International Phonetic Alphabet Sound

  A better way to go about imparting how to make sounds or what sounds are utilized in a word, is this international phonemic alphabet. Now we have as mentioned one symbol being used in all the words which share that same sound. Now once we get a little bit more familiar with our phonemic alphabet we can also show how different our different sounds can be as in this symbol for ?ooh?, this symbol for ?ow? and this symbol for ?uh?. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the...  [Read more]

  There are two issues that need to be stressed when working with the international phonemic alphabet. First is the fact that we are no longer concerned with how a word is traditionally spelled. Additionally we need to stress that we are only concerned with the sounds needed to correctly produce a word. So rather than numerous spellings, which can often be pronounced in different ways, we have one symbol representing one sound. Once we can isolate a sound, rather than juggling various spellings, we can work with our students on how to say that sound. Doing that successfully is related to manner and place of articulation, which will be covered shortly. To get a better understanding of the phonemic alphabet, let's take a look at our chart. In the bottom half of our chart we have our...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, we'll will delve into phonetics and phonology as described in George Yule's book, "The Study of Language." Phonetic and phonology are two branches of linguistics focused on the sound system. They are critical to understanding how speech sounds are produced, which, in turn, shapes language and communication. This discussion will explore various aspects of phonetics and phonology, breaking down the complex world of sounds in the English language. Phonetics and the Sound System Articulation Points Manner of Articulation Vowels and Diphthongs Phonology: The Sound Patterns of Language Teaching Phonetics and Phonology In Conclusion Are you ready to teach English as a foreign language? Related Articles: Check...  [Read more]

  In this video we'll be looking at the international phonemic alphabet and how it's used in the classroom. There are other phonemic alphabets but this is the most popular and the system, which is most widely used. You may have seen some of these symbols before as any good dictionary will supplement standard English spellings with the phonemic spellings to aid in pronunciation practice. Here we have a situation where we have what are called phonemes and each phoneme represents a sound within the English language. How is this helpful? Well, what it does is help students understand how to say words rather than simply relying on the often archaic English spellings. To illustrate this point let's for a moment put ourselves in the shoes of our students when trying to understand how to say...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Many ESL teachers have never even heard of phonetics or phonology, yet they use these aspects of speech naturally when they speak. Phonetics and phonology are two areas of linguistics that study the sounds of language. Phonetics focuses on individual sounds, while phonology studies the features and combination of sounds (McMahon, 1-3). There are two reasons why ESL teachers need to know phonetics and phonology: first, it helps them to conceptualize English in a way that their students can understand; and second, it helps them to address their students' difficult pronunciation problems. Why Students Suffer from Pronunciation Issues? Lack of Subject Knowledge Sound Awareness Teacher as a Role Model Are you ready to take your TEFL course? Related...  [Read more]

English pronunciation is crucial for effective communication as it impacts how well a non-native speaker is understood. Poor pronunciation can lead to misunderstandings and hinder fluency. It also affects confidence levels and overall language proficiency. Teaching pronunciation from the beginning helps students develop a strong foundation for their language skills. 1. Phonetic Alphabet: Introducing the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) helps students understand the specific sounds of English and how to produce them accurately. 2. Minimal Pairs: Using minimal pairs (words that differ by only one sound) can help students distinguish between similar sounds that may not exist in their native language. 3. Intonation and Stress: Teaching the rhythm, stress, and intonation patterns of...  [Read more]

  "As mentioned before our four words here all are similar in using the ?b? and ?t? sounds at the end. So we know that those phonemes will be used in spelling each one of those words phonetically. Now what we're left to do is assign a phoneme for our vowel sounds. So if we analyze the word, it's ?e? as in bet. We look at our chart, we see the phoneme which corresponds to that sound and that happens to be the standard ?e? that we all recognize. Here, bet phonetically looks very similar to bet in the Roman script. Now let's take a look at ?i? bit. Now we look at our chart and we see that this symbol represents the ?i? sound and that resembles a capital I not a lowercase I but a capital I and so we've arrived at bit. Now with ?but? we have to find the sound and that corresponds to this...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Explore the challenges and strategies in teaching English language sounds and pronunciation across different age groups.It's widely known that students of various age groups exhibit varying learning capacities. Despite these differences and regardless of background or origin, learners of English (referred to as L2) often struggle with speaking and listening due to the language's heavy reliance on auditory comprehension. This article delves into the importance of addressing these pronunciation challenges, especially in the context of teaching English as a second language. Understanding Age-Related Differences Young Learners: Nurturing the Phonetic Foundation Navigating the Teenage Years: 12-18 Age Group Engaging Adult Learners: The...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Phonology is the system of sounds that exist within a particular language, while phonetics is the study of how speech sounds are produced. One difficulty for all learners of a second language is learning how to produce new sounds by moving the mouth, lips, and tongue in new ways. Several other languages also share the Roman alphabet with English but do not pronounce letters and combinations of letters the same way. These learners need to learn the English phonology so that when they read English, they will know how to pronounce the words they read correctly, and so that they speak English with a more native-sounding accent. English in Vietnam Language Structure Differences Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: ...  [Read more]

