Breaking the Silence
I know it's been a while. Life took a different turn, and I've had some interesting conversations along the way. Let's catch up!
This has been one of the hardest pieces I’ve ever had to write, just because I’m out of practice. My life has changed because I’m taking care of my aging parents now and I’ve been off-center for over a year, not feeling at home with anything, really. But now I’ve started putting things back into line, and I hope I can pick this newsletter up and turn it into something valuable for English learners.
I started Conversation Starters to help students and teachers of English as a second or foreign language find topics to work on during lessons. I think that fluency can be obtained only by doing: the more real conversations you have with people, the better you get at expressing yourself.
At this time, I have openings for one-to-one conversation classes, so please contact me if you’re a non-native speaker of English and want to improve your conversational skills.
So much for small talk and sales pitches! Let’s get started.
Instead of my usual format of videos and descriptions, I wanted to share a funny story about teaching pronunciation, or rather, how we say words. Let me know in the comments which English sounds are the hardest for you to pronounce.
This is the thing…
One of the most distinctive sounds in the English language is the TH sound. The voiced TH is heard in the words this, that, brother, mother, and father, and the unvoiced TH sound shows up in the words think, thick, method, three, and death. When saying a TH sound, the speaker must put their tongue between their teeth and blow air out of their mouth. If the sound is unvoiced, airflow is all that people hear (repeat: think), but when the sound is unvoiced, the speaker must make a sound with their vocal cords. It feels like the tongue is buzzing (repeat: this). It sounds complicated, but it’s not.
Students have trouble with this sound because it isn’t present in their native language. They normally end up using /d/ or /f/, which doesn’t interfere with comprehension. Correcting the error requires using specific pronunciation drills.
Drilling is repetitive practice. It can be boring, but it allows the muscles in the mouth to become accustomed to the new position of the mouth and tongue. Students should aim for muscle memory, just as they would if they were studying dance or practicing a sport, but they don’t do enough drills early in their language-learning careers. Honestly, people just don’t realize how embarrassing wrong pronunciation can potentially be.
Don’t say that again!
Years ago, I was teaching English to two children aged 11 and 13. They were moving with their family to the US and they needed to be able to speak correctly to attend school, and my job was to help make sure they could do that successfully. I thought them interesting things about the state they would be living in, and I tried to help them learn a study notebook technique that would allow them to organize new vocabulary. During one lesson, we were working on ordinal numbers, and I had them repeating the words and using them in different exercises.
I said, “first, second, third” to model the correct pronunciation.
The 11-year-old said, “first, second, turd”. I corrected him. He repeated it.
I had to tell him what it meant. (Oh brother!)
His eyes got really wide and he asked me how to spell that word. (What would you expect from an 11-year-old?!)
After that story, I’m certain you’ll want to know how to successfully pronounce TH!
How to practice TH
Minimal pairs are words that differ by only one sound, such as thin and fin. Repeating these words will help students learn to distinguish and pronounce the two different sounds. Drilling difficult sounds for a few weeks will ensure that students learn the new sounds, and that those sounds become automatic when speaking. That means doing the exercises every day, without fail, until you master them! Do not give up!
At first, in addition to practicing the new sounds every day, students will need to be intentional when speaking. It will be necessary to think about every word and pronounce it carefully. After a month or so, the new habits should be in place.
The video below explains the correct tongue position and uses minimal pairs to demonstrate correct pronunciation.
Th-th-that’s all folks!
I hope this helps you improve your pronunciation, and I hope I made you smile today. If you need extra help, I am accepting new students. Even if you just need a few hours of practice to help you do better on an exam, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Learning a new language is fascinating for both teachers and students, not only because of the new sounds and ideas, but mainly because of the cultural aspects. I always look forward to meeting new people because I learn so much.
Talk to you soon,
Marsha