Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Tongue Twister for Relative Vowels

I'm working with an advanced ESL student from Mexico. Her English is very good. We're concentrating on accent reduction and pronunciation skills. For the last couple of weeks, we've been working on "alphabet vowels" and "relative vowels" (essentially "long" and "short" vowel sounds). Most recently, we're working on the relative vowel sounds. I use the book Clear Speechto teach these sounds.

Another of the challenges she has is differentiating between the "b" and "v" sounds. I remember from studying Spanish that as a native English speaker, I have trouble making the b/v combination sound that Spanish speakers use.

I've found a great tongue twister to work on both the "b" sound and all the relative vowels (as well as the t/d issue). "Betty Botter" is helping with all of these issues.

You can read more about Using Tongue Twisters for Pronunciation on my other website. "Betty Botter" is also written there in its entirety.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2011 at 10:53 PM

    We Mexicans, I'm not sure about the rest of hispanics. Are tought at school the difference between "b" and "v" but for some cultural reason we don't use this rule when we speak. It's not a hard topic but only a matter of practice. If she's that advanced she will get it in no time.

    I have questions on how to teach teens. I don't know how to teach someone that has no interest in learning. I'm a teacher for junior high and high school students here in Mexico. Is there anything you can recommend?

    Regards,

    Wendy Avalos

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