Produce, Produce. Contest, Contest. Object, Object. Bass, Bass.
So I am a genius and just saved my response to Nicoletta’s presentation on my computer instead of posting it… so I’ve added more to it. **good work me**
Where’s the emphasis? What do they mean? How does one know?
Over the summer I was hired as an ESL tutor to “perfect” Hannah’s, one of my Mandarin students, English pronunciation. She asked me because I speak what she considers Standard English.
The value of having an English speaker work with Hannah was something I still don’t fully comprehend. I felt worshiped at times. She was willing to pay me a lot of money to read with her daughter just because I sound like American movie stars. I don’t believe my English degree or being most way through my TESOL certificate mattered much… I just sounded like a Native English speaker to her.
I only had a few nights to work with her daughter to help her with her pronunciation. I don’t think I got that far. It was hard at times because she would say I was wrong, because I “didn’t say things like her mum.” Her mum’s English was not fluent and I had to listen very hard in order to understand most things.
Our discussion about Native English speakers in Nicoletta’s presentation really struck me. Native to me was without accent (I am speaking of standard North American English). This has been problematised for me now that I have learned that this is not a universal definition. Who really is a Native speaker, and why didn’t Hannah’s mum want someone who had a British accent (that’s what I consider “proper” English, personally).
Brenda’s presentation was useful to me because it addressed a lot of issues I have face with just the few amount of kids I have worked with. I had a hard time teaching words to Hannah that had different syllabic emphasis but were written the same (I believe heteronyms?). Produce came up a few times – either to produce something, or to go buy produce. The difference was so minimal that Hannah could not quite get it. Also, as David experienced as well, I had a hard time teaching articles and words with –th. I would over emphasize things with her and now I can only hope she’s not walking around school sounding very silly.
Anyways, I just wanted to say that I got a lot out of Brenda and Nicoletta’s presentations. It’s great for me to be able to relate my own experiences with things that you guys are presenting on. I’m sure eventually everyone’s presentation will have more direct relevance to me as I gain more experience in the next few months.
Where’s the emphasis? What do they mean? How does one know?
Over the summer I was hired as an ESL tutor to “perfect” Hannah’s, one of my Mandarin students, English pronunciation. She asked me because I speak what she considers Standard English.
The value of having an English speaker work with Hannah was something I still don’t fully comprehend. I felt worshiped at times. She was willing to pay me a lot of money to read with her daughter just because I sound like American movie stars. I don’t believe my English degree or being most way through my TESOL certificate mattered much… I just sounded like a Native English speaker to her.
I only had a few nights to work with her daughter to help her with her pronunciation. I don’t think I got that far. It was hard at times because she would say I was wrong, because I “didn’t say things like her mum.” Her mum’s English was not fluent and I had to listen very hard in order to understand most things.
Our discussion about Native English speakers in Nicoletta’s presentation really struck me. Native to me was without accent (I am speaking of standard North American English). This has been problematised for me now that I have learned that this is not a universal definition. Who really is a Native speaker, and why didn’t Hannah’s mum want someone who had a British accent (that’s what I consider “proper” English, personally).
Brenda’s presentation was useful to me because it addressed a lot of issues I have face with just the few amount of kids I have worked with. I had a hard time teaching words to Hannah that had different syllabic emphasis but were written the same (I believe heteronyms?). Produce came up a few times – either to produce something, or to go buy produce. The difference was so minimal that Hannah could not quite get it. Also, as David experienced as well, I had a hard time teaching articles and words with –th. I would over emphasize things with her and now I can only hope she’s not walking around school sounding very silly.
Anyways, I just wanted to say that I got a lot out of Brenda and Nicoletta’s presentations. It’s great for me to be able to relate my own experiences with things that you guys are presenting on. I’m sure eventually everyone’s presentation will have more direct relevance to me as I gain more experience in the next few months.
posted by Marin at 8:40 PM
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