Struggle Pronunciation

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Given the increase in globalization during the late 20th and early 21st centuries and the growing inter-dependencies of domestic economies within the international marketplace, English, as a primary language medium for conducting international business arrangements, has become an increased priority both socially and within the business environment. However, notwithstanding the importance of English fluency within contemporary society, Japan and Japanese English learners face difficulties when trying to achieve competency. These difficulties and issues can be shown by the 2018 EF English Proficiency Index which ranked the English level of Japanese learners as rank 49 out of 88 countries which place Japan within the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Many students of English as a Second Language (ESL) find that, of the many struggles they have with the language, pronunciation is the most difficult to master. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sophie M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Pronunciation is an extremely important ability to have to sound more fluent in English. By gaining the knowledge and skill of proper pronunciation, an ESL student can come across at a much higher level of English ability and intelligence. However, this is easier said than done. In South Korea, for example, certain sounds aren’t used in their language but are used in English. Because these...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Assuming it has already been understood generally, I do not intend to elaborate on the reasons between Myanmar and Burma, even though it still remains unknown to many. In this essay, I will be using ‘Burmese’ or ‘Burmese language’ to refer to the language and ‘Myanmar’ for the country. Language acquisition can understandably present several challenges ranging from alphabets, accent, construction styles, pronunciation, etc. Depending on several factors, different language speakers will have different challenges. While one part is no less difficult than another, I reckon, in Myanmar, there is one component that most learners seem to have similar difficulty in taking up the English language –...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I have been teaching English in Taiwan at a local elementary school, grades 1-6 with three different co-teachers since the end of August 2018. One of the biggest challenges I have faced so far is the fact that each student is very different, and all have different learning abilities and struggles with learning English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Aria T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There are many different reasons why students may be reluctant to learn English or why they are struggling as a few units explained. Often, students are fearful of making mistakes and lack confidence in the classroom. This is something I...  [Read more]

Regan McAllister TEFL Information Teaching Ideas The pandemic has caused many changes in our daily lives. While I’m lucky to still have the opportunity to teach ESL in person, doing so with face masks has proved to be slightly more challenging. Face masks. A year ago, the thought of society operating with face masks seemed like some sort of ominous movie plot. Apocalyptic almost. Yet now they are on the same level as our phone or wallet, something we can’t leave the house without. Depending on where in the world you live, you may have never worn a mask until this pandemic. Unless you were in a medical setting, wearing a mask while going about your daily tasks would have probably attracted stares and raised some eyebrows....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching English in China has become very popular for ESL teachers and many are looking for job opportunities in China. Finding a teaching job in China isn’t too hard but working with Chinese students can be quite challenging. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate VIKTORIIA H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Chinese grammar is very different from English and many Chinese students try to copy the grammar rules of their native language and apply them to English. As a result, they form awkward sentences that are difficult to understand. They struggle to use gerunds and articles as these parts of speech do not exist in Mandarin....  [Read more]

Ahmed Taha Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas If you're teaching a child in Kindergarten to second grade, you can probably assign about 10, 20, or 30 minutes of reading per night as homework. This blog post explains what the teacher can do and what parents and other caregivers can do to ensure that this assignment is truly beneficial to the child's development as a reader. The first thing a parent should do is sit next to their children as they read. Although it may be tempting to try to complete other tasks, the purpose of this homework is to have an adult monitor their progress. The parents can watch the words as the child reads them when they sit side by side. This allows parents to provide immediate feedback to their...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The differences between many Asiatic languages' pronunciation and that of English form the basis for a multitude of miscommunications between international interlocutors. My experience living in Japan provides plentiful evidence to support this assertion. When my Japanese associates and I communicate in English, I notice three significant pronunciation struggles for my conversation partners. For the Japanese who are learning English, the clear enunciation of the /th/ sound, the fricative quality of the /v/ consonant, and the distinction of /l/ versus /r/ formation of the tongue. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Brandon F. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Most researchers agree that the learner’s first language influences the pronunciation of the target language and is a significant factor in accounting for foreign accents. So-called interference or interference from the first language is likely to cause errors in aspiration, stress, and intonation in the target language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Vesna A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Some Chinese students tend to have difficulty with English sounds because they are deeply influenced by similar Chinese sounds. However, they are very different from each other. A particular sound which does not exist in the native...  [Read more]

