Tuesday, November 6, 2018

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:

kiwikid said...

I had a giggle over that answer 😆😆

Vireya said...

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?

Queeniepatch said...

I am sure your students love their lessons and their teacher!

Jeanie said...

That's a great idea to teach the L/R issue. You're very clever!

FlashinScissors said...

Just shows how important good diction is too!
Barbara x

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

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

Julie said...

You are a good teacher.

Sheryl said...

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.

Leonore Winterer said...

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!