Korean Job Discussion Forums

Badmojo · Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 9:57 pm Post subject: Unusual spellings

Before I get out of here next month I want to spend some time with my classes on weird English spellings. I remember trying to learn how to read Korean last year and making some offhand comment about an exception and how stupid it was and that it didn't make sense. Then my lovely, lovely teacher replied, "Oh, yeah? English is worse. "Ph" is 'f' and "kn" is 'n'." To which I rolled my eyes and replied, "Yeah, well, everybody knows that."

Anyway she was right and I was wrong.

What are the strange rules for our language? Offhand I can think of

ph = f
gn = n
kn = n
-ly = lee (ugly, pretty etc)
ci = s sound (circus etc)
-ight = ite (right, light etc)
ugh - f (rough, cough)

Help me out please, I got to go to work now. Smile

TJ · Joined: 10 Mar 2003

neandergirl · Joined: 23 Jun 2005

http://pauillac.inria.fr/~xleroy/stuff/english-pronunciation.html
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/poem01.html
http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/G/Ghoti.htm

Flossie · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:41 pm Post subject:

When I teach r I teach it at the same time as l and w. I usually write these words on the board:

lay way ray
lie why rye
light white rite (or right)
late wait rate

there are lots of others I use but I can't remember them right now. Good way to remind myself of the idiosyncracies of English. I always joke with my students about how hard it must be for them and about how happy I am that Korean has very few exceptions (in comparison to English)

Qinella · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Location: the crib

G gorilla
G giraffe

Silent E on the end indicates long vowel: dive, strive, hive, time, bite, kite (long I). Unless you are saying give or live. Whoops!

Wr = R write, wring, wrestle

Badmojo · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:19 pm Post subject:

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

A student encountered the word "gnarl" and pronounced it "gu-narl".

Me: Henry, you pronounce it "narl".

Henry: Where does the "g" go?

Me: The same mysterious alternate universe where the missing letters in the singer Sade's name come from.

Henry: What?

Me: It's silent. Like the K in knife.

Henry: Oh.

kermo · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:41 pm Post subject:

What's a ghoti?

It's easy-- just sound it out. "Gh" as in "cough", "o" as in "women" and "ti" as in "nation".

Hanson · Joined: 20 Oct 2004

How about "indict"? I can't even read it without thinking of the wrong pronunciation!

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

or the ever popular there, their and they're

tomato · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 5:16 am Post subject:

Have you noticed that houses is pronounced with a z sound on the first s, whereas horses is pronounced with an s sound on the first s?

I noticed that for the first time when I was teaching a class.

Dawn · Joined: 06 Mar 2004

ce-, -ce, ci-, and cy- generally make the soft c (/s/) sound.
Ex. cent, face, circus, cycle
ge-, -ge, gi-, and gy- supposedly make the soft g (/j/) sound most of the time.
Ex. gem, page, giraffe, gym
Unfortunately, in the case of gi-, there are a number of words that *don't* follow the rule, including "girl" -- one of the first words most students learn.

Other fun combinations include the following:
-mb as in thumb and lamb (silent "b")
-dge as in lodge and fudge (silent "d")
-tch as in catch and witch (silent "t")
-tle as in castle and hustle (silent "t")
-bt as in debt and doubt (silent "b")

Also, pn- can be taught along with the other unique /n/ spellings, and you may want to mention that -gn can also come at the end of a word, as in sign and design. My younger kids invariably try to read -ign as -ing.

ajuma · Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

Be sure to include the fact that the "s" in "island" is silent!!

The evil penguin · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 5:38 pm Post subject:

Sleepy in Seoul · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 6:37 pm Post subject:

Just give your students this poem. It's quite long, so here is just an excerpt: