Teach English in Xinbei Jiedao - Tianjin

Pronunciation problems in SpainThroughout my TEFL training coursework and my stay here in Ecuador thus far I have been faced with some interesting situations which have raised a number of questions. I am still unsure exactly how to address the situation of communicating all I need to in my first class, especially if they know little to no english. However, due to a unique experience with a small group of children who clamored over me to learn whatever I was willing to teach, I learned that my willingness and enthusiasm was all they needed. And also all I needed. With that said and through my interaction with my spanish speaking friends here I have discovered that learning grammar, tense, structure and verb conjugation is one thing but without proper pronunciation it all but goes to the wayside. I found that I can say a word in english that is spelled the same with the same meaning in spanish but if I do not pronounce it correctly the chances are very high that I will not be understood. It has happened to me repeatedly. I have discovered the importance of articulation especially important. I have actually studied the tongue placement of my friend very carefully and realized I am not or will not pronounce the words correctly if I do not master this. This is also where I realized the importance of recording myself (or others) to really hear your speech and the way you pronounce a given word or phrase. I have said things before and it sounded correct to me but after being laughed at and asked to repeat it several times I finally started to look at how the word was being formed as opposed to simply trying to hear how it is formed. This was a fundamental turning point for me as I experimented with this, not only with myself but also watching how my spanish friends would try and pronounce english words. I have the opportunity to learn from a four year old child who is herself learning her own language and also english to her mother to her mother?s mother to her uncle who teaches english here. So all in all I have all age groups and all skill levels covered in one family and have learned more about teaching future students from them than them learning english from me. I have found myself using creative tricks, words etc, to help someone with their pronunciation. I can see how this can and should be a whole separate area for teaching. It is fundamental and very interesting in my opinion. It is really the first thing I really noticed about trying to learn another language. I have made this a priority for myself in learning and speaking spanish effectively, especially here in Ecuador who, as I have understood has the clearest most precise spanish. Therefore it would be an insult to the people I am trying to learn from and a disservice to me to not become engaged fully in the studying more about the dynamics of proper pronunciation. Along those lines I have found that a very difficult thing for me is the rolling of the tongue which is essential for spanish. It is more a physical accomplishment than a learned one. I have also found that there are areas of articulation such as the rolling R?s that we as english speakers just do not use, and thusly the same with spanish speakers. They do not place the bottom lip on the top teeth to form the ?V? sound. Nor do they use a popping B or P for example. As an example I gave to my tutor I mention one time my friend and I were working with pronunciation and after getting a little frustrated with her laughing at my pronunciation I asked her to say the word ?VERB?. She continued to say ?BERV?, she just could not get it. This is when it really hit me, ?I need to really study this.? The information in lesson 13 of this program brought this all home to me as the technicality of pronunciation with Stress, Rhythm and Intonation only reinforced the need in me to further my studies in this area in order to implement it effectively into my teaching tool bag. It speaks of the need for instinctive and analytical perception in understanding speech. As this seems to come natural to me I must investigate and try to teach this also as it is one of the most important things I have found to my understanding of someone who is trying to communicate with me. If it wasn?t for this perception I would be fairly lost but I understand far more than I can speak, and I believe it is due to this. One another thing worth mentioning should be on the use of the IPA. Although a bit confusing at first I feel it is imperative if a student is serious about learning another language. This is one of the first things my friend, a native spanish speaking english teacher here told me about and I agree. So all in all I can say that this course taught me not only the basics (and beyond) of teaching english but coupled with my emersion here in a spanish speaking country, it also showed me in not only overt but subtle ways how to really listen in order to teach.