Barrister or solicitor?

Transcription

1 Activity 1 Listening for gist The interviewer is talking to a secondary school Law teacher about why she didn t become a lawyer. What does she say about the differences between a barrister s work and a solicitor s? Listen to the recording and tick the boxes in the table. Barrister Solicitor They have a lot of paperwork to do. They don t go to court very often. They are more highly educated. They wear a wig. They may be sued for negligence. Activity 2 Speaking Discuss the following question: Why did you decide to study law and/or become a lawyer? Activity 3 Listening for unstressed words Look at these sentences from the recording: wouldn t like the amount... paperwork solicitors have do barrister... be... specialist..., maybe, criminal law. Only the stressed words are written, with the stressed syllables marked in bold. The unstressed words are missing, but can you understand the sentences anyway? Can you guess the missing words? Write them into the sentences. Now listen to the sentences and try to hear the unstressed words. How are the vowel sounds pronounced? Page 1 of 7

2 Activity 4 Grammar and stress What kinds of words are unstressed in English? Why do you think this is? Activity 5 Pronunciation Underline the unstressed syllables in the following sentences from the recording: 1. It s quite rare that they actually go to court. 2. You would have had more in-depth understanding of a particular legal area. 3. One reason why I decided not to be a barrister is because I don t think it s me. 4. You would have to be thinking about what s going to be happening next with that person. Listen and check your answers. Now practise saying the sentences with the correct stressed and unstressed syllables Page 2 of 7

3 Teaching notes Level: upper-intermediate (B2). Specialism: Law students or professionals. Objective: to understand what weak forms are, when they occur, why they matter and how to pronounce them. Time: approximately 40 minutes. Materials The authentic audio recording and extracts can be downloaded from by searching for and clicking on the green audio icon. Recording 1: the complete conversation for activity 1 (2:54) Recording 2: the sentences for activity 3 (0:08) Recording 3: the sentences for activity 5 (0:24). Procedures and answers Lead-in Ask learners if they can explain the difference between what a barrister does and what a solicitor does (see activity 1 below for answers). Activity 1 Listening for gist Play the whole conversation (recording 1). Answers Barrister Solicitor They have a lot of paperwork to do. They don t go to court very often. They are more highly educated. They wear a wig. They may be sued for negligence. Activity 2 Speaking This is the opportunity for learners to compare their own views with those in the recording Page 3 of 7

4 Activity 3 Listening for unstressed words Ask students if they can understand the gist of the sentences. They should then try to guess the missing words. Play the two sentences (recording 2). Ask students to listen for the missing words and check their answers. Answers 1. I wouldn t like the amount of paperwork that solicitors have to do. 2. A barrister would be a specialist in, maybe, criminal law. Point out that words of more than one syllable can contain stressed and unstressed syllables, and that one-syllable words may be stressed or unstressed. In both cases, the unstressed syllables tend to be pronounced as schwa: /ə/. This sound is made with the tongue and lips completely relaxed. Some syllables which are only very lightly stressed may be pronounced as /ɪ/. This phenomenon is important because it helps students recognise words in fast spoken English and helps them speak more fluently themselves. Here are the sentences again with the phonemic symbols below the unstressed syllables: 1. I wouldn t like the amount of paperwork that solicitors have to do. /ə/ /ənt/ /ə/ /əv/ /pə/ /ðət/ /səˈlɪsɪtəz/ /tə/ 2. A barrister would be a specialist in, maybe, criminal law. /ə/ /ˈbærɪstə /wəd/ /ə/ /ɪn/ /ˈkrɪmənəl/ Note that the is pronounced /ðiː/ only before vowel sounds. It is pronounced /ðə/ before consonant sounds. Activity 4 Grammar and stress Suggested answer Function words tend to be unstressed in English because they don t carry the main meaning. They include: 1. articles (a/an/the) 2. auxiliary verbs (e.g. is/would/have) 3. conjunctions (e.g. and/but/then) 4. prepositions/particles (e.g. in/to/of) 5. pronouns (e.g. you/they/that) Page 4 of 7

5 When they are unstressed, they are known as the weak forms of the words. Students may be surprised that this is in fact the usual pronunciation of these words. They tend to be stressed only: in short answers (e.g. Yes, I would.) in negatives (e.g. We aren t ready.)* for emphasis (e.g. What are you doing?) *This means that when a sentence is negative, you hear the auxiliary clearly, but not the negative part! In an affirmative sentence or a question, you often scarcely hear the auxiliary at all. Activity 5 Pronunciation Ask students to use their knowledge to predict which syllables will be unstressed. Then play the sentences (recording 3) so they can check. 1. It s quite rare that they actually go to court. 2. You would have had more in-depth understanding of a particular legal area. 3. One reason why I decided not to be a barrister is because I don t think it s me. 4. You would have to be thinking about what s going to be happening next with that person. Note: Because of her legal and teaching background, the main speaker articulates more clearly than many native speakers, e.g. You would instead of You d. The have in have to is the main verb, not an auxiliary, therefore it is stressed Page 5 of 7

6 Transcript A: When you said that, at one stage, you thought you d like to be a barrister Yeah. A: did you ever consider being a solicitor instead? Erm solicitor, no, only because I wouldn t like the amount of paperwork that A: Right. solicitors have to do. Erm, and it s quite rare that they actually go to court whereas barristers don t wait to go to court, less paperwork, they do do paperwork, but there s less paperwork, erm, and I don t think it s that exciting, although it s important the work that they do, I don t think it s that exciting. A: Right. Erm, also the fact of being a barrister you would have had to go through more, erm, education as well. A: OK. so you would have had more in-depth understanding of a particular legal area A: Mmm hmm. B erm so you d be a specialist in that field erm with solicitors, they would be a specialist in their area, but it s not as big, so for example a barrister would be a specialist in, maybe criminal law, which is a vast area whereas, erm, a solicitor may be like, family, family (unintelligible) which is equally important, but is not an array of different issues that they need to take A: OK. into consideration. A: OK. Mmm. Also, wearing a wig and everything (laughs) A: You what, sorry? Page 6 of 7

7 wearing a wig and everything it s embarrassing A: Oh yes. Yes. The prestige! (Laughs) But then again, one reason why I decided not to be a barrister is because I don t think it s me. I liked learning it A: Mmm, mmm. and I liked learning different issues, but, I don t think I would be confident enough to stand in a box, well not yet, not technically in a box, but standing in court defending someone that I know is guilty A: Right. Yeah, and I imagine I d find it hugely upsetting because, yeah, you, you, I mean, as a barrister you d be so much responsible Yeah. A: for people s lives and what happened to their lives. I mean, I know that, you know, if I lost a case for a client I d just feel dreadful. It must be Yeah. A: really quite a tough job. A: Day in day out you would have to be thinking about what s going to be happening next with that person. Is that person going to be going court, and if they go to court and if they go to jail are they going to jail because of what you ve done? That s it. Yeah, absolutely. And when and when can you think right, that s it, I m prepared enough for this case and I know I ve been And not only that, you can now sue, erm, your barrister for negligence A: Oh! so if you haven t done your job properly, which is understandable, if you haven t done your job properly you should be punished A: Mmm, mmm, mmm. in some way A: Mmm, mmm. but what if you ve done your job to the highest standards that you can, that s it. A: And then the jury just took against that person. Yep, yep, yep. There s nothing you can do there. A: Absolutely Page 7 of 7