"Water" and English Language Learners

Many of my adult ESL students have a problem being understood when they say the word "water." They have found it frustrating when they try to order a glass of water at a restaurant. And "water" is just one of those words that is very hard to avoid using!

"Water" is such a simple and common word for most native English speakers, but it really has a lot of complex sounds for English language learners. The "t" is the universally difficult sound to pronounce in this word as it is pronounced as a quick "d" by native speakers (I'm talking about American English, here). The "w" is also difficult, as is the "er" sound.

I had a recent experience with this word that I found more interesting than usual due to my experiences with my ESL students.

I spent a few days with a native English-speaking two-year-old child who supposedly has a speech development delay. He's seeing a speech therapist. The adults around the child were trying to help him out by breaking up certain words into syllables and encouraging him to repeat the words. One of the words was "water."

The interesting thing to me was that when the adults broke up the word into two syllables, they said "wa-ter." The "t" was stressed as a very strong "t" sound. I'm sure the child will eventually pick up the common way to say this important word the American English way, but I'm not sure if the strong emphasis on the "t" sound is helping him at this time. Because of my experience with adult English language learners, I would have said "wa-der," with a "d" sound.

I just find language acquisition at any age and level to be fascinating. In my next life, I'll spend more time studying this subject (as well as becoming a forest ranger).

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Making Assumptions about ESL Knowledge

I was tutoring an advanced ESL student today. He's a doctoral student at one of the top universities in the U.S. He asked me to primarily help him with his writing skills. I always focus on the areas my advanced students want to focus on, as opposed to beginning ESL students who need me to guide the directions of our ESL lessons a lot more.

Some small thing came up today about pronunciation. I started talking about the many vowel sounds English has, yet we only have five vowels (sometimes six with the letter "y"). I wrote and said, "a, e, i, o, u." He asked me to repeat the vowels. He said that this was the first time he'd heard a native speaker say the vowels.

I usually try not to make assumptions about what English language learners know or don't know. I'll often ask about something just to make sure. I never thought to ask about something as basic as the vowels. I learned that I still make certain assumptions and need to be even more conscious.

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Teaching "N," "L" and "R" to ESL Students

Penny from the U.S. writes:

Please help! I am a former French teacher volunteering to teach English to foreign adults. My Chinese lady cannot pronounce the nasal "N" as in nose. She says "L" instead. Is there some way to help her hear and say the sound?

Hi Penny,

Thank you for your email. L, N (and ng) and R are really difficult for Asian language speakers. I've even read that they (some Asian language speakers, Japanese, I think) cannot actually hear the difference. In my experience, I don't spend time training them to hear it, but rather, to say it.

What I do is use pronunciation books that have pictures of what their tongues, breathing, lips, etc. need to do to make each sound. I highly recommend the pronunciation book I refer to on this page ESL Textbook Evaluation. It has great drawings (I can't even figure out what some other books are trying to show), and explanations. It also shows you which sounds to teach first (e.g., N, then L, then R).

Good luck,

Debra
ESL Tutor
Teaching ESL to Adults

Intonation for ESL Speakers

I've mentioned before that most of my adult ESL students are advanced level English speakers. They know the rules of English grammar better than me! Yet, when it comes to speaking and listening skills, my students always have room for improvement. Many come to me saying that they want to improve their pronunciation.

I use a three-pronged approach to teaching adult ESL students "pronunciation." Often, when they come to me and say that they want to work on their English pronunciation, they say that they want to learn how to say different words correctly. Well, this is indeed one of the prongs. The other two are specific sounds and intonation.

To me, intonation is perhaps the most important part of pronunciation. I believe that even when someone does not say a word or sound correctly, I (the listener) will still be able to understand the student if the intonation is correct, or nearly correct. On the other hand, perfect word and sound pronunciation with "terrible" intonation is not going to communicate the message of the speaker correctly; not even for a native English speaker.

After I show my ESL students how intonation can totally change the meaning of a sentence (using the "red hat" exercise: "I did not say you stole my red hat"), then they start to see the importance of intonation. Often, just the initial awareness of intonation and the "music" of English will help a student to improve his or her speaking skills dramatically.

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Forgetting English Grammar

Currently, all of my ESL students are advanced and want to work on their speaking and conversation skills. We only occasionally need to review any grammar points. Mostly, we are focusing on accent reduction, pronunciation and general speaking skills.

I hope that I don't forget all that I have learned about grammar and teaching English grammar!

