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 […]

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 […]

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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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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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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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, […]

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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Toeic Strategies And Tips Revealed
By:David Dalton

Warning don’t take the TOEIC exam until you read this.
10 score Killers that You NEED to know right away!
Discover How to Overcome them and get a GREAT SCORE!!!
TOEIC Secrets, Tips and Strategies Revealed - Part 1
This article is an excerpt from my free report which will available […]

Hey gang, really excited with the relaunch of ESL Toronto as Social Network. Please be patient as I institute the various facets of the site.

A big welcome to Bernadette, Karthika and Guillermo, I’m looking forward to getting to know you and help you on your ESL journey.

Have a Great Day,

~Mr. D

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I would like to register myself for ESL with respect to pronunciation which may help to converse with canadians. Kindly suggest me how to proceed.

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The Second Score-Killer: Not finishing the test

Finish the Test! Time - “time is of the essence”

Time management is fundamental to achieving a high TOEIC score. Among the students I polled one thing that stands out is the inability to complete the test.

Our 2nd mantra is “I will finish the test”

Since all questions are of equal […]

When you memorize the system of eleven vowels, you are ready for the real question: how can anyone quickly pick the correct vowel for each and every syllable? The same way that native speakers master the fine points of any language: learning basic rules of thumb; learning basic lists of exceptions; and guessing, without having […]