to increase understanding of and practise identifying sentence stress
Target Audience:
teacher trainers/candidates
Relevance to TKT:
Module 1 Part 1
Organisation:
whole class
Materials needed:
board
Choose 5 simple sentences and write them on the board.
e.g.
I hope Jennifer’s going to wear her black boots tonight.
Nobody understood anything that he was saying.
While she was on the phone, someone rang the front door bell.
We’re going there next week after the end of term.
He’s learnt to drive but he hasn’t passed his test yet.
My sister came but my brother had to go to work instead.
Agree on a normal stress pattern for each sentence and mark it on the sentences on the board.
Then, as a class, everyone beats out the rhythm of each sentence, e.g. by clapping, to show the main stress.
Notes/Variations:
Trainees could experiment by moving the main stress and thinking of contexts in which the new stress pattern might be appropriate.
