Job Discussion Forums

[Roger]

Super Mario,
no, my English is not an 'Afrikaans accented English" - never was; in fact down south I was routinely taken for a Scotsman or an IRish but several years of living in CHina has sandpapered my pronunciation.
Why should we define "standard English"? I refute the claim made by a poster who is not into teaching ENglish at any school that our students acquire American accents, or that American accents are favoured.
That's a counter-truth, pure and simple.
There are parents that rave over a child mimicking a broad Texan drawl; fine with me - if the kid can sustain such an accent. I wouldn't interfere with that.
But the majority acquire no distinct accent apart from a Chinese pronunciation and a typical flat voice delivering their English.

"Standard" is a flexible term but so is "American English", and I am sure, even Aussie strine! What our students need is a good idea (there may be no "accuracy" here) of how to articulate certain sound clusters such as 'thw' as in 'thwart'. A standard version of English is one in which their English is purified without being anglified or americanified. It means they pronounce 'bike' as 'bike' rather than as 'back', and consistently pronounce the 'I' in words such as 'like' the same, correct way.

[sheeba]

OP

I've had the same problem over my time here . I've learnt that it's up to you as the teacher to go in there and find what your students have problems with . Use your freedom and try different things .Learn how to teach here first and your goals will become clearer . I'm currently finding that rapport in Chinese Uni classes is of a great importance so relax with the students and they'll be more responsive . Don't drill them with aims every lesson . Relax a bit and play some games. Have a simple aim for yourself and of course your students each lesson. My aim last week was to have the students smiling as they leave the classroom . Not exactly a CELTA aim but makes a difference in my class.

[KES]

[kev7161]

In my opinion, "standard" English is English that is easy to understand when spoken and not heavily laden with local slang ("local" meaning the area from which you hail). Accents don't bother me at all, unless they are so deep that even I, as a native English speaker, have to really strain my brain to comprehend. Throw in a mess of slang words and you've lost me. Now, try getting a non-native speaker who is studying the basic concepts of English to understand this kind of garbled speak. Probably next to impossible.

If most people who post at Dave's speak the way they write, then there shouldn't be too many problems in conveying some sort of "standard" English to your students (again, depending on how deep of an accent you have).

As to the OP, well this thread is several days old now, have you gotten what you've needed (here or elsewhere)?