Read out loud with me! Practice vocabulary, pronunciation and connected speech | Harry Potter

hey would you like to improve the way you tell stories would you like to learn about intonation pronunciation Rhythm and stress through stories if you said yes you are going to love this lesson because today we are going to read together a story from the book Harry Potter and the philosopher stone this is about the philosopher stone and we are going to practice it together talking about vocabulary pronunciation and intonation I'm particularly going to emphasize areas where you can use your intonation or use your voice in a way that engages the listeners it's a lot

of fun and an excellent fluency practice now here's how it's going to work I'm going to read a line and then I'm going to explain it if there is something to explain and if not I'm just going to move on to the next line if you want to Shadow me I recommend that you pause the video and you repeat the line as I said it so take as much time as you need I didn't want to pause in the video because people need different times to repeat a longer sentence and I wanted to give you

the opportunity of just pausing and taking as much time as you need but if I notice that I need to explain something talk about reductions connected speech I will and then you'll be able to just repeat it with my notes okay good all right so let's get started let's go Harry Potter in the philosopher stone by JK Rowling by the way the name Harry or Harry could be pronounced in two different ways in British English it's more of an a sound before an R Harry Harry in American English when the a appears before an R

the a sound becomes e hairy same thing with the word marry right I'm going to marry you in British English marry okay because it's technically an a sound now I'm going to say Harry with an A but know that you can say both Hagrid raised a gigantic fist huge fist big fist and knocked three times on the castle door Castle a castle no T the door swung open at once swung is the past tense of swing the door swung open at once a tall blackhaired witch in emerald green robes stood there stood uh stood there

she had a very Stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross so let me explain Stern is severe or showing disapproval so if I were to read it I would probably say it like this she had a very Stern face right like making that face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross to cross someone is to annoy someone or get on their bad side you don't want to cross her cross someone to cross the first years professor mgogo said Hagrid notice what happens here you

don't see the T in the script right it's first years and that's because it represents how people say it with the T appears between two consonants usually it's dropped just like here first years First Years the first years professor mogal said Hagrid thank you Hagrid I'll take them from here I will you can reduce it to Isle I'll take them from here you can also put the stress on Isle I'll take them from here as you can see the intonation of the Storyteller or the reader is very subjective there isn't just one right way to

tell a story but what you do want to do is to recognize the words that shed a new light on the story or describe something in a way that you don't want the listener to miss or words that drive the plot or the story or the narrative forward word and those words are usually emphasized by pitch usually they're higher in pitch and by length and I want you to notice it as I'm reading the story she pulled the door wide the entrance hall was so big you could have fitted the whole of the dersley house

in it what does that mean the whole of the dersley house in it means actually the entire house it means it was so big and that's just like the entrance hall in stories you use a lot of imageries that go beyond the basic description of something to make it more interesting more imaginative so that you could imagine it that's what I love about stories and plays I want you to reduce that you could have fitted to you could have fitted you could have you could have you could have you could have fitted you could have

fitted so I don't actually pronounce the V of the have you could have fitted the whole of the dersley house in it the stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at grots grots grots the ceiling was too high to make out to make out is to see or to understand to make out it was so high you couldn't even see it or you couldn't even grasp it or comprehend it to make out is also Al to kiss to make out but in this case that's not the meaning so let's do it again

and you can just Echo me so as I say the sentence you can just repeat after me you have the text in front of you if you're listening to the podcast I'm going to add the script to the description so you can read it there the ceiling was too high to make out and a magnificent marble stair case facing them led to the upper floors they followed professor Meagle across the flagged Stone floor that's a big phrase flagged Stone floor flagged in British English means a type of floor like tiles or big pieces of stone

so flagged Stone floor the stress is on floor because that's the noun that's what we're describing flagstone floor by the way flagged is also marked for importance I flagged this comment so you could take a look at it right but in this case that's the meaning that's a type of flooor Flagstone floor Harry could hear the Drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right the word drone in this context means a steady or constant sound like the sound of a drone but in this case drone means sound the Drone of hundreds of

