Difficult Words

Part 3

Part 3 of this free online ESL course teaches the student how to pronounce words in their new language so matter how difficult they are. A good pronunciation is not difficult. All the student needs to have a good pronunciation is the right approach.

ESL Can Be Fun

As an ESL teacher, I don't believe people who tell me they know 10 languages-- all of which they learned by watching television. I agree watching TV programs in the second language is helpful, but watching TV is not going to teach a new language to a person.

Maybe we don't have the same definition of the word Know. I know learning a language is difficult for anyone. I also know it can be fun.

An Actor’s Secret

Here is a fun exercise to help students pronounce problem words. This exercise comes from a theater actor I knew. I once asked him how he coped with difficult words. He told me he had his own special method.

Why We Have Problems Pronouncing Certain Words

1. A person can have problems with a word because:

2. The brain is a stubborn organ. It remembers beginnings easily and hardly pays attention to endings. So, the only thing to do is trick the brain.

An Example

C-o-m-f-o-r-t-a-b-l-e

Comfortable is a difficult word for many ESL students. It often comes out like Come For The Table.

Exercise

1. Break the word up into sounds: Kumf Te Ble.

    A Study Buddy can really be helpful with this because to do this well the student needs to work with a native speaker. The breaks in the word are sound breaks. They are not the normal syllable breaks.

2. Start with the last sound and work toward the first:

            Ble

            Te

            Te Ble

            Komf

            Komf Te

            Te Ble

            Komf te Ble

3. Comfortable

Conclusion:

As the actor said, our brain concentrates on the beginning of words and sentences.  So we have to trick it. This exercise makes our brain concentrate on the end and middle of the word and sentence.

Assignment:

Practice these words out loud:

1.                  Sensitivity

2.                  Citizenship

3.                  Interpret

4.                  Library

5.                  Extraordinary

6.                  Beautiful

7.                  Pronunciation

8.                  Maintenance

Practice these tongue-twisters out loud:

1.                  She sells sea shells by the sea shore.

2.                  Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.

3.                  Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?

4.                  Friendly Frank flips fine flapjacks.

5.                  The two-twenty-two train tore through the tunnel.