English Fluency: Improve your INTONATION with the Banana Game

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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

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 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's about.

Okay, so, The Banana Game.

This is a game that I learned from my friend Melinda, who is 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.

Also, 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's 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

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 going to 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 going to say "banana" a lot, but I promise I am not crazy!

So, now let's start playing.

Okay, 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 words like "Is, Are,

Can, Does, Did", and the answer the person whose 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 a rise at the end, so it goes

So, if my word "banana" was a "yes/no question", it would sound like "banaNA?"

Notice the rise at the end, "banaNA"?

So, that would be an example of a "yes/no" question.

"WH" questions are questions that have the words "Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How"

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

So, "banaNA", "baNAna", notice the difference.

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.

"Banana banana banaNA?"

What do you think?

"Banana banana banaNA?"

If you said it 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?"

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

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!", 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 your emphasizing

something or, you know, that's the main reason why a statement would not follow this pattern,

but for most statements, 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."

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

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 on pizza it'd go up, for cake, up, for fruit, up, and on pie, it

So think, up, 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 going to 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 gave it away, but: "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 in 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" "BanaNA!",

so it kind of goes up.

For sad, it 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.

What about confused?

So, there's a rise.

For annoyed or mad: BaNAna, BaNAna, BaNAna, notice there's more force and there's a fall,

And finally, surprise, it's a rise, like happy.

Okay, so even me saying these words, 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?

You said "sad", you're correct.

Let's try another one: BanaNA?

So, this was either happy, maybe surprised.

Okay, let's do another one, hm.

What do you think?

This one, I was trying to sound confused.

Alright, last one: 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 word,

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

So, the main point of this video was to show you that, for English, English is more than

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 meaning of 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 website at www.engvid.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 different information on pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary,

test preparation, and much more.

When you subscribe, make sure you hit the bell, or ring the bell, to make sure you get

the latest notifications on any new videos coming up.

So, thank you for watching, banaNA, and until next time, take care.