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Selling Out and Sounding "American"

I met with a potential new ESL student the other day. He primarily wants to work on his speaking skills. He said he's tired of people in his office not being able to understand him. He's fluent in English. English was taught along with his native language in his country, so he's been speaking English since he was a kid. He also went to college and graduate school in the U.K.

The main problem is his accent and pronunciation. But an interesting thing was his insight about not wanting to let go of his accent. He had some emotional attachment to it. He felt almost as if he'd be selling out if he sounded "more American." And yet, he wants to take private ESL lessons to help him with his English.

This was just a reminder to me that learning to communicate effectively in English isn't only about English. There may be a lot of other things going on that can get in the way of improving one's English. The ESL's tutor or teacher's awareness of this may help him or her to be a better teacher.

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Helping ESL Students Improve Speaking Skills

Most of my private ESL students are very advanced. These students primarily want to improve their speaking skills. They are frustrated with having to repeat themselves to their colleagues. Some try to handle this frustration by sticking to written communications and avoid face-to-face discussions.

After doing an initial Needs Assessment, I decide on the best approach to help my ESL students to improve their speaking skills. Whatever I decide on as the primary focus, I usually draw from three main topics:

(1) Specific sound pronunciation,
(2) Word pronunciation,
(3) Intonation.

This is not to say that there are not other factors in improving one's English speaking skills. There is also vocabulary development (including idioms, slang, reductions, consistent use of contractions, etc.). I use the above three topics when native speakers have trouble understanding my students.

Specific sound pronunciation includes how to make specific sounds of letters. For example, the "th" is often difficult for a lot of non-native speakers. We also discuss the rules for when certain letters are pronounced differently, like how "s" is sometimes pronounced as an "s" and "sometimes as a "z." (See Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds.)

I focus on word pronunciation through conversation practice and having students read aloud during our tutoring sessions.

Intonation is fun. I describe it as the music of the English language. I show students through a "red hat" exercise how putting stress on different parts of a sentence can totally change the meaning of a sentence.

These are the three main areas I focus on to help students be more easily understood by native English speakers, but as I mentioned above, they are not the only issues we work on.

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Contractions and ESL Speakers

Many of my private ESL students are advanced level ESL speakers. Many come to me because they want to sound more like a native English speaker. Together, we work on many ways to improve their American English pronunciation and reduce their native accents. We look at intonation, pronunciation of words and of individual sounds, we look at voiced and unvoiced sounds, etc.

We also look at reductions and contractions. Most advanced ESL students are very familiar with contractions. They've been taught about them many times. However, very few of my students use contractions. As a matter of fact, when they are reading aloud to me, they will even take apart a contraction. "I'll" becomes "I will" when they are reading. So it is often very difficult for ESL speakers to consistently use contractions.

And yet, the use of contractions during speaking is one of the best ways to move toward sound more "native." With a lot of practice and reinforcement, non-native English speakers can move towards sounding more native by using this one technique.

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Steps for Teaching Past Tense Pronunciation

When I teach my ESL students how to pronounce regular past tense verbs (those ending in "-ed," I follow a step-by-step process.

Here are the steps I follow:

1) First, I teach the concept of voicing, or voiced and unvoiced sounds (aka voiceless sounds).

2) Next, I teach how to pronounce /t/ and /d/.

3) Finally, I teach the rules for which past tense verbs end with /t/, /d/, and /id/ sounds.

I find that that this methodical approach works best to help my ESL students really learn past tense pronunciation. It takes more time, but I find it very effective.

Here's more info on English Past Tense Pronunciation.

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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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Teaching "A" or "An" to ESL Students

If a noun begins with a vowel, then the article "an" is used. If it begins with a consonant, then "a" is used. This basic rule is fairly easy for ESL and EFL students to learn.

However, the more difficult point to teach is that we need to look at the pronunciation, not the spelling of the word. For example, "Lunch lasts for an hour." "Hour" begins with a consonant, but in American English, the "h" is silent, so the beginning sound is a vowel sound.

Another area students have problems with is in using initials or acronyms. For example, "Did you submit an RFP to the foundation?" Although "RFP" begins with a consonant, if I say the letter "R," it sounds like "ar". The beginning sound is a vowel sound.

I find that lots of exercises or drills are useful for reinforcing this point.

Also note, that I am assuming here that the difference between definite and indefinite articles has already been taught.

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Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds

I was working with an advanced ESL student today. Her English is excellent. We are mostly concentrating on accent reduction and job interview questions.

Today, we were working on past tense pronunciation using /t/, /d/, and /id/ sounds. Before teaching these three endings, I taught her about voiced and unvoiced (or voiceless) sounds. I feel that this concept needs to be taught before a student can fully grasp the past tense endings.

