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Spoken English through rap music
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Why rap music is good for improving English speaking and listening? Basically, I think of rap as the modern and hip version of tongue twisters. We all know what tongue twisters are good for. Rap though could potentially play a more powerful role in training the learner’s mouth and ears in producing and perceiving…
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The schwa sound explained
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What is the schwa sound? It is a very LAZY and typically quick and short. In the world of colors, it is equivalent to GREY. In the world of drinks, it is equivalent to water, NO TASTE! Got the idea? I say it’s lazy, because we don’t need to make any effort with the…
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Pronunciation Teaching: The Basics
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Are you good enough to sell in English?
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We are all selling something aren’t we? We sell our skills and experience to future employers. We sell our vision to potential investors. We sell products to consumers and services to clients. Some of us even try to sell Gods to non-believers. Never before has the ability to sell been more critical for survival…
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Error correction in pronunciation teaching
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Why we don’t do it much… Some say “don’t do it”, others say “do it in moderation”, and I say, do it as often as the learners need it. Note that I’m not talking about error correction in a General English class, I’m only talking about error correction in pronunciation courses where learners do…
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How to sound like a native speaker?
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WARNING: Is that what you really want? To sound like a native speaker of English? Then be prepared to live as two different persons in one. Relax, I’m not talking about schizophrenia, I’m talking about creating a new identity that can coexist with the old one peacefully. You will have to be comfortable speaking…
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From Advanced to Native-like English: Myth or reality?
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So you’re an advanced English speaker! You can speak fluently, you can say pretty much anything you want, you can even discuss politics, economy and other social issues intelligently and even eloquently. Congratulations. Many native speakers can’t do that with the language. You would be amazed to see how limited some native speakers’ vocabulary…
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How can pronunciation ruin your big night out ?
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Here’s a story told by my fictitious Japanese friend “Kazu” 🙂 But wait…before I tell you the story, I’ve got to warn you that the content might be offensive to some readers, though I assure you that Kazu and I are completely innocent and both victims to Kazu’s horrible Japanese pronunciation. Now, I need your…
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Good pronunciation: Intelligibility or Impact?
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Most English teachers seem to consider good pronunciation as being intelligible. They view intelligibility as the ultimate goal of learning pronunciation. “If I can understand you, and you can understand me, then your pronunciation is good enough”. It has somehow been agreed upon in this industry that to be understood is just “good enough”…