  In this ITTT TESOL review video Karen describes her experience during her TESOL/TEFL course in Hangzhou, China. ITTT has training centers in over thirty different international locations. To find training center that suits you just visit our web site or follow the above links. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. Register now & get certified to teach english abroad! Reported speech is often confusing for students because the grammar shifts...  [Read more]

  In this ITTT TESOL review Lenin from the United States talks about his experiences while completing the 120 hour online TESOL/TEFL certification course. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. Register now & get certified to teach english abroad! This unit focuses on the basic grammar concepts that make up the English Language. It uses a systematic approach to introduce and explain the most important Parts of Speech that make up the language. I've...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL/TESOL review, trainee Pam describes her experience with ITTT's in-class course in Phuket, Thailand. She outlines the program of the fourth week of the course. Pam also talks about some of the assessment components of the course and the certificates that are awarded at the conclusion of the course. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. Register now & get certified to teach english abroad! This unit introduces some grammatical aspects...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences There are several pronunciation problems that students of English will face in Japan; however, I will focus on two. 1. Differences in the phonetic systems of two languages 2. Lack of exposure to authentic English resources Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Brandie K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The first of these problems they face is the fact that Japanese doesn't have some of the same sounds in its' alphabet as English does. For example, Japanese does not have a hard R sound; instead, it has a sound that is a mix of R and L. So, when students from Japan go to say rice, for many...  [Read more]

  Here we have a set of five words, which all share one sound: the ?oh? sound, as in ?go?, ?show?, ?dough?, ?note? and ?boat?. They?re five different spelling patterns to tell our students so they can identify when to make the ?oh? sound. We can have a simple letter ?o?, ?ow?, ?ough?, ?o? with the magic ?e? which turns our vowel into what we knew as long sounds and the ?oa? as in ?boat?. Now, for a non-native learner, perhaps they can handle something like this. They remember that these spelling combinations help to produce the ?oh? sound and they can go about their business looking at the words and memorizing this knowing that these spelling patterns will produce the sound ?oh?. Now that?s okay until we get to a situation where we can also have words like ?to?, ?cow? and also...  [Read more]

  Peter took the 120-hour online TEFL course with ITTT. In this TEFL review, Peter mentions how he found the course to be well designed and well thought out. One thing Peter discusses is how earning a TEFL certificate and teaching English abroad is a great way to learn about new cultures and share about your own country with people all over the world. Peter would like to continue studying with ITTT and the many different courses that are available. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before...  [Read more]

  Wieslaw form Poland took the 120-hour online TESOL course with tutor support and videos. In his TESOL review video, Wieslaw tells us he is currently teaching kindergarten students in Nanjing, China. He found the material in the course clear and well put together covering several different topics including classroom management, teaching different age groups, grammar and lesson planning. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. Register now & get certified to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Say the word 'hat' to yourself out loud. Now say 'mouth'. Was it easy? If you are a native English speaker you did it without thinking. You didn't have to contort your face into all sorts of funny shapes or feel self-conscience during the process. The reason is that you already know the phonology of those two English words. You may not understand exactly how you said those words; whether they were plosives or voiced or non-voiced, whether or not the tongue was forward touching the teeth or raised touching the soft palate. You don't need to know. You have heard and said these words hundreds if not thousands of times in your life. You already can say them easily without thinking. But what if you are learning English and your Native Language does not have...  [Read more]

Pronunciation and intonation play a crucial role in effective communication in the English language. Clear pronunciation helps learners be understood by others, while intonation conveys meaning, emotions, and attitudes in a sentence. Without mastering these aspects, language learners may face difficulties in expressing themselves and understanding others. Therefore, focusing on pronunciation and intonation is essential in English language teaching. When teaching English pronunciation, it's important to start with the basics such as individual sounds and phonetic symbols. Encouraging students to listen and practice these sounds repeatedly can help them improve their pronunciation skills. Using techniques like minimal pairs, where words differ by only one sound, can be beneficial in...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Learning a second language can prove to have a variety of obstacles. Between age, time available for study, access to resources, and more, the desire to master another language must be given a strong priority to succeed. Just as individual learners will face their issues in the learning process, there are often similarities between language learners from a specific country or region. For English language learners from South Korea, where the standard college entrance exam contains sufficient English components (Kim, 2012), the necessity to learn is as high as the obstacles. Based on grammar differences, pronunciation, and a general fear of speaking English, English language learners in South Korea face issues particular to their region. The...  [Read more]

  "In terms of the things that are negative about it, we've already said that it doesn't develop speaking but perhaps the biggest negative point about this particular methodology is that it's very unnatural. Ok, so despite the criticisms of this particular method, and particularly the fact that is unnatural, this particular methodology was in use all the way through the 17th, 18th and 19th century and indeed it's still in use today. However, Gouin in the 1880s and Berlitz in the early 1900s decided that this particular methodology was so unnatural that they wanted to come up with something new. The method that they came up with, they called the direct method. You will also sometimes see it as the natural method. What these two people were saying is that if we wish to learn a language...  [Read more]

