hello my name is Emma and in today's
video we are going to play a really fun
but really weird game called the banana
game so why are we going to play this
game well I think it's a great way to
teach you about intonation and why it's
so important in English okay so first of
all what is intonation
well intonation is the music of English
so we use intonation in our voices by
letting our voices go up or rise or go
down and fall now by letting our voices
rise or go down what does that do it
gives meaning to what we're saying okay
so in English what you say is is
meaningful the words you use give
meaning but the way you say it or how
you say something also gives meaning and
so for a lot of people learning English
they use the right words but they might
not know how to use the correct
intonation and it's actually really
important because intonation really
helps people understand you better so
let's get started by letting me explain
what this game is about okay so the
banana games this is a game that I
learned from my friend Melinda who's
also a teacher so I just wanted to thank
her for inspiring this video the banana
game is a very strange game and the
reason why I like this game is because
it's a strange game and things that are
strange help you remember things better
okay so whenever something is strange
you usually remember it as well this
game will really allow you to focus only
on intonation so you're not focusing on
words you're not focusing on other
things you're only going to be focused
on intonation so this game is great for
teaching this
so how do you play well you just need
one word and that word is banana okay so
in this game the only word you are
allowed to say or I am allowed to say is
the word banana now we're going to say
banana in different ways with different
intonation so sometimes maybe the word
banana will rise sometimes it will fall
and this is going to give the word a lot
of different meanings so we're gonna
give the word banana meaning using
intonation now before we start playing
this game I just wanted to tell you that
this is a very strange game but I
promise I am NOT crazy
what you are going to see might seem a
little crazy because I'm gonna say
banana a lot but I promise I am NOT
crazy okay so now let's start playing ok
so before we start I just want to remind
you about the difference in intonation
with yes/no questions and WH questions
or all other question types
so for yes/no questions these are
questions that usually begin with the
words like is our can does did and the
answer the person who's asking is
expecting is either a yes or a No these
are yes/no questions in English the
intonation for a yes/no question is
arise at the end so it goes up so if my
word banana was a yes/no question it
would sound like banana notice the rise
at the end banana ok so that would be an
example of a yes/no question WH
questions are questions that have the
words who what where when why and how in
them we also have other question types
now for these WH questions or other
question types they're different in
intonation than yes/no questions because
for these types of questions you'll
notice a fall at the end when we're
talking about intonation so if I was
using banana and we're pretending banana
is one of these questions
I'd say banana banana
so banana banana notice the difference
okay so now you are going to listen and
you're going to listen to my intonation
of the word banana and you're going to
tell me am i asking you a yes/no
question or am I asking you a different
type of question okay so listen very
carefully
are you ready banana banana banana what
do you think banana banana banana
if you said that went up at the end
you're right I just asked you a yes/no
question without using those words let's
try again banana banana banana banana
banana banana hear that again if you
thought I was asking a yes/no question
you're correct let's try again
banana banana banana banana banana
banana okay so what kind of question do
you think I was asking you you might
have noticed it went down at the end so
yeah I'm asking one of these types of
questions so now I want you to try it
okay if you're with other people you
might feel like you don't want to look
crazy so you might want to practice this
at home maybe when you're in the
bathroom or something you can say banana
in different ways to practice saying a
yes/no question where it goes up or a
different type of question where it goes
down so let's look at other ways we can
change the meaning of something using
our intonation so we also use intonation
when we're making a statement so what is
a statement well it's a sentence that's
not a question
where you're saying some sort of fact or
just giving information so for example I
like pizza
this is a statement notice I'm not
saying I like pizza no I'm saying I like
pizza so at the end my voice goes down
my intonation falls
now for most statements your voice is
going to fall at the end unless you're
emphasizing something or you know that's
the main reason why a statement would
not follow this pattern but for most
statements the intonation goes down okay
so if I was using banana and I wanted to
make a statement I could say banana
banana banana banana banana banana
notice it goes down another time I might
use intonation is when I'm listing a lot
of different things so a list is when
you're saying multiple things so for
example I like pizza cake fruit and pie
so I listed four things in that sentence
so I would use intonation when I'm
listing something so intonation here is
a little bit more
tricky and the reason is you have
intonation going up for each item so I'm
Pizza I'd go up for cake up for fruit up
and on pie it goes down so think up up
down the last thing is down when you're
listing so if I was using banana in this
case I'd say banana banana banana banana
banana banana okay so that's an example
so now I want you to listen I'm gonna
say banana and I want you to tell me am
i listing something or am I just making
a statement okay so listen carefully to
my intonation banana banana banana
banana banana banana what do you think
in this case you'll notice I went up up
up and down I was listing things let's
do this again banana banana banana
banana
maybe my hand give it away button banana
banana banana banana what did you notice
was i listing or was i making a
statement in this case I was making a
statement okay so this is fun because
even if you don't understand what
somebody is saying you might not
understand their words you can still
understand some of their meaning are
they asking a type of question are they
making a statement
are they listing items so intonation is
very important now let's think about
feelings and intonation and see how we
can show our feelings by using the music
of English so we use intonation to show
our feelings okay so for those of you
who like acting this is going to be a
lot of fun for you because what I'm
going to do is I have here some feelings
and you're going to guess which feelings
I'm using but first let me show you
how we use intonation to express these
feelings the first feeling is happy or
excitement
so you'll notice intonation rises when
we're trying to express happiness okay
so for example with banana banana banana
banana or let me think it's kind of hard
to say banana happy but banana banana
banana banana banana banana okay yeah so
it kind of goes up for sad falls banana
banana banana and I know my face is
acting it's hard to do the tones without
the facial expressions so I'm sorry if
that's giving clues
so again sad banana banana
they're confused banana banana banana so
there's a rise for annoyed or mad banana
banana banana okay notice there's more
force and it's a fall baa nanna okay
finally surprise it's a rise like happy
banana banana
okay so even me saying these words is
it's not really natural because I'm not
used to saying banana in these different
ways and maybe I'm not the best actress
but maybe you're better which would be
nice for when you play this game so I
want you to listen and try to guess
maybe what feelings am I expressing okay
banana banana banana banana so what do
you think he said
sad you're correct let's try another one
banana banana banana banana banana
banana banana so this was either happy
maybe surprised let's do another one
hmm banana bananas what do you think in
this one I was trying to sound confused
all right last one
ba nan na banana so what do you think
this one I was trying to sound annoyed
or angry okay so it's a weird game like
I said but by focusing on just the word
banana you can really focus on
intonation because that's the only
meaning you're getting you're not
getting any other meaning so this is a
fun game to practice and then of course
you want to start using this in real
sentences and real words but as a game
and for practice intonation this is a
really fun way to do it I recommend
doing this with a friend and what you
can do is you can you know write a bunch
of words on a card or on different cards
somebody takes a card they read the
words so for example it might say happy
and then they have to you know make the
sentence using the word banana and then
their partner guesses what they're
trying to say
using intonation as the clue so the main
point of this video was to show you that
for English English is more than words
okay the music of English or the
intonation of English really matters and
it really tells a lot to your listener
so how you say something in English is
so important it can change the whole me
what you're trying to say and it also
can help people know what's expected of
them for their response or their answer
especially in questions so I invite you
to check out our website at wwlp.com
and there you can find a quiz on the
material covered in this lesson I also
invite you to subscribe to my channel
there you can find all sorts of
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up so thank you for watching
banana and until next time take care