Movie

For my task I have decided to describe a part of a movie called Magnolia. I played it from the middle without sound and I have just started recording myself. I did not find it very difficult in comparison with the Simpsons where the scenes change very fast and you may be lost very easily. In this movie the scenes did not change so fast but after listening to my recording I found some stupid mistakes that I had made. The main problem was with the tenses. Sometimes I used present continuous instead of present simple. For example: he is wearing a white coat - he wears a white coat, he is coming - he comes/approaches, they are waiting - they wait. Then I mispronounced the word sterile and used maybe too often the word suddenly. I could have used something else instead. At the end I said the word papers, but I think a prescription would be more appropriate in this situation. Once I did not hear an article - with the word shop. But after all, I think it was not so bad. I expected the recording to be even worse. However, I still need to improve my speaking and I think this exercise is a great way for practising.

Describing a picture

The picture that we had to describe was really weird and at the same time interesting. I started recording myself immediately after opening the picture and I think it went quite well. I practise this task very often the last few weeks and I see an improvement. After listening to my recording I recorded again the parts that I would say in another way and some words that I pronounced incorrectly. Here it is: For the individual task I decided to practise reading again because I struggle with fluency sometimes. I found an article on the Internet and tried to read it first without recording. I found the correct pronunciation for words that I was not sure about and then recorded myself. The first recording was not as good as I wanted, so I tried one more time and it was better.

Instructions

This was my favorite exercise! I listened to the original recording many times, made notes and then tried to say it at the same time with the woman from the recording. She was speaking quite fast for me, but with every attemp I was improving myself. Then I recorded myself three times, and with the third recording I was finally almost 100% satisfied. Of course, my voice sounds completely different than the woman's voice, so I can't compare it in this aspect. But when speaking about the instructions, I suppose it isn't so bad. For my individual task I was considering for a long time whether to record myself reading again or practise one more time my TH sound. At the end, I practised both and published online the TH sound because the reading needs more practise and I'm a bit ashamed of it. I know it sounds silly, but when I don't feel comfortable about something, I can't publish it anywhere until I'm satisfied. So, hopefully next time I will be better.

American vs. British English

I generally prefer British English even though most of the movies and series are American. I would say that in my everyday life I hear much more American than British English. Right now we don't even have a British teacher which is quite sad because I would appreciate to hear the British accent more often. Sometimes I just mix up everything together, but I definitely don't do it on purpose, I'm just not fully aware that some words are pronounced somehow only in America. So, when I hear the pronunciation of some unknown words, I pronounce them in this way without actually knowing that in British English it sounds completely different. For my individual task I decided to try some reading. I found an article in my textbook and marked difficult words to pronounce, th sound and tried to read it about 6 times before I started the recording. I recorded my reading practise 3 times before I was quite satisfied with the result. At the beginning I was reading slower and concentrated on too many words. But with the next attempts I improved my reading even though it is not perfect. I think I will do this practise more often because it helps me to concentrate on the stress of the sentence, not just each word.

Strong and weak forms

This week's task was to record myself reading sentences and pronouncing either strong or weak form of a possessive, conjunction and preposition. In my opinion, it wasn't so difficult to decide which form of the word should be pronounced. On the other hand, sometimes in a daily communication it can be more difficult to pay attention on it, because it doesn't come so naturally yet. But after practising it for some time, I believe I would be more careful next time. It was interesting for me and for sure useful. For my individual task I decided to record myself pronouncing the strong or weak forms in short poems. The first one focused on the weak form of AND, the second one on OF, then BUT, AT, and finally YOUR. I really tried to say it many times before I was quite satisfied with myself. I spent the most of the time with the weak form of BUT, it's definitely the most difficult for me. I hope the result isn't ashaming so much, I really tried to do my best.

Connected speech + r sound

The first practice of the connected speech was sometimes quite challenging as normally I don't pay so much attention to it while speaking. There are some phrases that I connect together without even thinking about it, it is just natural and automatic. On the other hand, there are some words that are difficult for me to connect them, and it just took me more time to practice them. At the end I think the recording isn't so bad. The individual task for this week is the "r" sound, because sometimes I just pronounce it in a different way than I should. I found some exercises on Youtube that really helped me to use the muscles in my mouth properly. And I have to admit that after practising the sound I felt so much pain in my mouth and tongue, just like I went out of a gym! I wouldn't ever believe that it's so difficult. I spend quite a lot of time with the "r" sound, so I hope my muscles would remember what to do next time.

TH sound

Today I focused on TH sound again because it is the most problematic sound for me. I believe that by practising again and again I will never make a mistake in the future. Sometimes I just concentrate too much on what I want to say and I completely forget about the pronunciation of TH in some words. I really want to get rid of it and make the TH pronunciation automatic for me.