Language Tips 2: pronunciation

The word “climb” is pronounced with a silent ‘b,’ which makes its pronunciation ‘klime.’
Its -ing form form is pronounced ‘kly-ming’ totally b-less. The person who climbs (‘klimes’) is a ‘kly-mer.’

In the spirit of silent “b’s,” I put together a few words that have silent b’s in spelling but which are NOT pronounced:

climb, climber, lamb, numb, dumb, thumb, bomb, plumber, plumbing, tomb, debt, comb, crumb

Also, just out of curiosity, notice that the combination "-omb" can have different realizations. Next to some of the words below, I've placed one word that rhymes with it so you know what vowel value the combination "-omb" may have:

"-omb"
bomb - Tom
tomb - boom
comb - foam

Still in the spirit of silent sounds, Notice that the "Ls" in the following words are NOT pronounced:

half - calf
talk - walk - chalk
would - should - could
balm - palm - calm
salmon - lincoln - almond

Monitor these words whenever you can.

Language tips

It's important that you remember that "let's" is an imperative form directed to everybody in the situation, therefore it is NOT a question. It proposes an action that includes the speaker and the listener. The meaning of (1a), therefore, is shown in (1b):

(1) a. Let's eat breakfast.
b. I propose that you and I eat breakfast.

This way, the form *Let's eat breakfast? sounds incorrect, since it would be equivalent to saying "Do I propose that you and I eat breakfast?"

Let's is also used in a meaning that is closer to an order or an instruction:

(2) a. Let's bow our heads and be silent to show respect.
b. Let's have a look at your tongue (a medical doctor)
c. OK. It looks like we may have gone too far, so let's take the next exit and and turn around.
d. You all have to draw your superhero. Let's do it, please.

In (2d), the teacher instructs his/her group of children to draw. This use is the one you use a lot in the classroom with your students. It is not meant to be "vamos...?" as used in Portuguese, which is also an order/instruction but made less authoritarian by the use of the rising intonation. "Vamos fazer um desenho?" - clearly, in the classroom context refers to the teacher instructing/giving a command, but the rising intonation used makes it more polite or more inviting. This CANNOT be transfered into English. In English, the simple use of let's (with falling intonation) already constitutes a polite way to frame a command.

In order to make it more inviting or tentative, one can use a tag and rising intonation with let's. This is done by adding ", OK?" after a sentence with let's. An alternative tag form, recognizedly more formal or British sounding can be made with shall at the end.

(3) a. So, let's keep that on, shall we?
b. Let's take turns, ok?
c. Let's not talk about this anymore, shall we/OK?

One can also start the sentence with shall.

(4) a. Shall we go outside now, kids?
b. Shall we talk about this later?

Even though the form with shall sounds a little more formal or slightly British, depending on the context, I still recommend using it in the classroom with our kids to make sure they are exposed to that form in English. Otherwise, the "vamos...? use" will be automatically and incorrectly transfered to English. We should expose our kids to this type of language too.

source consulted: Cowan, R. (2008) The Teacher's Grammar of English. Cambridge.

Courses for teachers who wish to specialize in young learners

If you have CELTA and wish to specialize in young learners, take a look at the following course:



Young Learner´s Extension to CELTA



This course was designed for candidates who have finished the CELTA and want to specialize in teaching children. It certifies you in three week to teach children from 8 to 11 years of age. Like the CELTA, there is a practical part where candidates teach children at two different levels: one more basic and the other a little more advanced. Candidates also need to write two papers and do 6 hours of peer observation at the SEVEN branch where the course takes place. Like the CELTA, the candidate has to complete an application and a Language Awareness Task related to teaching children.





Dates: from July 11 to 29, 2011

Cost: R$2.025,00 + Cambridge Fee US$185,00



Venue: SEVEN Unidade Aclimação

Rua Castro Alves, 520
(11) 3207-9566

Tutor:

Daniella S. H. You – Daniella has worked in ELT since 1995. She has a degree in Economics from USP and has studied Psychopedagogy at PUC. She took the CELTA ad the DELTA at International House London. Daniella has lived and worked in Switzerland, Poland and England where she was involved with language teaching. In England, where she lived for 4 years, Daniella developed pioneer projects in French and German teaching for children aged 3 to 9. When she returned to Brazil in 2001, she got involved with bilingual education. She started working as a teacher trainer in 2005. Currently, she is a coordinator at a bilingual school in Sao Paulo as well as being a CELTA and Young Learner´s Extension to CELTA trainer at Seven.

