Listen A Minute: Easier English Listening and Activities How to Teach Old Ears New Tricks “Hi! I'm Gabe. What's your name?” “Seung-heon. Nice to meet you, Gabe.” Uh-oh. “Sorry, I missed that. “Seung-heon.” This is bad. “Sung-hon?” “Seung-heon. I hate it when this happens. When we decide to do something rash like learn a foreign language, however, we run into difficulties. Why We Can't Learn Like Kids Most of us English speakers can't tell the difference between Seung, Seong and Sung now, but back when we were babies we could. Some of the best data on this phenomenon come from studies of Japanese adults learning to hear the difference between r and l. When you were a baby, you learned to tell rocks from locks by listening to lots of auditory input. The researchers then tried something new. Many studies have subsequently confirmed that feedback is an essential ingredient in training our brain to hear new sounds, and when we can hear new sounds, we naturally start to produce them more accurately. Teaching the /r/–/l/ Discrimination to Japanese Adults: Behavioral and Neural Aspects.
www.textivate.com ESL Listening Comprehension Exercises: Movie clips to practice English | ELL/ELT SECTION 1: Movie Clips Learning through media (movies, music, etc.) is one of the best ways to learn a new language. The exercises below use movie clips to help you to better understand spoken English. Here's what you do: Click on the video you want to watch below.Watch the video, and pay attention to it! The Great Gatsby Moonrise Kingdom Silver Linings Playbook Away We Go Bolt Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Chronicle The Avengers Adventureland The Royal Tenenbaums NOTE: All of these videos are protected by copyright. Pronunciation Teaching: 11 quick multi-sensory techniques - Evolutions In this post I’d like to start a list/discussion of useful pronunciation teaching techniques. One of my favorite teachers-who-write, over at The Other Things Matter, inspired by another one at The Breathy Vowel, tweeted the following: Inspired by @breathyvowel tomorrow I start my weekly pron class. #SteppingOutofMyComfortZone — Kevin Stein (@kevchanwow) April 25, 2013 Then later he mentioned something about cellphones and progress in the pronunciation area. I wonder what progress that was? And that’s the problem with most of what’s out there — a great deal of it isn’t that different from “listen and repeat”. Before we get started, finally, let’s remember that anybody with a smartphone brings a mirror to class everyday… opportunities abound! update: the videos of segmental techniques posted here in response to reader comments were filmed during a CBI pronunciation workshop with pre-service and in-service teachers for whom English is a 2nd language. Pronunciation: Segmentals 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
IPA Typewriter If the title above does not display correctly, you should click on "About" to find out how to get a unicode font. Introduction You can use this tool to type phonemic symbols to be inserted in a word processor. You can also use it to produce the code needed to insert phonemic symbols in a web page. To start work, use the buttons below to choose which you want to do. Use the "About" button to get more information anbout using phonetic symbols in word documents and web pages. Use the "Intro" button to get back to this page. I would be grateful for feedback about this tool. Word Processing Use the phonetic chart on the right to type the text that you want. When you are ready to copy what you have typed, first click the button below. Your text will appear in a pop-up window. Go to your word document and press Ctrl+V (Cmd+V in a Mac), or the Paste button, in order to paste in the word. You may need to adjust the font of the text in your document. Web Tool
Listen A Minute: Easier English Listening and Activities Feel the beat: how rhythm shapes the way we use and understand language Do you feel the rhythm? Or a French rythme, Spanish ritmo, Swedish rytm, Russian ритм (ritm) or Japanese rizumu? Is there a difference? Perhaps one way to find out is to have a French conversation, German konversation, Spanish conversación, or Italian conversatione? Doing so will of course reveal many differences, but languages of the world also share much, just as these words demonstrate. For millennia we have been singing, dancing, clapping, drumming and talking to a beat. An extensive 2010 Oxford University study comparing a series of rhythm algorithm measurements for English, French, Greek, Russian and Mandarin found – “surprisingly”, as the study itself expressed – that none of these languages could be separated, and that languages do not have dramatically different rhythms. A world of stress, a matter of meter A mother’s heartbeat may be the first rhythm most of us hear. Stress patterns occur in everyday speech and songs, not merely high forms of literature. The benefits of rhythm
Tiny Texts 10 English jokes to make learning English fun. Laughter is the best medicine Jokes are an essential part of any language and culture and are a great way of understanding the target language through the play on words and a culture’s sense of humour. The English Language is filled with witty, clever jokes that illustrate the play on words such as homophones, double entendre and puns like this: Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? Every evening I share a joke on my Facebook Page under the title of Evening Fun. “I’m not sure that’s what they mean by now reduce the wine” 1. 2. Source: English is Fun 3. 4. Source: The Spectator 5. 6. 7. Source: Dawn French Fan Page 8. 9. Source: Woodward English 10. For more jokes, do take a look at the English Club. If you liked this post please share it. Have a great weekend, folks. Ciao for now Shanthi
IPA transcription systems for English John Wells, University College London1. Introduction: the IPA. 2. Pronunciations in dictionaries. 3. Lastly we have the diphthongs.