My student told me that this concept of voicing was very helpful to her, and that out of over six English teachers she has had, no one has ever taught her this before.

See Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds for more info about teaching this concept.

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"He Tooted His Own Horn" Idiom

One of the examples used to teach past tense pronunciation in Azar's Understanding and Using English Grammar is "He tooted his horn." I've found very, very few ESL students who know what this means. Of course, native English speakers know that this means that someone "honked" the horn of a vehicle, such as a car. Right here we have a vocabulary learning opportunity.

And then, another learning opportunity comes along. What happens if I add "own" to the sentence? "He tooted his own horn." Now the meaning has totally changed and we are using an idiom. I often explain that this means for someone to "brag" about himself. Very few English language learners are familiar with the word "brag." Another learning opportunity.

Of course, there has to be a balance between sticking to the original intention of the lesson and not getting too sidetracked. Fortunately, as a private ESL tutor, I'm able to monitor and keep track of this balance a little easier than I would be able to in a classroom.

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ESL Slang Teaching Opportunities

I love when teaching opportunities present themselves during my ESL tutoring sessions; especially when the opportunity allows me to teach something that goes beyond regular grammar.

When teaching Past Tense pronunciation for regular verbs to ESL students, I often use a worksheet from Azar's Understanding and Using English Grammar. In a list of Past Tense verbs, they have the word "loaded." Of course, in this context, "loaded" is the past tense of the verb "load."

I always ask students if they know what this word means. Every single student I've asked tells me the correct definition of the verb "to load." I then ask if they know of any definitions for the word as an adjective not related to "to load." No one ever knows. Do you?

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“What’s a Syllable?”

When I teach my adult ESL students the rules for adding a syllable to past tense verbs that end with a /t/ or /d/, I often use the word “syllable,” of course. I have found that about 50% of the time “syllable” is a new word, and sometimes a new concept, for my adult students.

Now I no longer make the mistake of assuming that students know the words (sometimes called the “metalanguage”) that I use to talk about the language. After all, ESL and EFL teachers should really use a minimum of metalanguage when teaching English. It’s just so much easier to take these shortcuts that sometimes I have to remind myself that my students are, after all, coming to me to learn to speak or communicate in English, not to learn to speak about English.

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What’s the Pronunciation Rule for “Walked”?

This question comes up a lot on internet searches. For native English speakers, it’s a pretty simple word. But the trick for ESL learners is that there are three possible endings for past tense verbs: /t/, /d/ or /id/. So which ending is right for this –ed ending word?

The short answer is “walked” is pronounced “walk/t/.”

Check out my English Past Tense Pronunciation page for the pronunciation rule for “walked” and other past tense words (or past participles).

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Correcting ESL Beginners’ Pronunciation

As a private ESL tutor, I have the opportunity to give a lot of feedback to my ESL students. Feedback is one of the things students appreciate about private tutoring.

Many of my advanced students have some serious pronunciation problems, although their grammar and other English skills are very good. Many advanced students also specifically want to work on their pronunciation and accent reduction. Teachers in the past haven’t spent much time correcting these problems and my advanced students are now dealing with this issue.

As an ESL teacher, I’m sometimes in a difficult situation with beginning ESL students. It’s often very challenging for students to have the self-confidence to speak when they are just starting to learn English. Constant correction tends to paralyze students. They tend to be afraid to speak because they are afraid of the errors they will make in grammar and pronunciation.

I find that I have to reach a balance of which corrections to make and what feedback to give to my students. I tend to not make too many pronunciation corrections unless I absolutely cannot understand the word. With some issues, such as pronunciation of the past tense, I will spend specific time working on correct (or better) pronunciation.

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International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabet used by people all over the world. Each of the symbols in the IPA has one pronunciation (so unlike the English alphabet!). Because each of the symbols has one sound, people from all over the world can use this phonetic alphabet.

Before I started teaching ESL to adults, I’d never even heard of the IPA! Over the years, probably half of my students have known the IPA. While I haven’t yet memorized the entire alphabet, I have found it very helpful in teaching ESL pronunciation to know a few of the symbols.

However, if you don’t know the IPA and your students don’t know it, I really don’t think it’s necessary or the best use of time to teach it to your students.

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“Voiced” and “Voiceless” Sounds (Past Tense)

When I teach lessons to ESL students on how to pronounce regular Simple Past tense verbs (those ending with “-ed”), I first have to teach the concept of “voiceless” sounds and “voiced” sounds.