voices speaking from a doorway to the right the rest of the school must already be be here the rest of the the rest of the the rest of the so of often times becomes just uh but you have to connect it if you want to reduce it the rest of the let's stick the tongue out for the th the rest of the school must already be here basically we're saying his thoughts right so we want to say it in a different intonation than what we said before so for example if I was in my store

storytelling voice Harry could hear the Drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right now in in the text you can see that it's isolated in dashes long dashes but you need to do something with your voice to explain it so change your voice a little bit the rest of the school must already be here a thought but going back to your Storyteller voice Professor mccal show the first years into a small empty chamber of the hall chamber is a room used for special or official purpose off the hall is just not right

in the hall but just like a little bit to the side of the hall off the hall they crowded in standing rather closer together than they would usually have done I stress the word usually to emphasize that that wouldn't have been the case unless they were feeling these feelings probably stress nervousness peering about nervously so to peer about is to look around so they were kind of like looking around nervously they were nervous now when you're reading about someone in a certain emotional state you might want to put that emotion into your voice they crowded

in standing rather closer together than they would usually have done peering about nervously right you don't want to sound too cheerful here cuz then it would just not be aligned with what you're reading they crowded in standing rather closer together than they would usually have done right that doesn't fit as well so you what you want to do when you read a story is to try to understand the emotional state of the character that you're talking about or the atmosphere and then put it in your voice welcome to Hogwarts said professor mogle here here's what

you can do with your voice first there is the statement made by the character welcome to Hogwarts said professor mcgonagle and then the narrator tells you what just happened so usually when they character through speaks you can have one voice and then you can just use your narrator voice to tell it and it's different I used a lower voice and I said it a little faster so let's do it again welcome to Hogwarts said Professor mcgonagle the start of the term banquet will begin shortly a banquet is a large formal meal for many people it's

like a feast so the start of the term banquet will begin shortly but before you take your seats in the Great Hall you will be sorted into your houses will organize you into your houses okay so now we want to create anticipation so we might want to use some pauses and maybe change the voice a little bit create more suspense we might want to sound more serious the Sorting is a very important ceremony because while you are here your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts you'll have classes with the rest of your

house sleep in your house dormatory and spend free time in your house common room dormatory dormatory now feel free to pause and repeat any line whenever you need the four houses are called pay attention to the pronunciation Gryffindor Hufflepuff Ravenclaw and Slytherin I Slither voice t h Ren Gryffindor Hufflepuff Raven claw and Slytherin each house has its own Noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards so the word noble means special importance or admiration so each house has its own Noble history Noble is a big word you might want to slow down on

this word and each has produced outstanding outstanding is also a big word you might want to stretch it out change the a little bit outstanding witches and wizards while you are at Hogwarts your triumphs will earn your house points triumphs FS triumphs triumphs is wins and successes so he says while you are at Hogwarts your triumphs will earn your house points while in your rule breaking will lose house points so here you have this distinction between win or earn and lose okay so when you read something when there is distinction between two ideas this ju

AOS where there is like this versus that then we want to emphasize those words when we read them so while you are at Hogwarts your triumphs will earn you house points while any rule breaking will lose house points at the end of the year the house with the most points is awarded the house cup at the end of the year at the end of the year end of the end of the end of the end of at the end of the year the house with the most points is awarded the house cup a great honor

honor no h Oz and father honor I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours be a credit be an advantage so now let's read it again I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours the Sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school rest of the rest of the rest of the rest of the I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting so to smarten up is to freshen

up or to clean up now this pronunciation is a little tricky there are a few ways to say it first of all you can say it with popping the tea like you would in British English very appropriate smarten or smarten with a small light T smarten smarten yourselves up perfectly fine you can pronounce it with a nasal stop smart a nasal T you block the air and you release Air through the nose smarten and some people might pronounce it with a glottal stop smarten smarten smarten yourselves up you do whatever is easier for you I

assume that the small T is the easiest smarten yourselves up so by all means you it I just want you to know the different possibilities here her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloaks which was fastened under his left ear so that whole thing is one phrase and then and on Ron's smudged nose smudged is dirty dirty nose so her eyes lingered for a moment this is why she said you need to smarten yourselves up Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair it's probably a little puffy just like mine I shall return when we