  This video covers the difference between 'defuse' and 'diffuse'. Their similar spelling and pronunciation make them a word pair that is often confused. The word 'defuse' refers to the action of making a situation less harmful or tense, whereas 'diffuse' means to spread over a wide area. Watch the video for detailed examples on the two words. 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 next. This unit is the most challenge unit from this course. I had to ask a...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences A learner's mother tongue has a profound influence on verbalization of the second language. The absence of some sounds in the learner's first language, and the difference in intonation, word, and syllable stress between the learner's native language and English are some of the many factors that often lead to an incorrect pronunciation of English words. In order to address these issues, a teacher needs to have a basic understanding of the student's native language. This essay will briefly explore the most common pronunciation problems for Egyptians learners of English and some suggested solutions to tackle these problems. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Salma O. One of the most prominent...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences There are several pronunciation problems that students of English will face in Japan; however, I will focus on two. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Brandie K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The first of these problems they face is the fact that Japanese doesn't have some of the same sounds in its' alphabet as English does. For example, Japanese does not have a hard R sound; instead, it has a sound that is a mix of R and L. So, when students from Japan go to say rice, for many it will come out sounding more like lice. This can cause some confusion as not everyone will understand that this is due to a lack of having this...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas After China adopted the Open Door Policy, the English language not only gained popularity but also became indispensable in international communication and trade. It was introduced in public schools as an obligatory foreign language and English teaching centers started spreading across the country. Even though Chinese people approach learning English with a great dose of enthusiasm, it poses several challenges, both linguistic and cultural. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Weronika S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Chinese language (Mandarin) is an example of Sino-Tibetan language, whereas English belongs to the Indo-European...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Helping students improve their pronunciation can be challenging for teachers and students alike. For students, they may have a strong desire to sound fluent but might struggle in knowing what mistakes they make and how to correct them. For teachers, they may be aware of the mistakes but may lack tools to help students accurately and precisely correct them. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kent L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Many of the common methods to help improve pronunciation have their own shortcomings. A pure listen and repeat approach does not offer sufficient feedback on how to properly correct errors. Even a...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences This essay seeks to explain how the Japanese ‘Katakana’ and ‘Romaji’ alphabets cause barriers to the introduction of English education in Japanese elementary schools. It will look at how these alphabets affect the pronunciation, writing, and reading abilities of Japanese students. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ethan M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The main two, ‘Hiragana’ (the base Japanese writing system) and ‘Kanji’ (Chinese characters), are not relevant to English. The remaining two, ‘Katakana’ (used for ‘borrowed’ words from other languages) and ‘Romaji’ (Roman letters) are often used...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When native Arabic learners attempt to learn the English language, they are faced with a variety of difficulties since there are fundamental differences between the two languages. Arabic words have a three-consonant root as its base, so all words are formed by combining the roots with either a fixed vowel pattern or and affix. The Arabic language has 28 consonants and 8 vowels which is three times less than the English language in terms of vowel sounds. Due to those differences, Arabic learners struggle in the following areas; writing, grammar, phonology, and pronunciation when learning the English language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ayman E. Please note that this blog post might not...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Pronunciation problems in El Salvador is very common, as many know Spanish is the main Language in this country, people in El Salvador tend to speak their native Language all the time because this is what they feel more comfortable with, as there is not any other dialect, other than Spanish, they are taught English in school, English Is the only language taught in El Salvador in public schools, but only for those that can attend one, this is because there are many people that can't attend a school due to economic matter, family problems or due to the work that is done in their household many don't have time to study and there are kids that can't attend school because they have to work, but there are many that...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Through my experience as an Assistant Language Teacher in Japan, there have been numerous difficulties and challenges my students face in learning the English language. My students are primarily between the ages of 5 and 15. These challenges involve the pronunciation difficulties the students face coming from Japanese pronunciation, as well as the methodology of teaching English in Japan They may not apply to all of Japan but are definitely prominent issues within my area. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate James W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The most commonly known challenge in learning English for Japanese people is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The introverted Nathaniel struggled immensely through primary, high school, college, and music school. His first battle was learning how to read. At this point, no one knew he possessed a learning difficulty. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nathaniel F. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Although he had an impressive spoken vocabulary for a boy, when he looked at words on a page he could not match them to their sounds, therefore pronunciation was not possible. This struggle with phonetic decoding was overcome over a few years by reading books borrowed from the library, tracing the words with a finger while listening to the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences English has its place as the most frequently required subject of mostly Philippines’ school and universities. This is because of the belief of most Filipinos that the mastery of the English language is the most important demands globally. We grew up believing that learning a second language is not an easy task, although other nationalities find that it is easy for us to imitate and practice the language. However, that is not the case. The problems of teaching and learning a foreign language, specifically English, have suggested some studies of the errors made by most Filipino students. In spite of the knowledge of English of the Filipino, there are times that most students make errors serious enough that a...  [Read more]

