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.
- 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;
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- 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.
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- 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;
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- 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).
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- 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.
Activity 2
Role-play
- Ask a few volunteer students to come forward and use these contractions in simple sentences to describe themselves.
For examples;
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- I`m an intelligent girl.
- They`re good players.
- You`re not a wise boy.
- She`s punctual girl.
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- Place a pre-prepared chart of the below given contractions to practice the use of
- 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:
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.