Lesson Plan of Pronouncing Contractions

Subject English

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

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;
- - 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.