The Sky Isn't Crowded
My student: My family went to Tokyo Disney on Sunday.
Me: Was it crowded on Sunday?
My student: No, it was sunny.
Are you wondering what? The first time I heard something like this I might have had a big question mark in my head, but now I hear it fairly often, so I understand. The student has confused "cloud" with "crowd", the l-r thing.
It's difficult for Japanese speakers of English to pronounce, but also difficult to distinguish when listening. I have an exercise to practice listening to L and R. I have a list of similar l-r word pairs. I say three words and the student chooses which word I say twice. Example: cloud, cloud, crowd; royalty, loyalty, royalty; light, right, right.
I really love my job and my students!
9 comments:
I had a giggle over that answer đđ
It is so hard to hear and distinguish sounds you weren't exposed to in your mother tongue!
Do your students gradually improve in their ability to distinguish R and L? Or does it remain a mystery to them for ever?
I am sure your students love their lessons and their teacher!
That's a great idea to teach the L/R issue. You're very clever!
Just shows how important good diction is too!
Barbara x
I have often wondered by it is difficult for some Asian people to pronounce the R/L sound. You must be a great teacher to address it so well.
xx, Carol
You are a good teacher.
Interesting Pamela, pronunciation is so important. The Spanish pronounce a `B´and a `V´ exactly the same, so mix up these letters when spelling words.
We had a visiting professor from Taiwan earlier this year. As many Chinese-speaking people do, he picked a western name for himself. What I can't get my head around is that he calls himself 'Roland', of all things - I imagine that name is quite a nightmare for many Asian people!
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