Dear students
I know that we all struggle learning another language.
I want you to see this video and give me your opinion
about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvpikUEIaLI
There are some sounds and combination of consonants
and vowels that do not exist in our language, therefore we may suffer
trying to get a clear pronunciation.
But don't worry so much. Here are some helpful tips for all of you.
a) Look for words with similar sounds and repeat them. e.g. snake, school, stop, step.
b) Create a tong twister or a sentence with these difficult sounds, e.g. the fourth birthday
death.
c) Discriminate sounds with the same letter, e.g. title, turtle, teacher, better, articles, combination, revolution.
d) Find pronunciation patterns, but remember ... there are exceptions, e.g. boot, root, school, proof.
e) Identify vowel combinations, e.g. came, game, shame, blame.
f) Practice, practice, practice. If you do not talk, how could you improve?
Use a movie and repeat some dialogues, talk to yourself, read aloud, talk with a classmate or with a foreigner, sing a song, role play situations, etc.
Finally, here you have some interesting links with pronunciation exercises.
http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/index.htm
http://www.e-pron.com/
http://esl.about.com/od/speakingenglish/Speaking_English_Pronunciation_and_Conversation_Skills.htm
http://www.manythings.org/pp/
http://www.rong-chang.com/pronun.htm
What are some of your personal problems in pronunciation?
Do you have some tips to share?
What strategies work for you?
