درسنامه تعاملی سوم

Standards and Practice – Interactive Lesson C

Hi, this is AJ and welcome to part C of our interactive lesson. Our focus in this part is pronunciation. You’re going to use two techniques to improve your pronunciation. The first technique is very simple, very obvious. You’re going to pause after every sentence and then say the sentence out loud with a strong loud voice. When you say the sentence copy my pronunciation. Try to sound exactly like me. Listen to me say one sentence, pause, then you say the same sentence. Try to copy my pronunciation, especially my stress, when I go up and when I go down which is called intonation.

I want you to focus on that the rhythm, the intonation. Don’t worry too much about the specific words and their pronunciation, focus more on how I pause when I get louder, when I’m softer. The stress of different words and especially within the sentence. Which words do I stress? When do I raise my voice? When do I lower my voice? So try to sound exactly like me and exaggerate it. Do it very strongly.

You will do this on the first day. The first day practicing with this lesson. The second day practicing with this lesson you will do what’s called shadowing or tracking. Basically, it’s the same thing but you do it at the same time, no pausing the audio. So you hear me saying the audio, you listen to me saying it and then at the same time, with a strong loud voice, you say exactly what I’m saying. So you’re hearing it and saying it at the same time. Again, trying to copy exactly, exactly how I’m saying it.

When you first try this it may feel difficult to keep going, to hear it and say it at the same time. That’s okay don’t get frustrated, just relax, do your best. You can pause, rewind and do what you need to do. So, you’ll do that tracking technique on day two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten. All right let’s go back. I’ll do it slowly first. There’ll be a slow version, which will be easier for practice and then I’ll go and do it again more quickly.

Here we go…

Excellent performers judge themselves differently from the way other people do. They’re more specific, just as they are when they set goals and strategies. Average performers are content to tell themselves that they did great or poorly or okay. The best performers judge themselves against a standard that’s relevant for what they’re trying to achieve.

Sometimes they compare their performance with their own personal best. Sometimes they compare with the performance of competitors they’re facing or expect to face. Sometimes they compare with the best known performance by anyone in the field. Any of those can make sense, the key, as in all deliberate practice is to choose a comparison that stretches you just beyond your current limits.

Research confirms what common sense tells us. That too high a standard is discouraging and not very instructive, while too low a standard produces no advancement. If you’re pushing yourself appropriately and have evaluated yourself rigorously, then you will have identified errors that you made. A critical part of self-evaluation is deciding what caused the errors.

Average performers believe their errors were caused by factors outside their control. My opponent got lucky. The task was too hard. I just don’t have any natural ability for this. Top performers, by contrast, believe they are responsible for their errors. Note that this is not just a difference of personality or attitude. Recall that the best performers have set highly specific technique-based goals and strategies for themselves. They have thought through exactly how they intend to achieve what they want. So, when something doesn’t work they can relate the failure to specific elements of their performance that may have misfired.

Research on champion golfers, for example, has uncovered precisely this pattern. They’re much less likely than average golfers to blame their problems on the weather, the course or chance factors. Instead, they focus relentlessly on their own performance.

Okay, let’s do it again faster, faster…

Excellent performers judge themselves differently from the way other people do. They’re more specific, just as they are when they set goals and strategies. Average performers are content to tell themselves that they did great or poorly or okay. The best performers judge themselves against a standard that’s relevant for what they’re trying to achieve.

Sometimes they compare their performance with their own personal best. Sometimes they compare with the performance of competitors they’re facing or expect to face. Sometimes they compare with the best known performance by anyone in the field. Any of those can make sense, the key, as in all deliberate practice is to choose a comparison that stretches you just beyond your current limits.

Research confirms what common sense tells us. That too high a standard is discouraging and not very instructive, while too low a standard produces no advancement. If you’re pushing yourself appropriately and have evaluated yourself rigorously, then you will have identified errors that you made. A critical part of self-evaluation is deciding what caused the errors.

Average performers believe their errors were caused by factors outside their control. My opponent got lucky. The task was too hard. I just don’t have any natural ability for this. Top performers, by contrast, believe they are responsible for their errors. Note that this is not just a difference of personality or attitude. Recall that the best performers have set highly specific technique-based goals and strategies for themselves. They have thought through exactly how they intend to achieve what they want. So, when something doesn’t work they can relate the failure to specific elements of their performance that may have misfired.

Research on champion golfers, for example, has uncovered precisely this pattern. They’re much less likely than average golfers to blame their problems on the weather, the course or chance factors. Instead, they focus relentlessly on their own performance.

Okay, you know what to do.

On day one you will pause after each phrase or sentence and then repeat. Copy me out loud. Do both the slow and fast version.

On day two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten you will track. You will listen to the audio and say what I’m saying, copying me, at the same time. Of course, you will be a little bit behind the audio, but try to do it at the same time. You can use the text. You can read along if this helps you.

It probably will be difficult in the beginning, especially the fast one, but just relax you will improve day by day. Good luck with your pronunciation.

All right, see you in the commentary.

Bye for now.