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Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Difficulty with pronunciation is likely something that every EFL teacher will face at one point or another in their career. Every language in the world has different ways of pronouncing different words/ letters. In addition to this, most speakers of other languages have heavy accents that can make pronouncing English words very difficult. This can be a challenge when teaching English as a foreign language. It can be especially challenging because not all learners around the world will face the same problems. Students in Vietnam will likely have different pronunciation problems than students in Kenya and students in Brazil will likely have different pronunciation problems than students in Morocco. For this essay, I will...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas There is currently a need for more people willing to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) across America. Several small communities have accepted immigrants from other countries. Although children of school age will learn English in school, the parents and grandparents struggle to learn English as they continue their daily lives and earn a living. This is a challenge as most Americans do not know any other languages as they do in Europe, so the immigrant needs to communicate in English to accomplish anything. This leaves the older generation feeling isolated and causes problems in everyday life, such as going to the bank. In most large...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Stories are an important part of any culture, English speaking or not. They can be oral or written and can showcase how culture works and their history. Whether old traditional stories or new popular current stories, the tales we share with young children can shape their developing ideas and values. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rochelle L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When working with young children in Early Childhood settings, stories help children to make sense of their world, safely express their emotions, and explore new ideas and values. For example, a story that focuses on friendships might help a child who...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I am currently living in India and I interact with many people with varying levels of English fluency. In a country like India, many people speak English as their first, second, third, or even fourth language. This can provide many benefits for students who want to learn English as you come in contact with many English speakers and get plenty of opportunities to practice speaking English in your home country. However, there can be many hindrances as well. The most common issue is the fact that most of the English speakers in India are also fluent in Hindi and other regional languages. A student trying to practice English can always fall back on their native language when they don’t understand. This bilingual...  [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 Alumni Experiences As an EFL teacher in Vientiane, Laos, I have seen that Lao speakers have unique challenges with learning English. Some of these challenges are due to linguistic differences between Lao and English, while others are due to cultural differences between Laos and the Western countries where English is spoken. In this paper, I reflect on how I can help my Lao students overcome their particular issues with pronunciation, intonation, and stress. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rilla T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. My students’ most common pronunciation problem is probably differentiating between /r/ and /l/. My name, Rilla,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Unlike many other countries, India does not have a national language. There are over 30 official languages spoken in India. English has been adopted by the government for judicial and administrative proceedings, and most Indians have a functional understanding of English. However, many Indians struggle to learn and use English effectively. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tejaswini K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Native languages influence pronunciations of English syllables/words, e.g. people who speak north Indian languages usually pronounce the word ‘here’ as ‘hare/hair’, people from the east often...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations Alumni Experiences Korean learners of the English language face numerous challenges in acquiring the language on a proficient level, although English is introduced to children at an early age. English is incorporated into the primary school curriculum from the age of four, yet only a small minority master the language on a proficient conversational level. Unfortunately, the reasons seem to stem from cultural and social differences, the significant differences between the two languages; Korean and English, and the Korean Educational System is also a contributing factor. This post was written by our ITTT graduate Beatrix N. To begin with, cultural differences seem to be a central reason why Koreans...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching English as a foreign language can be an intimidating task, especially for non-native English speaking teachers. This is true for many of my coworkers who are homeroom teachers at elementary schools in Japan. English has recently become a formal subject in elementary schools here and many homeroom teachers are intimidated by the sudden responsibility to teach a language they are not fluent in. Many feel that native speakers are better English teachers since native speakers have natural pronunciation and excellent command of the language. Co-teaching with a native speaker can put added pressure on homeroom teachers to speak perfect English in front of their students. Therefore many homeroom teachers feel...  [Read more]