Phonetics Symbols

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Many ESL teachers have never even heard of phonetics or phonology, yet they use these aspects of speech naturally when they speak. Phonetics and phonology are two areas of linguistics that study the sounds of language. Phonetics focuses on individual sounds, while phonology studies the features and combination of sounds (McMahon, 1-3). There are two reasons why ESL teachers need to know phonetics and phonology: first, it helps them to conceptualize English in a way that their students can understand; and second, it helps them to address their students’ difficult pronunciation problems. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Victoria I. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas What is phonology? Most students have not even heard about it. Whenever I ask my students whether they know or have ever learned about phonetics, the same answers come out, “No, we don’t know about it at all”. It is no wonder they reply like this because there is no phonetic teaching lesson in English classes from KG to high school here in my country. As for me, I got to study about this only when I attended college. Even then, it wasn’t taught comprehensively and I only learned very little. So I couldn’t read nor write phonetic symbols very well. Thus I thought it was the most difficult part of studying English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Thein G. Please note that this blog...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Linguistics is the scientific study of the human language and its structure, and as any other science, it is divided into different branches or areas of analysis. One of these divisions examines the articulation of sounds and has a name that corresponds to its function: phonetics. Despite the crucial character it plays in its scientific field, the one it performs in teaching is considered roughly secondary. Nonetheless, a change in role assignment could improve the learning of the English language immensely. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Keilany G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Speaking is frequently considered the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences With English being one of the most widely used languages in the world, many individuals are learning English in China. The learners include children, businessmen, etc. Although the learners have their own reasons for studying English, there are three main problems that the Chinese learners face while trying to learn English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ning G. The first issue is that learners pay too much attention to memorizing a new vocabulary while ignoring the phonetic symbols. In China, memorizing English words is the ‘standard ’approach to learning English. However, this learning approach is not a comprehensive technique for learning English. In the memorization-oriented...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL review video Kathryn describes her experiences as a TEFL/TESOL student at the training center in Phuket Thailand. Like Kathryn you can select the location that best suits you to complete your TEFL/TESOL course. No matter which international location you select you can be assured that the professional and most up to date level of training and the learning acquired on our course will enhance your employment prospects. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Phonology involves studying how sounds are organized in a language to create meaning. It differs in every language as sounds are organized to create words, which are then organized in sentences. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jane M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Phonetics involves understanding how sounds are physically made, what part of the vocal tract is used, and how air is used to produce sounds. It enables teachers to analyze how sounds are made which helps teachers to assist students in grasping new and or difficult sounds and help students with the production of these sounds. Specifically, when teaching English as...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In my experience teaching elementary and junior high school level English in Japan, several different pronunciation problems appear frequently. The Japanese phonemic inventory is smaller than English’s phonemic inventory, and the sounds present in each language differ from each other quite dramatically. Because of this, it can be difficult for native Japanese speakers to learn and master English pronunciation, but there are a few teaching techniques that can help students overcome this difficulty. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Vladlena H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Several consonants are difficult for native Japanese...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As an English teacher, it is quite common to encounter high achievers, those who are so inspired and self-motivated in learning English, as well as low achievers, those who find themselves with no interest or goals in class. About the former group, there are always ways to encourage them in English learning, while for the latter, the teacher really has to think over and over before taking appropriate actions. I have always had to think of ways to encourage students in my teaching practice because the majority of students from my class are far from being excellent in English. The top student currently only scores 6 in IELTS. Therefore, it takes me much effort to arouse their interest first, without which the task...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Phonetics and phonology may seem like advanced or ‘bonus’ aspects of teaching the English language, but they are essential and fundamental to successful English communication for English students. While teaching and practicing concepts like pronunciation, intonation, stress, and articulation may be difficult (or seem outright impossible!), there are several methods and tools which English teachers can employ to help their students master them. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Max T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Grammar and vocabulary are key components of effective communication, but their impact is greatly reduced...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Nowadays, many people in Kyrgyzstan want to learn English. To enter university or find a better job. However, the learners here face some difficulties in learning. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate KWONG C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. English is the third language here, the secondary language is Russian. So the hours available for teaching English is not much in local schools generally. For example, some schools may just provide one hour of English lessons per week. Parents think that the learning hours provided by the school is not enough, as a result, they send their children to a private language center, to have an...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences If you ever find yourself driving in French Canada, you will be stopped by stop signs that say ‘arrêt’, which is stopped in French. Almost all drivers in North America would know that this means stop because it’s the same octagon red stop sign. In Japan it’s very different, stop signs are triangular with Japanese script on them but, beneath the Japanese, you can find English subtitles which read ‘stop’. In fact, if you travel anywhere in Japan, the majority of signs and announcements related to travel are offered in Japanese and English. English has been taught in Japanese schools since the American occupation after World War Two. However, according to an EF English Proficiency Index in 2017,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Each student faces their difficulties when it comes to English pronunciation depending on their country of origin. This essay will focus on the pronunciation difficulties facing ESL students in France and will also propose some solutions to help students overcome these difficulties. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kerri M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The number of English vowel sounds greatly outnumbers those found in the French language. As such, French students will have to produce sounds that they have never produced before. The short ‘ɪ’ used in ‘bit’ does not exist in French. In this case, they will...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The study of language acquisition has long been a topic of interest to both psychologists and linguists alike. The manner wherein we acquire language is broken into two categories, depending on the developmental stage of the student being thought. First language acquisition refers to how children learn their native language. Second language acquisition refers to the learning of another language differing from their native language. This essay is concerned with the effect reading has on language acquisition. Reading is a core area in the acquisition of language. However, the statement is interchangeable as the language acquired by a student greatly predicts their reading acquisition. This essay will discuss briefly...  [Read more]