Korean Job Discussion Forums

[some waygug-in]

I was teaching a phonics lesson last year and I was going over the long A
short A sounds with my students. After class the Korean teacher asked my why I only teach 2 sounds when there are 4 in English.

I can come up with 3, but the fourth eludes me...

Anyone got a clue what she was talking about?


long A as in cake

short A as in cat

Au sound as in father, tall, walk

[poet13]

Woudn't it be like a short 'e'?
We don't relly say AmericAn (hAt), we say AmericEn (wEt).

I have no idea though. It's the first I've thought of it...

[some waygug-in]

That may be what it is. It sounds plausable.

Anyone know for sure?

[kimchi story]

it's the upside down 'e' sound, schwa - no?

[spyro25]

there are many sounds for A, depending on where you come from you will use a variety of them.

http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/vowels.html

most of those at the bottom of that chart you would call 'a'. of course there is variation in which ones you will use and others use, and there are also combinations of them if your vowel sounds like a dipthong (two vowel sounds together). sounds like your student needs to know this the next time they think they are 'better than teacher'

[some waygug-in]

I'm talking about standard American/Canadian pronunciation.

But thanks for the link. That site is cool.

[spyro25]

[The Cosmic Hum]

I think it depends on how specific you think you want to be.

There are two distinct A sounds like you mentioned.
Long A - cake
Short A - cat

As for the "a" in "father"...it is mostly a spelling thing..not a clear "a" sound.
As an example...take the pronunciation of "hot"...that short "O" sound is very similar...and in many cases identical in pronunciation to the "a" in words like wall, ball, and father.
That being said...there is a slight difference...and it becomes clearer when you compare it to the Korean ㅏ sound. While it is clear that it is not the long or short A...it is not the "O" of hot.
If you take the Korean family name like 박 which has been translated as Park...not even close in my opinion...it would be much better as Bahk.
If you compare Bock and Bahk...you will get the slight difference in sound from the short "o" to the ㅏ.
In English...hmm...accents very greatly...but the "a" in father, ball...could easily be replaced with the short "o" and the similar or( in many cases) exactly the same sound would be reproduced.
Not sure if any of this is helpful to you...but for what it is worth...the difference in pronunciation is often not as distinct to the ear as it is to the eye.

[tfunk]

There's also 'eigh' which isn't a seperate sound but a different spelling.

weight.
sleigh etc.

[ddeubel]

You could look at this. I have all the letters, with short videos. To be used one a day, like vitamins for classrooms.

http://www.esnips.com/doc/ea6a5e08-77de-4b15-8234-3ffe62177d33/Letter-A

DD

[some waygug-in]

Thanks for all your responses. I am aware that there are a lot of regional differences, but how much of that should I go into in an elementary level classroom?

My guess is I should stick to long and short A,
and perhaps touch on the au or what ever you call it in

Father.

I can certainly see why English is a difficult language to learn.

First we tell them "This is A"

Then we tell them "apple"

Already "A" has changed sounds.........

Then we teach them "What's your name?"

In this sentence "A" has two different sounds.



Confused yet?

I can see why students would be.

[Old fat expat]

I feel sorry for Korean students. They are saddled with trying to learn a second language from hagwons that know little about the language, who hire teachers that seem also to know little about the language as well.

� � short �a� sound; as in apple, cat, pat, sat.
a: - long �a� sound; as in father, far, car
ə - schwa, an unstressed/weak vowel as in the ago, banana
ei - diphthong-a combination of two vowels; as in hate, ate, debate, cake. Oddly we use the diphthong to describe the �a� sound when saying the alphabet.

There are other diphthongs that could fall into the 'a' category, such as the sound in hair (the e and upside down e together), or the sound in cow (aƱ).

So, cake is a diphthong-not a long 'a' as a previous poster suggests. To the same poster: father is a clear long 'a'. Also note that the vowel sounds in hot and ball are not similar at all.

Given the facts that English is a vowel driven language, and that most irregular verbs change tense with a change in the vowel, knowing your vowel sounds and being able to teach the differences clearly is not a bad idea.

As for changing sounds from what the symbols are called and how they sound-well Hangul does the same.

[some waygug-in]

Bravo. You are very well versed in phonetics.

However, do you really feel this is appropriate to be teaching to elementary school children?

Especially considering that the majority of texts which they are bound to encounter do describe the sounds of "a" as long = cake
and short = cat.

Just asking.

[yingwenlaoshi]

You know what's funny? 'Bag'. I pronouce the 'a' like a diphtonged long 'a'. Not short 'a'.

[Bibbitybop]

"a" in "a$shole" is is "r" in "ar$ehole" when speaking Scottish English.