Search results for 'tag:Universities tag:Pronunciation' matching tags 'Universities' and 'Pronunciation'

Looking for some tips and/or curriculum suggestions

mikesusangray — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:50:11 GMT

Hi all!

I've been giving English conversation lessons to a theology professor for about a year now. He's getting on in the years - a couple years from retirement - and his primary goal has been just to get his spoken English going a little stronger. His mother tongue is French but he's been teaching at a German language university for many years.

I'd like to add some more specific inputs to our lessons but I can't seem to find the right material. His passive skills are excellent - he reads widely and with perfect comprehension in his field - and he can communicate quite understandably. He is a linguistics specialist and can grasp any concept about the language immediately. I brought along Cambridge Advanced Grammar in Use and he could plow through a chapter in five minutes with perfect conceptual comprehension.

However, he also continues to make very simple errors - for example, he has trouble choosing between present simple and continuous or often uses the present tense for past events. Sentence order tends to get wander hither and yon while definite and indefinite articles come and go with the tide. (Prepositions are a problem too, but I won't beat him to hard there - prepositions are difficult in any new language.) In many cases his mistakes are typical of French or German speech patterns.

One other limitation is that he enjoys the weekly lessons (a good hour), but doesn't have much time to study in between.

Right now we spend about 15 minutes reading a chapter from Advanced Grammar in Use and about 45 minutes talking about just about anything under the sun, while I take notes and show him problems under the categories Pronunciation/Articles & Prespositions/Word Order/Other Grammar/Vocabulary/Idioms. However, I don't think the work book is a good choice - particularly since he doesn't do the homework - and it seems like he isn't making very good progress with his typical problem patterns - though he greets them like old friends when I point them out.

Any tips here?

Re: a(n) university ??

Yankee — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:50:07 GMT

The use of 'a' or 'an' is based on pronunciation.

If a word begins with a vowel sound, you should use 'an'. For example:

- an apple
- an elephant
- an idea
- an orange
- an umbrella
- an hour
- an SOS

If a word begins with a consonant sound, you should use 'a'. This includes some words that have a vowel at the beginning. For example:

- a ewe
- a university
- a uniform
- a unique person

Re: W is a vowel

Kooyeen — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:47:39 GMT

I agree with those who say there could be several definitions.

Considering letters. Vowels: A E I O U (so W is not included here)
Considering sounds. Vowel sounds: all those in the IPA vowel chart. (so W is not included here either. "The" is pronounced "thee" and the article "a" becomes "an" before vowel sounds of this kind, so say "a wall" and "a university")
Considering sounds more broadly. I think dark l's (as in "wall"), r-colored schwas (as in the last syllable of "powder"), w-sounds and y-sounds ("wall", "year") can all have some points in common with vowels. That's why some people often consider W a semi-vowel.

In general, I usually don't consider W a vowel, for several reasons. Here's some that came to my mind:
the end - the winner <-- does not behave like a vowel when considering some changes in pronunciation
an oar - a war <-- does not behave like a vowel when considering those articles
at all - at work <-- does not behave like a vowel when considering tapped t's

That said, it's just my opinion, and there are lots of other different definitions of vowel that make sense.

PLZ help with primary research: Presentation Problem

fanofken4ever — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:52:46 GMT

I am an university student in Vietnam. I am studying to write primary research essay now. I alreasy choose topic: Presentation Problems because the topic must relate to culture and education subjects.

I created some questions and hope that you can help to answer it so that I can collect the data to finish the essay. if you recommend any other question, plz write down. Thank you very much in advance.

1.Do you like presenting? If yes, why? If no, why not?

2. What kind of presentation do you prefer? (informative, argumentative, etc) Why?

3. What is the most challenging part when you prepare for a presenation?

- Choose topic

- Finding material

- Generating ideas

- Rehersal

- Other? (Please clarify)

4. What is the most difficult presentation skills in your opinion?

- Body language (eyes contact, posture, gesture, etc)

- Pronunciation

- Visual aids

- Questions handling

- create audience interest

- Other? (Plz clarify)

5. How do you feel before presenting?

- Very confident

- Confident

- So So

- Nervous

- Extremely nervous

5. If you feel nervous, what do you do to gain more confidence?

- Listen to music

- Talk with friends

- Practise again

- Eat something

- Do small exercise

- Other (Plz clarify)

6. What happens when you feel nervous during your presentation?

7. Why do you feel difficult when presention in front of a group of people?

- lack of confidence about your ability to handle unexpected problem (that you think might happen when you present)

- lack of condidence about your apperance

- lack of confidence about your presentation, your preparation, your knowledge

- other (plz clarify)

Hope to recive your answer soon. Thanks again ^^

Re: Poll: British English vs American English

Cool Breeze — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:49:26 GMT

When I attended school in the late Middle Ages, I never wondered whether I was taught British or American English. I suppose I was taught both: differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. I find it strange that anyone would like to confine his knowledge of the language to just one variety. Why on earth? And how could that be possible? I have seen him is both British and American! I don't know how it could be possible to learn just one variety as they are so similar, after all. The dialectal differences in Britain are far greater than the differences between British and American English, as I have said before in some other thread.

Brits understand Americans even if they have never been taught American English, and vice versa. If a Finnish teacher of English has spent a lot of time in England or the US, he may be more familiar with one variety and may thus want to emulate British or American pronunciation in his teaching. The students can't help hearing both because all the texts in the books that are used are recorded on CDs by native speakers, who include Brits, Americans, Canadians, Australians and even the occasional Indian. All these nationalities are employed in nationwide listening comprehension tests as well.

