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 😆😆
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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