Speech Work: Listening and Speaking the /l∂/ Sound – JSS2 English Lesson Note (First Term)

The /ɪə/ sound is a diphthong, a vowel sound in which the tongue glides from /ɪ/ towards /ə/, as in ear, clear and hear.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. pronounce words with the /ɪə/ sound and give its spellings;
2. change sentences from active voice to passive voice;
3. identify words that point to the writer’s intention in the passage “The thief”;
4. name some hospital departments and say what each deals with;
5. state what the introduction, body and conclusion of an essay should contain;
6. describe the features of folktales.

What is the /ɪə/ sound and how is it made?

The /ɪə/ sound is a diphthong made by gliding the tongue from the /ɪ/ position towards the centre of the mouth.

• Diphthong: a vowel sound that starts at one position and glides to another within one syllable.
• Starting point: the tongue is in the position for /ɪ/, as in “sit”.
• Ending point: the tongue moves towards /ə/, the weak central vowel, as in the first sound of “about”.
• Lips: they stay neutral from the beginning of the sound to the end, as in “here”.

How do you say /ɪə/?

1. Say a short /ɪ/ with the lips relaxed.
2. Let the tongue slide towards the centre of the mouth.
3. Keep the lips still while the tongue moves.
4. Join both parts in one smooth sound, as in “ear”.

What are the spellings of /ɪə/?

The /ɪə/ sound is spelt in four main ways: ere, ear, eer and eir.

What are active and passive voice?

Voice is the form of a verb that shows whether the subject does the action or receives it.

What is active voice?

Active voice is the form of a sentence in which the subject does the action to the object.

• Subject: the person or thing the writer or speaker is talking about, usually a noun or pronoun.
• Doer: in active voice, the subject is the doer of the action.

Examples:

1. The man sold his clothes.
2. Alake killed a lion.
3. The policeman caught the thieves.
4. The cat killed the rat.

What is passive voice?

Passive voice is the form of a sentence in which the object of the verb is moved to the subject position.

• Receiver: in passive voice, the subject receives the action.
• Doer: the doer, if named, comes after “by”.

Examples:

1. The dog was sold by the boy.
2. The lion was killed by Alake.
3. The house was destroyed by fire.
4. Thieves were caught by policemen.

How do you change active voice to passive voice?

1. Find the subject, the verb and the object of the active sentence.
2. Make the object the new subject, and the old subject the object.
3. Change pronouns where needed: I becomes me, we becomes us, she becomes her, he becomes him.
4. Use a form of “be” in the same tense as the original verb. It must agree with the new subject.
5. Change the main verb to the past participle.
6. Add “by” before the old subject.

Which form of “be” is used in each tense?

More examples of active and passive voice

How do you find words that point to the writer’s intention?

The writer’s intention is the purpose or message the writer wants the reader to take from the passage.

• Passage: “The thief”, New Oxford Secondary English Course for Junior Secondary Schools, Book 2 (Upper Basic Education), Unit 2, pages 15 to 17.
• Theme: the passage points to a contemporary issue, corruption.

What do the key words mean?

What should students do?

1. Read the passage carefully.
2. Note the words listed above as they appear in the passage.
3. Say what each word suggests about the writer’s purpose.
4. Answer questions 1 to 5 on page 17.

What are the words associated with hospitals?

A hospital is divided into departments, and each department treats one kind of patient or illness.

Reference: New Oxford Book 2, page 22, “Increase your word power”.

• Casualty: attends to and treats accident victims and other emergencies.
• Obstetrics: concerned with pregnancy and the birth of children.
• Gynaecology: concerned with the health of women, especially their reproductive organs.
• Paediatrics: concerned with children.
• Surgery: for operations.
• Cardiology: for the heart.
• Nephrology: dealing with the kidney.
• Neurology: dealing with the brain and nerves.
• Dermatology: dealing with the skin.
• Gastroenterology: concerned with the stomach and related organs such as the intestine and liver.
• Dentist: treats the teeth.
• Ophthalmic optician: examines your eyes.

What are the parts of an essay?

An essay has three parts: the introduction, the body and the conclusion.

What is the introduction?

• Purpose: it shows what the essay is about.
• Content: it gives enough information for the reader to understand the body.

What should the body of an essay contain?

The body is the middle of the essay, where the main points are developed.

• Language: write clear, simple English and avoid pompous language.
• Planning: write down the main points and arrange them in order.
• Tenses: keep your tenses correct and consistent.
• Mechanics: pay attention to spelling and punctuation.
• Paragraphs: develop one paragraph around each main point.
• Coherence: the sticking together of ideas, so that they follow each other logically.

What is the conclusion?

• Purpose: it draws together the ideas and their link to the major points.
• Style: it should be brief and logical.

What are the stages of writing an essay?

There are three stages of writing: pre-writing, writing and editing.

• Pre-writing: choose the topic, gather ideas and plan the order of points.
• Writing: put the plan into an introduction, body and conclusion.
• Editing: check and correct spelling, punctuation, tenses and clarity.

What are the features of folktales?

Folktales are stories made up long ago to teach people how to live good and wise lives.

• Purpose: they teach moral lessons.
• Tone: they are funny, amusing, entertaining and exciting.
• Origin: they were told throughout the world, including Nigeria, other parts of Africa and China.
• Characters: human and animal images can be used to represent characters.

Evaluation

1. Give the four spellings of the /ɪə/ sound, with one example word for each.
2. Change these sentences to passive voice: “The cat killed the rat.” “He sells books.”
3. Change this sentence to passive voice: “Did he steal the book?”
4. Which hospital department deals with the heart, and which deals with the kidney?
5. State two points to remember when writing the body of an essay.

Assignment

Write five sentences in active voice. Change each one to passive voice.