When a Finn is enrolled in a university, few of the books on the syllabus are in Finnish unless he studies Finnish Philology or Finnish History or something similar. If he studies social sciences, biology, medicine etc. the majority of the books are in English. In some cases he may be able to choose a book in another language also, usually Swedish, German or French. As a rule, it is safe to say that university studies are not possible if you are unable to understand scientific books written in English. These books may be written by Britons, Americans, Finns, Germans, Spaniards or people representing other nationalities because English is the leading language of science and no university can function properly without English. Some of the visiting lecturers and professors don't speak a word of Finnish!

It seems utterly trivial and futile to me to try to concentrate on just British or American English when one just can't manage with only one variety and the differences are so small.

Cheers

Re: No Vowvels but using "AN" with it why ??? ...

Madame_butterfly — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:03:08 GMT

Thank you Grammar Geek for your compliment, I am glad to be here with you sharing and learning. In fact I have also meant what you said. If the pronunciation starts with a consonant sound then it takes "a", as in "university". Besides, as in "hour", the pronunciation starts with a vowel, and it takes "an". I think we agree on the same idea. I hope I could make myself clear enough

Re: When I have trouble...

CalifJim — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:23:04 GMT

I know of a case where a woman from Columbia studied at a university in Georgia.
At the end of her years in the U.S. she went back to her native country, and, to the dismay of her relatives, she spoke English with a Southern accent, unlike any of her siblings who had been educated at northern universities in the U.S. (I don't think it was a matter of any effort to pick up any 'micro-pronunciation'. It just happened through imitation.)
_____________

While travelling in Italy, I ran across a shop-keeper who spoke extremely fluent English, with a Cockney accent and vocabulary. (Again, I don't think she tried to pick up a certain 'micro-pronunciation'. It just happened through imitation.)
_____________

I have a male friend who learned French exclusively from women teachers.
Later, travelling in France, when he spoke French to native speakers, they commented that he spoke somewhat like a woman. It was very embarrassing for him. The source of the problem seems obvious to me.
_____________

It's anecdotes like these that led me to give the advice I did.

CJ

Re: Teaching pronunciation of regular verbs in past simple

Titithi — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:46:58 GMT

I don't think it's necessary to explain what is a voiceless and voiced sound in past simple ( pronunciation of regular verbs). Imitating is the best way to use for teaching Elementary students. Imagine that a ten-year child should memorize a lot of vocabulary,irregular verbs for distinguishing regular verbs (at least 120 verbs) voiceless sounds and voiced sounds at the same time. It's not wise to stuff a lot into children's brain.If you use flashcards to teach children, they will learn by heart how to pronounce these regular verbs when using them to speak instead of wondering voiced or voiceless sound. After teaching about 20 verbs,you could tell them 3 cases of ending /ed/: 1) verbs finishing with the letters /t/ and /d/pronounce "ed" as /id/.

2)verbs finishing with the letters :k,x,p,s,c,ch,sh,f.pronounce "ed' as /t/.

3) the othersronounce "ed" as /d/

Children are required to memorize only two simple cases of pronunciation instead of three.They can guess the third case: If it is not in the first case and in the second case, it is in the third case. It's not easy to remember the letters that make the verbs finishing on a voiceless sound. You should give them a sentence or a phrase to have words beginning with these letters in order your students could learn by heart.For example: khi xuong phia song coi chung she falls are pronounced /t/; baked, fixed stopped,missed,forced,watched, washed,staffed. Pay attention to" raised "is pronounced /reizd/ and laughed /la:ft/.( tell them a little about sound and letter or teach them The apple song: A for apple /a/ /a/ /a/. /a/ is the sound of A.).Some verbs are not used in Elementary level.(It doesn't need to remember these verbs).In my country, phonetic is taugh only in university.

Re: Korean students and older male English teachers

Daffy Duck — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 07:27:19 GMT

Hi Pax!

I must agree, that there are some korean parents and students who want 'good looking' English teachers with very good pronunciation & intonation, like a native speaker. With the parents and koreans I've encountered, this is what they call back in Korea, "popular teachers". We have a male teacher whose age is 40+, he still teaches in our school and most of our korean gradeschool students (boys) adore him. I wish they would just be after the skills and not the looks. But this is some reality we have to face that even in this 'knowledge age', discrimination still exists. Yah, you can teach in universities, colleges, or on-line. All the best, Pax!

Re: Curious about Comtemporary RP Accent**

Tam Sadek — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 02:50:13 GMT

According to John Wells at University College London:

"I do not understand the proposed distinction between Mainstream RP and Contemporary RP (unless the writer thinks, wrongly, that âcontemporaryâ means âyoungâ)."

You can read more of what he says about it at: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/blog0707a.htm

Whereas according to the British Library's Accents and Dialects of the UK website in their section on London RP, the commentary says:

"Michelle speaks with an accent most of us would immediately associate with a middle-class background. Many of the vowel sounds she uses have a traditional RP ring, but she also uses a number of pronunciations characteristic of contemporary RP. In other words she uses certain features we only encounter among younger speakers."

You can read more about this as well as hear a sample of this accent at: http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/text-only/received-pronunciation/london/

Make of this juxtaposition what you will...

Hope that helps