Nassau, New York TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

I liked how the unit educated the reader on the lack of emphasis on pronunciation currently going on and the reasons why (like how some TEFL teachers who do not speak English natively struggle themselves so they’re not confident with their students). The unit also stresses that students really do want to pronounce their words well, and that’s true for me when I was learning French as a foreign language. It all makes sense. And it’s tough for students to move their focus to pronunciation when they’re struggling to simply understand the meaning in the first place. Also I knew the importance of intonation but I didn’t picture the potential lack of it when new students learn English. It’s comes naturally to me and must be developed in the learners. The portion on stressing is helpful and nothing surprising. A sentence can sound several different ways depending on what the speaker is trying to correct based on what was said to them. He WAS there vs HE was there carry different meanings. I like the section on speech linking. It’s reminiscent of when I learned French. I would have wrongfully called it “wrong” or “lazy” if it wasn’t for the unit specifying that it’s just how natural English speakers communicate. I found the anatomy and breakdown of speech organs kind of boring. Parts of this section were very interesting when it walked you through what you should do and what you should experience when you are doing it (very funny to watch yourself experience it). Reading and deciphering the phonetic script was really fun! It’s a language in itself.