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So you think French is hard?

 
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china_sk8er



Joined: 30 Oct 2004
Posts: 166
Location: Harbin

PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:04 pm    Post subject: So you think French is hard? Reply with quote

A little poem from my TESOL book.

Have fun and enjoy.

I take it you already know
of tough and bough and cough and dough
Others may stumble but not you,
on hiccough, thorough, tough and through
Well done!

And now you wish perhaps
to learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
that looks like beard and sounds like bird
And dead--it's said like bed not bead--
for goodness' sake don't call it deed.

Watch out for meat and great and threat.,
(they rhyme with suite and straight and debt)
a moth is not a moth in mother,
nor both in bother, broth in brother
And here is not a match for there
nor dear and fear for bear and pear
And then there's dose and rose and lose,
just look them up--goose and choose
and cork and work and card and ward
and front and font, and word and sword,
and do and go, and wart and cart--
come come! I've hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I mastered it when I was five!

I'm gonna photocopy this for my class and bring it in and hear each of them read this aloud.

Should be a good time.

Cheers
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dmb



Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How did the lesson go?
I showed it to a private student today and was surprised at how well he read it.
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poro



Joined: 04 Oct 2004
Posts: 274

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 3:05 pm    Post subject: French Reply with quote

French can pronounce the simple sound 'O' in eight different ways:

O, AU, EAU, -OT, -OS, -AUT, -AUX, and -EAUX.
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Stephen Jones



Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 4:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
French can pronounce the simple sound 'O' in eight different ways:

O, AU, EAU, -OT, -OS, -AUT, -AUX, and -EAUX.
You mean write not pronounce.
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poro



Joined: 04 Oct 2004
Posts: 274

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stephen Jones wrote:
Quote:
French can pronounce the simple sound 'O' in eight different ways:

O, AU, EAU, -OT, -OS, -AUT, -AUX, and -EAUX.
You mean write not pronounce.


No, I think they can all be pronounced more or less 'O', Stephen, or something so close to it, that it would make no difference to a foreigner. And no difference to a French person either, because he would understand what was meant.
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Stephen Jones



Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Exactly; there are eight written forms which are pronounced one and the same way.

Think about it!
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Brooks



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1369
Location: Sagamihara

PostPosted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

good poem.
I have seen it before but it was longer.

If anyone knows of other poems like this, please post or provide a link.

thanks
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Gordon



Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 5:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd be afraid to give this to my 4th year English majors. It would squash their confidence. None could read it or worse it would take 30 mins and put me and everyone else asleep.
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