The “-ed” endings of regular past tense verbs are pronounced in three different ways. They end with either a /t/ sound, a /d/ sound, or an /ed/ sound. Verbs ending with an /ed/ sound are easier to teach. Determining whether a past tense verb ends with a /t/ or /d/ sound is more difficult for ESL students. See English Past Tense Pronunciation for more info.

Whether the ending of a Past Tense verb should be pronounced as a /t/ or a /d/ is dependant upon the final sound at the end of the base form of the verb (before you add “-ed” to the verb). For example, for the word “work,” the “k” sound (not the letter sound) determines that the ending for “worked” is pronounced “work/t/”; for the word “clean,” the "n" sound determines that “cleaned” is pronounced “clean/d/.”

“Voiced Sounds” have a /d/ ending

To distinguish a voiced sound, I have the student determine the final sound of the base form of the verb (before adding the “-ed”). For example, for the word “save,” the final sound is "vvvvvv". I then ask the student to hold three fingers to their throat and make the sound "vvvvvv". I ask them if they feel a vibration in their throat. If there is a vibration, then the ending is pronounced as a /d/.

“Voiceless Sounds” have a /t/ ending

To distinguish a voiceless sound, I have the student determine the final sound of the base form of the verb (before adding the “-ed”). For example, for the word “miss,” the final sound is "sssssss". I then ask the student to hold three fingers to their throat and make the sound "sssssss". I ask them if they feel a vibration in their throat. If there is no vibration, then the ending is pronounced as a /t/.

When using this method in a lesson to teach pronunciation of Past Tense verbs, you really have to demonstrate the way to determine if the sound vibrates or not. ESL students sometimes feel silly or are otherwise reluctant to put their fingers to their throats and make a funny sound. So I consistently model what the student should do.

The mistake students usually make during this pronunciation lesson is that they look at the last letter and say the letter, rather than make the sound that the letter makes.

Pronunciation of Past Tense Verbs

Following a lesson plan on the Simple Past tense (verb conjugation, form, and function), I usually also teach my private ESL students how to pronounce past tense verbs ending in “-ed,” although this isn’t always necessary. Some students have already learned correct pronunciation in their native countries, although there will usually be some problems. If the problems are consistent or serious, then I’ll do a pronunciation lesson right after the verb conjugation and usage lesson.

The most common mistake, and I think the most serious pronunciation problem, is always adding a second syllable for the “-ed” at the end of the past tense word. A second syllable is only required when the last sound (not the last letter) is a “t” or “d,” for example, “wanted,” “decided,” “needed.”

For regular verbs, the “-ed” ending has three different pronunciations: “t,” “d,” and “ed.”

Examples of /t/ endings for past tense verbs

“laugh” becomes “laughed” and is pronounced “laugh/t/” (one syllable)
“walk” becomes “walked” and is pronounced “walk/t/” (one syllable)
“kiss” becomes “kissed” and is pronounced “kiss/t/” (one syllable)
“finished” becomes “finished” and is pronounced “finish/t/” (two syllables)

Examples of /d/ endings for past tense verbs

“clean” becomes “cleaned” and is pronounced “clean/d/” (one syllable)
“dream” becomes “dreamed” and is pronounced “dream/d/” (one syllable)
“save” becomes “saved” and is pronounced “save/d/” (one syllable)
“enjoy” becomes “enjoyed” and is pronounced “enjoy/d/” (two syllables)
“marry” becomes “married” and is pronounced “marry/d/” (two syllables)

Examples of /ed/ endings for past tense verbs (this is the only ending that is pronounced with an additional syllable)

“want” becomes “wanted” and is pronounced “want/ed/” (two syllables)
“need” becomes “needed” and is pronounced “need/ed/” (two syllables)
“decide” becomes “decided” and is pronounced “decide/ed/” (three syllables)
“dedicate” becomes “dedicated” and is pronounced “dedicate/ed/” (four syllables)

Deciding when to use the “/ed/” pronunciation is pretty simple. The English as a Second Language student just needs to remember that this ending is used only for verbs ending with a “t” or “d” sound.

A lesson plan teaching the ESL student how to differentiate between verbs with a “/t/” sound ending and a “/d/” sound ending is a bit more difficult. Many students will think that it is just a matter of memorizing which letters at the end of the word take a “/t/” and which take a “/d/.” This will work for many verbs, but not all.

The better rule is to teach ESL students how to determine if the ending sound of the base verb is “voiced” or “voiceless.” The “ed” ending of voiceless sounds takes on a “/t/.” Voiced sounds take on a “/d/.” For more information on voicing, see Voiced and Voiceless Sounds.