When teaching English to absolute beginners, it is pivotal to start with foundational elements. Begin with essential vocabulary - items like family names, household objects, basic adjectives, and common places. Introduce them to subject pronouns, commonly used verbs, and foundational sentence structures. While the challenge is real, many English teachers find this level especially rewarding. Remember, every word they grasp is a significant achievement, so using engaging and interactive methods can make the learning process enjoyable and effective. How do I start teaching English to total beginners? How do I teach English pronunciation to total beginners? How do I quickly build vocabulary for complete beginner students of English? How do I teach English grammar to complete beginners? ...  [Read more]

  When it comes to manner of articulation, we have six different ways in which our breath is produced in order to make our sounds. We have our plosives, our affricates, fricatives, the nasal sounds, our lateral sound and the approximants. Let's take a look at each individually and see how they differ from one another. First we have our plosive sounds. As the word might indicate we have basically a little explosion of sound with our breath. The plosive sounds are made through a three-step process. First there's a closure somewhere in the vocal tract. Second there's a buildup of air and finally there's a sudden release of that air like a little explosion. If we look at some of the sounds that are made this way we might better understand why they are called plosives. Examples are the...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word inveigle. This word is used as a verb and refers to the action of persuading someone to do something through flattery or deception. The word comes from aveugler in Old French meaning ?to blind?. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. Register now & get certified to teach english abroad! The videos going over a non-effective way to teach and a effective way to teach was helpful for me. I was...  [Read more]

  Ruth lives in Nicaragua and took the 120-hour online TESOL without tutor support from ITTT. In this TESOL review video Ruth discusses what she enjoyed about the course. She found the course units to be simple and easy to follow and particularly liked the teaching ideas that the course provided to help her teach language concepts in more varied and interesting ways. She also benefited from the job help provided at the end of the course. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving...  [Read more]

Teaching English pronunciation to ESL students is crucial for effective communication. Clear pronunciation helps students be understood by native speakers and boosts their confidence in using the language. Proper pronunciation also aids in comprehension and reduces the chances of miscommunication. Additionally, mastering pronunciation early on can prevent students from developing bad habits that are difficult to correct later. There are several effective strategies for teaching English pronunciation to ESL students. One key approach is to focus on individual sounds and phonemes in isolation before practicing them in words and sentences. Another effective method is using minimal pairs, which are pairs of words that only differ in one sound, to help students distinguish between similar...  [Read more]

Teaching English pronunciation to non-native speakers is crucial in a TEFL classroom as it helps students communicate effectively and be understood by others. Clear pronunciation enhances overall language comprehension and fluency, enabling students to engage in meaningful conversations and interactions. Moreover, accurate pronunciation can boost students' confidence in speaking English, leading to improved performance in both academic and real-world settings. There are several effective strategies that TEFL teachers can use to help students improve their English pronunciation. One approach is to focus on individual sounds and phonetic patterns, breaking down words into syllables and practicing pronunciation through repetition and drills. Teachers can also utilize visual aids, such as...  [Read more]

  Now let's take a look at how we go from traditional spellings into the phonemic spellings. The first step in this process is identifying each unit of sound or each phoneme within a word. Let's look at bet, bit, but, and bought. The only difference in each one of these words is in the vowel sound. We have bet, bit, but and bought. Each word simply uses three sounds. Now we have photo. That's four phonemes. Wow we have taxi. That's five phonemes. We have unite with a hidden phoneme in there being the ?y? sound before anything else. Those are five phonemes as well and now we have a longer word: chemistry. Let's give that a shot. That's eight phonemes used in the word chemistry. Now once we've isolated each sound we want to assign a phoneme for each one of those sounds let's do that...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences It is not a secret for anyone that native speakers of any language always easily identify "non-native" when they hear at least a few words spoken by them. Often native speakers are able to fairly accurately determine the country from which the person came, based on his pronunciation. This happens due to the fact that it is common for all of us to use the sounds of our native language in the pronunciation of words of a foreign language, as well as to use articulation models we know from childhood the position of the organs of speech (lips, tongue, etc.). The "Russian mistakes" Muting voiced consonants in the endings. Replacing long vowels with short vowels. Replacment of different English sounds Using Russian intonation models instead of English ones. Learn...  [Read more]

  Semi-modal auxiliary verbs can cause a lot of confusion with English students. These auxiliary verbs differ with true modals in that they change their form depending on the pronoun the follow. An example of a semi-modal auxiliary verb is "need to". Watch the video for the complete explanation. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. Register now & get certified to teach english abroad! This was entirely new material for me. I wasn't aware of the...  [Read more]

  Whereas stress is typically concerned with one individual word, intonation is generally concerned with the variation in volume and pitch throughout an entire sentence. Intonation carries the message of a sentence. It's particularly important when questioning or agreeing, disagreeing and confirming statements. It's also very important when expressing emotions and feelings. The normal pattern for intonation is the rise-fall. Few examples would be ?I haven't seen him for a week,? or a simple word as ?okay?. With the falling intonation, we?re indicating that we're finished speaking. Again, ?I haven't seen him for a week? and ?okay?. A few more examples would be ?I'll see you at six then,? or a question of information ?How do you spell rough?? These are straightforward statements that...  [Read more]