English Pronunciation for French Speakers

By -
Areas of Difficulty for French Speakers
Consonants:

I.              /p/, /t/, /k/ in word initial position

Practice aspirating these consonants in word initial position as follows:
Paper         point                painting           persecute         prosecute
Talk           tainted              temple              temptation        tranquil
Carry         carriage            curse                cartoon            chronicle         

II.            /tS/ and /dz/

Discriminate between the initial sounds in the following words:
China/Japan           chill/Jill            chain/Jane        search/surge   

III.         /th/ and /TH/

Pronounce these words carefully, making the distinction between word-final voiceless and voiced consonants:

Breath/breathe       bath/bathe        cloth/clothe     
Now try this tongue twister:
Those three thieves threw thirteen things in the thicket of thorn trees. 

IV.          /r/

This English sound is particularly difficult for French speakers because it does not exist in French.  Practice pronouncing it in different word positions:

Rose          red                   report               rascal               raisin   range
arrange      merger             murder             burger              searching
scar            score                floor                meager             figure

V.            /h/

This English sound is also difficult for French speakers to pronounce. It does exist in French, but it is never pronounced. Practice pronouncing the following pairs, making a clear distinction between word-initial vowels and word-initial /h/:

Eel/heal      ail/hale             arm/harm         old/holed         as/has 
                              And/hand  art/heart           arbor/harbor    owl/howl         air/hair                        

Vowels:
I.              /I/ vs. /i:/
Practice pronouncing the short and long vowels in the following minimal pairs:

Hit/heat      fit/feet              sit/seat             fill/feel             live/leave

II. /e/ vs/ /ei/
Distinguish between the short and long vowels in the following  minimal pairs:

met/mate    red/raid            led/laid             fed/fade           wed/wade

III. /U/ vs /u:/
Make the distinction between the short and long vowels in the following pairs:

full/fool     foot/food         should/shoot                book/boot   
In a
In addition to the above short (lax) and long (tense) vowels, these vowels are also difficult for French speakers:

IV. /e/ vs / /
Practice pronouncing the short vowel and the diphthong in the following minimal pairs:

met/mat      set/sat              fed/fad             led/lad              wed/wad

V. / / vs /a:/
Make the distinction between the short and long vowels in the following minimal pairs.                 
                  
                 curd/card   heard/hard       curt/cart           burn/barn         hurt/heart


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Schumann’s Acculturation Model

By -
Image
Schumann's Acculturation Model Consider how these social and psychological factors affect the extent of the learner’s capacity to learn his or her second language (L2).   Schumann asserts that the more distance created between the L2 learner and his or her target language (TL) culture by such factors, the less contact s/he will have with the TL culture and thus the lower will his or her expected L2 proficiency be. Furthermore, he considers the social factors to be the prime influences; the psychological factors come into play and become the deciding factors only in situations where the combined social factors create neither positive nor negative circumstances for the learner.   Which outcomes of each of these factors make for a bad learning situation and which ones for a good learning situation? Consider as many as apply to your group’s learner testimonial. Social Distance Factors Social dominance : Is the learner’s native group dominant to, equal to, or subor...
Keep reading

The Purpose of Assessment

By -
The purpose of assessment is to improve teaching and learning through intellectual dialogue about measurable learning outcomes, to create a collaborative, dynamic, and continuous assessment process that engages faculty and personnel across the institution in the cultivation of student success, to utilize assessment to improve from within while maintaining a documentary record that demonstrates this improvement to the community, and to balance the assessment process between a meaningful and thoughtful practice, which is part of what educators do daily. My department offers remedial reading and writing courses to both native and non-native speakers of English. The curricular objectives for lower level reading/writing and upper level reading/writing courses are as follows: Lower Level Reading Course Curricular Objectives Upon successful completion of the course, while using some college-level texts, students will be able to: 1)   Distinguish between details and generalitie...
Keep reading

English Pronunciation for Turkish Speakers

By -
Image
Areas of Difficulty for Turkish Speakers Consonants: I.    /t/ & /d/: When Turkish speakers of English pronounce these alveolar consonants, they touch the back of their upper teeth with the tip of their tongue. Instead, try to form a constriction by touching your alveolar ridge (the area behind your upper teeth) with the tip of your tongue. Pronounce these sounds in different phonological environments such as word-initial, medial, and final position and in consonant clusters. tiresome      little      brat       staple    burst     crest                  totalitarianism automatic    trickster            cattle     dental    tirade    tardy     training technique    tangle...
Keep reading