Private Tutoring -- /l/ /n/ Pronunciation Exercises - China

<b>Forum for ideas on how to teach pronunciation </b>

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Yelsel China
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Private Tutoring -- /l/ /n/ Pronunciation Exercises - China

Post by Yelsel China » Wed Nov 05, 2003 5:27 am

I have begun tutoring a Chinese college freshman with excellent English vocabulary, and he has a hunger for learning perfect pronunciation. My biggest difficulty is that he cannot hear the difference between /l/ and /n/.

Consequently, when he says my name, Lesley, it sounds like "Nesley", or when he says his name, Lloyd, it sounds like "noyd". The placement of the tongue for these 2 consonants is SO close, and quite frankly, I can make an /l/ sound with my tongue in the /n/ position, so how can I coach him on this?

My next session with him is in a few days, so any help you can provide would be very much appreciated!

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Lorikeet
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Post by Lorikeet » Wed Nov 05, 2003 7:10 am

I usually get that error from some of my Cantonese-speaking students. Apparently it can be pronounced either way by some Cantonese speakers, so it isn't significant to them. If I point out the difference and we practice listening/speaking minimal pairs, they can usually hear it, but they still make mistakes. Since /n/ is a nasal sound, I'd try explaining that /m/, /n/ and /ng/ are all nasals, and see if he can pretend he has a cold and try and make the /l/. If that doesn't work, I'd have him hold his nose and try it. ;)

EH
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Post by EH » Wed Nov 05, 2003 4:23 pm

I like Lorikeet's ideas. Here are a few more:

Have the student place a finger horizontally against his upper lip, right under the nose. If he can feel a tiny puff of air (and vibration) tickling his finger when he makes the sound, then it's /n/. If not, it's /l/.

Also, although the tongue tip is in pretty much the same place for /n/ and /l/, the sides of the tongue are not. To make /n/, you have to seal off the oral cavity with the tongue sides up against the upper teeth. With /l/, the tongue sides don't usually touch anything at all. Try touching the sides of the student's tongue with an icy tongue depressor, or a chopstick dipped in something strong tasting (jam, vinegar, etc.) to make him more aware of those tongue areas and what they're up to when he phonates.

Another thing you might want to do is to see what contexts the student confuses the sounds in. For example, some students can totally tell the difference between two similar sounds at the end of words, but not at the beginning of words. Or perhaps the hardest context is in the middle of words, or after/before certain other sounds. You might find that the student is really good at sound discrimination in some contexts, and that might be a place to start from when you're picking stimulus words to teach.

Good luck,
-EH

Yelsel China
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Post by Yelsel China » Fri Nov 07, 2003 10:13 am

Thank you guys for the suggestions. If anyone else has more, I would love to hear them b/c he is really set on getting it right. In response to EH's question as to when he has difficulty, it is mostly at the beginning of a word beginning with /l/ -- so my name has become Nesley (like Nestle). He still can't hear it, though. I will try the chopstick idea (since I don't have a tongue depressor, and I'd be hard pressed to know that in Mandarin). :lol:

Keep the suggestions coming if more people have ideas!

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Lorikeet
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Post by Lorikeet » Fri Nov 07, 2003 4:01 pm

Ah good idea on the tongue position EH. I didn't pay attention to that. ;)

EH
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Post by EH » Mon Nov 10, 2003 10:33 pm

I actually just got a catalogue from www.speechdynamics.com.
I've never ordered anything from them before so I don't know how good they are, but if you're looking for things like flavored tongue depressors, mouth mirrors (like dentists use), oral stimulation brushes, or pictures/diagrams of the mouth making different sounds, this might be a good place to try. Or, if (like me) you don't feel like spending money, it might at least be worth a look to get ideas.

-EH

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