are ready for you said Professor mogal please wait quietly she left the chamber do you remember the meaning of chamber a small room used for official or special purposes good Harry swallowed how exactly do they sort us into houses he asked Ron okay try to try to add a little bit of curiosity and concern to your voice how exactly do they sort us into houses he asked Ron some sort of test I think let's try to lift the word test because that's new information here some sort of test I think Fred said it hurts a

lot hurts a lot hurts a lot hurts a lot it's like someone's name hurts a lot Fred said it hurts a lot but I think he was joking Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt a jolt is a sudden movement or a shock or it's kind of like his heart jumped Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt oh jold a test in front of the whole school in front of the in front of the in front of the in front of the in front of the whole school whole school a lot dark L's here but he didn't

know any magic yet magic magic what on Earth would he have to do would he you can reduce it to woody woody woody what on Earth would he have to do he hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived so let's emphasize the words expected this and arrived maybe a moment a little bit he hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived so every time we stress a word it's like lifted a little bit he looked around anxiously anxious technically it's the a as in cath but before the NG sound which we have

here in the word anxious it sounds more like an a sound anxious anxious he looked around an iously and saw that everyone else looked terrified too terrified too make sure your tees are clean and crisp no one was talking much except Hermione Granger who was whispering very fast about all the Spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need she' she' she would she' Harry tried hard not to listen to her not to listen to her but let's think of the Rhythm here Harry tried hard not to listen to her he'd never been more nervous

he had he had heed he reductions he'd never been more nervous never not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the dersley saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue just for this part I'm going to read and I want you to repeat after me but I'll break it down into phrases so we have a better understanding as to how to connect it and how to read it and where to pause he'd never been more nervous never when you repeat a word usually might want to change the pitch a little

bit not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Durley saying that he' somehow turned his teacher's wig blue blue teacher's wig connected so let's do it again he'd never been more nervous never not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the dersley saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue he kept his eyes fixed on the door on the on the if you want to take a shortcut here place the tongue on the teeth for the n on and then release it to the th on

the on the on on the on the door any second now Professor mcgonagal would come back and lead him to his doom doom is death or destruction a bit dramatic right any second now Professor mcgonagle would come back and lead him to his Doom then something happened which made him jump about a foot in the air foot in the air you can connect it a foot in the air several people be behind him screamed what the he gasped that's what it means to gasp so did the people around him about 20 ghosts ghosts had just

streamed through the back wall pearly white and slightly transparent they glided across the room talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first years glancing is taking a quick look hardly glancing they seem to be arguing what looked like a fat little monk was saying forgive and forget I say we ought to give him a second chance my dear frier haven't we given peeves all the chances he deserves he gives us all a bad name and you know he's not even a ghost I say what are you all doing here a ghost wearing a

rough and tights had suddenly noticed the first years nobody answered a rough is a large round collar this is what it looks like from the 16th or 17th century new students said the fat frer FR is like a monk smiling around at them about to be sorted I suppose a few people nodded mutely nodded mutely is quietly silently hope to see you in Hufflepuff said the fryer my old house you know you know move along now said a sharp voice sharp is severe and harsh a sharp voice the Sorting ceremony is about to start notice

that here the phrase is the Sorting ceremony is about to start but even in writing and of course in speaking there is a contraction so we connect those two words together the Sorting ceremony is about to start Professor mcgonagal had returned One By One The Ghosts floated away through the opposite wall this is not the end of the story but it is the end of this lesson expecto Patron in this lesson we practiced telling a story I hope you were able to Shadow me or to Echo me you can go back to the beginning of

the video pause and repeat the script is in the description and of course on the screen if you're watching the video pay attention to voice changes in intonation Rhythm and stress definitely pronunciation and of course how sentences are structured because you can learn so much so much grammar and vocabulary and phrases simply from reading close reading and paying attention to all of those things which is what we have done all right that's it have a beautiful beautiful day if you enjoyed this video hit like comment subscribe to my channel so you get notified about all

the lessons and you can also check out my website at Hadar ches.com for hundreds of other lessons and resources have a great day and I'll see you next week in the next video bye