Monica Stein Gramola- Monica has been working in ELT since 1987. She started her studies in Economics, but ended up specializing in English Language teaching and Literature. She has the COTE (Certificate for Overseas Teacher´s of English), and is a Cambridge University oral examiner. She has been a teacher trainer for Dickens Institute Montevideo, moderated by Trinity College since 2008, and a CELTYL (Certificate of English Language Teachers for Young Learners – Cambridge) teacher trainer since 2003. Today she teaches at Queen Victoria Institute and is a consultant for the Research and Development Department at the ICAU ( Instituto Cultural Anglo Uruguayo).


Want to know about CELTA? Check the link http://www.sevenidiomas.com.br/site/cursoCelta.asp?cursos=descricao

PUC-SP - Teoria Linguística 5a feira

Referência para os alunos de Teoria Linguística:

Bechara, Evanildo (1985) Ensino de Gramática. Opressão? Liberdade? Editora Ática

RSA Animate - Changing Educational Paradigms

This is really worth seeing. Ken Robinson talks about the history of education in light of what we have today... A little scary, actually. Take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

New Yorkers want to "reduce" their accent

Here's something interesting on the New York accent: some "New Yawkers" feel so uncomfortable speaking with their original accent that they look for speech therapists to reduce it. For those interested in pronunciation and regionalism, it is really worth reading.

Toning down the NY accent

Previously on "Language Acquisition and Bilingualism"

Interlanguage
Interlanguage is a transition system made up by the learner through their second language acquisition (learning) process. It is the language produced by a non-native speaker, which is bound to suffer from the interference of their first language, until the learner has reached his peak in L2.

To Stephen Krashen, L2 can be:
» acquired - unconsciously;
» learned - consciously;
However, all learned knowledge will not be part of the acquired knowledge. In other words, a consecutive bilingual will never have the same linguistic competence (in L2) of an early consecutive bilingual or a native speaker.

Richard Schmidt defines consciousness as:
» intentionality:
Conscious process;
Deliberate decision to learn L2.
» incidental learning:
Knowledge through exposure to some input.

Larry Selinker (1972): “A second language is not an imperfect copy of the target language, but a linguistic system that is governed by rules in its own right.”


• Rod Ellis (1990):
• “Interlanguage is a linguistic system.”
• “Interlanguage consists of implicit linguistic knowledge.”
• “Interlanguage is permeable.”
• “Interlanguage is variable.”
• “Interlanguage is the product of forces that interact among themselves: input, transfer, learning mechanisms.”
• “Interlanguage may fossilize.”

Previously on "Language acquisition and Bilingualism"

Interlanguage 1

The term ‘interlanguage’ was coined by the American linguist, Larry Selinker, in recognition of the fact that L2 learners construct a linguistic system that draws, in part, on the learner’s L1 but is also different from it and also from the target language.
A learner’s interlanguage is, therefore, a unique linguistic system. The concept of interlanguage involves some premises about L2 acquisition:
 The learner constructs a system of abstract linguistic rules that underlies comprehension and production of the L2. This system is viewed as a ‘mental grammar’ and is referred to as ‘interlanguage.’
 The learner’s grammar is open to influence from the outside (input) and inside (internal processing). Some of the internal processing characteristics are known as omission, overgeneralization, and transfer.
 The learner’s grammar is transitional. It changes from time to time (adding rules, deleting rules, restructuring the whole system). The natural product is an interlanguage continuum. That is, learners construct a series of mental grammars or interlanguages as they gradually increase the complexity of their L2 knowledge.
 The different kinds of errors learners produce reflect different learning strategies. For example, omission errors may suggest that learners are in some way simplifying the learning task by ignoring grammatical features that they are not yet ready to process. Overgeneralization and transfer errors can also be seen as evidence of learning strategies.
 The learner’s grammar is likely to fossilize. Selinker suggested that only about five per cent of learners go on to develop the same mental grammar as native speakers. The majority stop some way short. The prevalence of backsliding is typical of fossilized learners. Fossilization does not occur in L1 acquisition and thus is unique to L2 grammars.
 (From: Ellis, R (2001) Second Language Acquisition. OUP.)