Lesson Plan of Pronouncing Contractions

Lesson Plan of Pronouncing Contractions

Subject English

Grade IV

Students` Learning Outcomes

  • Pronounce the weak forms of ‘a’ and ‘the’ in simple phrases and of ‘be’ in contractions.

Information for Teachers

  • Pronounce a word in a soft manner; this is called the ‘weak form’ of a word. E.g. ‘I am going to the market’. In this sentence ‘the’ is not pronounced fully but is joined with the next word ‘market’. E.g. ‘I bought a car’. In this sentence ‘a’ is not pronounced fully but is joined with the next word ‘car’.
  • To contract means to squeeze together.

Pronouncing Contractions

  • A contraction is a shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word or word group, created by omission of some letters. Such as;
      • I`m instead of I am
      • She`s instead of she is
      • He`s instead of he is
      • It`s instead of it is
      • They`re instead of they are
      • We`re instead of we are.

Pronouncing Contractions

  • Tell students that we take away a letter from the word and leave a little sign to remind us that we took it away. That sign is called ‘apostrophe. It looks like this (`).
  • Contractions are conventionally used in spoken form and dialogues.

Material / Resources

Writing board, chalk/marker, duster, coloured chalk, textbook, Humpty Dumpty poem on a chart paper with highlighted ‘a’ and ‘the’

Introduction

Activity 1

  • Paste the poem chart on the board.
  • Sing the poem ‘Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall’ with the students. Give the poem with highlighted ‘a’ and ‘the’.
  • Write’ a’ and ‘the’ on board and tell them to say these as weak forms.
  • Recite the poem again and give a pause before weak forms.
  • Tell the students that we pronounce the weak forms of ‘a’ and ‘the’ in simple phrases.

Activity 2

  • Ask a few volunteers to come forward to answer these questions;
      • Who are you? (Accepted answer: I`m Sara).
      • Who is this? (Accepted answer: She`s Tania).
      • Who are they? (Accepted answer: They`re Ali and Amir).
  • Write these answers on board and highlight contractions with a coloured chalk.
  • Do these warm up activities repeatedly with more examples before you do other activities.

Development

Activity 1

  • Write the poem ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ on the board and underline the article ‘the’.
  • Repeat the poem ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’.
  • Ask the students to pronounce the underlined word ‘the’.
  • Tell them that when we pronounce the word ‘a’ and ‘the’ alone, we pronounce the words ‘a’ and ‘the’ alone; we pronounce a long sound at the end. But when we use them in a sentence, we make that sound shorter. Or we don`t pause when we say these words. Instead, we join them with the next word.

Pronouncing Contractions

Activity 2

Role-play

  • Ask a few volunteer students to come forward and use these contractions in simple sentences to describe themselves.

For examples;

      • I`m an intelligent girl.
      • They`re good players.
      • You`re not a wise boy.
      • She`s punctual girl.
  • Place a pre-prepared chart of the below given contractions to practice the use of

Pronouncing Contractions

  • Tell the students that sometimes we read words in a shorter form but also write them that way, leaving out some letters.
  • Tell them that we take away a letter of the alphabet and leave a little sign to remind us that we took it away. That sign is an ‘apostrophe’ that looks like this (`).
  • Write the same sentences on the board and put apostrophe with a coloured chalk.

Sum up / Conclusion

  • Conclude the lesson by repeating the weak form of ‘a’ and ‘the’ in simple [le phrase. Also repeat the use of the forms of ‘be’ in contractions.

Assessment

  • Ask the students to match the following:

Pronouncing Contractions

Follow up

  • Point out to students when you use the weak forms of ‘a’ and ‘the’, or when you use contractions in daily conversation.
  • For example, ask the students about the weather.
  • If they say, ‘it`s hot/cold today’, write the sentence on the board.
  • Remind them that this is how we use contractions when we speak.
  • Give students a text from textbook or a few sentences with contractions and ask them to identify contractions.

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