".
D like in our English, only with the tongue touching the upper teeth.
E like our long a ("may") or our short e ("get")
F just like in our English.
G like the g in "go" or the y in "yes".
H like in our "ham".
I is pronounced like an ee ("feet") or our short i ("icky").
J is pronounced like the y in "yes". It is never pronounced like the j in "jam"!!!
K can be pronounced like the k in "keep" or the ch in "chunky".
L is pronounced with the tip of the tongue straight and pressed close to the teeth without actually touching them.
M and N are just like in our English.
O can be pronounced like an oo ("soothe"), a long o ("donut"), or a short o ("hot").
P is just like in our English.
Q is just like in our English too, but 'q' is actually rarely to never used in actual Swedish.
R is rolled!
S is just like in our English.
T is pronounced with the tip of the tongue straight and touching the teeth.
U is pronounced like in "rude". There is no short u equivalent.
V is just like our English.
W is just like our English.
X is like in "exceed" but never like in "example".
Y sounds like the French u.
Z is pronounced with an "s" sound (as in "singer").

For actual sound files of each letter being pronounced, click here http://www2.hhs.se/isa/swedish/chap9.htm to go to the website where all this information was borrowed from.

O.K., let’s have some fun with Swedish accents.

1. Change the word “Yes” to “Yah” in this sentence.

“Yes I would like some pudding”.

2. Change the “u” sound in the first word of this sentence to the short vowel “o” sound, but elongate it like you just saw some fireworks.

“Pudding is good”.

3. Change the letter “j” to the letter “y” in the next sentence.

“You don’t like pudding, you must be joking”.

4. Change the short “I” vowel sound to the long “E” vowel sound in the word “give in the next sentence.

“Please give me some pudding”.

5. Now, try to combine all of these in a pair of sentences.

“Yes, give me some pudding, pudding is good.” “You must be joking when you say you don’t like pudding” “Give me your pudding”.

For even more Swedish fun, or if you just don't get it, here's a video for you to watch! (Just remember, you'll probably want a better Swedish accent than the Swedish chef!)


Just remember to keep practicing your Swedish accent, future actors! After all, if you don't, you might end up acting as a doctor with a fake Swedish accent on a daytime soap opera for the rest of your life. Have fun!

Donald Dinkins, Jacob Talbert, Jen Gulley, Laura Treat

The Trinidadian Language

Dear Acting Students,




One of the major differences between the pronunciation and vocabulary of Trinidadian language and English language is the influence of African, East Indian, English, French and Spanish tongues you can actually hear in the common speech. Specifically speaking, Trinidadian is not a dialect. It's base is English, with words, phrases and syntax borrowed unchanged from African, East Indian, Amerindian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and other languages. So when imitating this language you must be apart of the Trini national character involves love of the uses of language; puns and double entendres fill both local music lyrics and conversation. What can confuse a visitor is that a Trini term is often the base of the pun (A "town man" is a city dweller, but "town" is pretty close to the Trini pronunciation of the word tongue, making it a double entendre for a man good at oral relations). Until you know the language you won't get most of the nuances in the conversations around you.
Trinis, like most Caribbean people, speak at a faster rate than most Americans can cope with. You are likely to understand about half of what two Trinis say to each other, although they will usually slow down when speaking to foreign retards. Studying the Trini dictionary and listening to tapes of Trini music and poetry before your trip will raise your level of understanding of what is going on around you higher than 50%, which should increase your enjoyment of the vacation. (You'll get tired of saying "Huh? Whadusay?")

Exercise:

For the first part of this exercise visit IDEA and listen to the audio clips of numerous Trinidadians talking. While listening you should first pay close attention to the dialect and then you should try to mimic what is being said. At this point you should be somewhat familiar with Trinidadian vernacular. However, sometimes it helps not only to hear the words, but, to also see how they are written. In order to have further practice speaking with a Trinidadian accent you should visit Trini Talk and try reading the poem out loud using the techniques given prior to this exercise. You may also consider listening to the poem while reading it so you can hear how a true Trinidadian would pronounce such words. You can download the poem here.

To gain a deeper understanding of the pronunciation of some common slang words on the island, here is a Trini Dictionary.

Also: Listen to some of Trinidad's musical vibes by checking out these songs:
"Out On De Road" by Zan and "Jumbie" by Machel Montano


By: Ashley Epps, Andre Dyson and Leah West

Australian Dialect

By: Emily Muren, Marissa Freese, and Alex Rude

G'Day Mates!

Today we are going to work on our Australian accents. Soon you will be auditioning for a role in an Australian sitcom. Be sure to pay close attention to the instruction we give you. A bad accent could lose you the job (and get you laughed at!).

Here's one person's attempt at speaking like an Aussie:

Pronunciation and Vocabulary
The first thing you should do to pick up an authentic Australian accent is learn how to speak from the back of your tongue and limit the movements of your lips.

The best way to do this is by holding the tip of your tongue as close as you can to the roof of your mouth while pressing the middle of your tongue down. I know it sounds weird, but it will really help you to develop the right sounds and pronunciation.

Speaking of pronunciation, pay close attention to individual letters. The most significant difference between American, British, and Australian English is the vowel pronunciation. Try to elongate your vowels.
*words ending with "ay" sound are pronounced "ie."

Other little tidbits are :

• Try and speak quickly so your words run together.
• End your sentences with an upward intonation.
• Make every comment sound like a question.
• Study Australian slang.
  

Now It's Your Turn

Practice makes perfect, so now is the time to start practicing! Grab a partner and practice speaking to each other in your best Australian accent. Click on this link to listen to the speech of a real Australian resident. You will be given about fifteen minutes to practice (make sure to critique one another, constructive criticism will prove to be incredibly helpful).

After the practice time is up, you and your partner will have an additional 15 minutes to develop an Australian dialogue. Be sure to include some Aussie slang from the link listed above. The dialogue should last about 5 minutes. Each pair will act out their dialogue in front of the class. After everyone has presented, the class will vote on which pair sounded the most convincing (bragging rights, yay!). Good luck and get started.