ESL Toronto

Mr. D wrote a new blog post: 12 Helpful Tips to Pass the CELTA or TEFL Teaching Preparation Course By Larry M. Lynch

As a Trinity College of London post-graduate diploma holder in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) when a co-worker seriously queried me on the rigors and requirements of taking a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification course for teaching English, I recommended an upcoming CELTA (Certification in English Language Teaching) teacher […]

Mr. D wrote a new blog post: ESL Pronunciation L Versus R

R must be mastered in English because of its unique manifold abilities to influence nearby sounds and its geographic variety. Since speakers of many other languages use a flap instead of a trill for R, distinguishing it from L and ensuring local vowels are pronounced correctly are often challenges.

Saying R

English R is pronounced near the […]

Mr. D wrote on the wire of the group CELTA

CELTA and the Six Serving Men Part 1

What is CELTA

Looking at CELTA through the eyes of the Six Serving Men is probably the fastest
and most efficient method of explaining CELTA and how it relates to TEFL, TESL,
TESOL and the rest of the ESL Teaching World.

So, what is CELTA? Here’s the verbatim […]

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Mr. D created the group CELTA

Mr. D wrote a new blog post: Pronunciation-Consonant Rundown

Now let’s review the consonants only. It’s interesting that consonants are grouped in the alphabet in threes and fives, because all vowels are in odd-numbered positions:
* BCD * FGH * JKLMN * PQRST * VWXYZ
Simplicity
The simplest consonants have one reliable sound and can be depended on for that sound in most contexts (with the ever-present […]

Mr. D wrote a new blog post: Pronunciation-Stress-Tonality-Length

Let’s take a break before tackling consonants and describe ways that different languages use to distinguish many of the most similar-sounding words. Three of these methods are stress, tonality, and length.

Stress refers to the loudness, softness, or intermediateness of the syllable’s vowel. Tonality refers to the highness or lowness of the pitch or note of […]

Mr. D wrote a new blog post: ESL Pronunciation English Vowel Trivia

Most of these observations are necessary for completeness but do not affect understandability.
The Roving Schwa
If the syllable is unstressed, it’s usually safe to use a schwa. Most words beginning with a- as a separate syllable, including the word “a” itself, use a schwa; and many suffixes routinely use a schwa, such as: -a, […]

Mr. D wrote on the wire of the group Pronunciation

English Vowel Trivia

Most of these observations are necessary for completeness but do not affect understandability.

The Roving Schwa

If the syllable is unstressed, it’s usually safe to use a schwa. Most words beginning with a- as a separate syllable, including the word “a” itself, use a schwa; and many suffixes routinely use a schwa, such as: -a, […]

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Mr. D wrote a new blog post: Vowels Working Together

AU is “aw” (baud, caught, faun, fraud, taut), and rarely “ah-oo”, a diphthong of long A and long U (hausfrau, sauerkraut).
EI is “ee” (conceit, either, leisure, receive, seize), and less often “ey” (neigh, reign, their, vein, weigh), or “eh” (counterfeit, foreign, forfeit, heifer, sovereign).
EO is usually unconnected (pronounced separately, such as “ee-oh”).
EU is “oo” (jeu, […]

Mr. D wrote on the wire of the group Pronunciation

The Pure Vowels

One of the harder steps for learning English pronunciation is to master all the vowel sounds common to English. Languages like Hawaiian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish have a basic five-vowel set, not counting diphthongs of two or more vowels in combination. Because of this, a simple way of learning English vowels is […]

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