Teacher Discussion Forums

My student has expressed a need for tools to assist to help with thinking on her feet when it comes to implementing pronunciation rules. We have worked a lot on phonemes and their respective tongue-positioning, and now of course, it is a matter of practice... but also, is there not some general orie...

I found talking about language in terms of syllables helps. Since the -ee at the end of the word creates another syllable. See if framing, for example, "language" as a one syllable word helps. This pre-thought helped my spanish-speaking student when he would add an extra sound at the end of -ed word...

I am throwing out a big question here, to get feedback in what ever natural shape and form it may come in, and the question is......: what do those of you who teach adults in a classroom like about this particular format? What are the biggest struggles? For me, I have just begun to teach adult- ESL ...

But somehow the schwa seems to have some implications: that the clarity of the vowel relative to the other syllables is an indicator of a stressed syllable. This is a guideline in a sense, is it not? Today I worked with my student having her pay attention to the vowels she hears in the words, as the...

Hello, I had some thoughts. A light bulb, although it may need to be put out: If a syllable in a word is unstressesd, does that not make the sound in that syllable a schwa? In other words, are schwas in all unstressed syllables? :? Are not only the stressed syllables in a word the ones that actually...

Thanks EH. The program you suggested conforms with what I have been doing. It is strange to think that my instincts are working. But, yes, I think what I am draw from your comment is the importance of continual practice, and trying to make this sort of exercise meaningful since progress can actually...

Hello- Manipulating the tongue to create certain vowel sounds- this is my woe. I am trying to teach my spanish speakign student how to make the "I" sound as in "kit" or "it". This sound is depicted on graphs on wikipedia and it is quite wonderful to identify as a first step where the sound is happen...

Thank you for your thoughts and ideas. EH (funny phonetic sound) I think you may be right, that speech is indeed one proper path...although I wonder if their is an ESL version of speech-making, since the learning of new english sounds happens in the context of the native language- in other words hav...

Hello there! I would like to know how other teachers are managing to effectively communicate and demonstrate how they say specific sounds, to their students? I teach one-on-one, and my student is quite adamant about her understanding of much of grammar, vocab, ultimately wanting to reduce her accent...