Rolling Rolling Rolling

Never fear. It is possible to pronounce the “L’s” and the “R’s”. Sometimes, learners throw up their arms and say, “I just can’t do it! I have a short tongue!”
Well, I have to thank those students for giving me the long-tongue, short-tongue image. I have put some thought into this. The tongue is largely muscle and can be trained to make different shapes (to some extent). Welcome to the mini Olympics of the tongue.

Practice this: Hold your tongue in the middle of your mouth for sixty seconds, without touching any of:
- your teeth
- your cheeks
- the roof or your mouth
- the surface beneath your tongue.

Try to make some different facial expressions during this sixty second period:
- smile
- make a surprised look
- pretend you are sleeping
- pout

Finally, try to move your tongue around within this limited space. up and down. side to side. diagonally. make circles. Don't touch the sides!!!! or the TOP or the bottom or the TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETH.

Do it to music. It makes you feel less silly!! Humm while doing it. Do this sixty second exercise twice a day. (or more frequently.) Now you feel the power of the tongue. In order to feel the difference between the “L” and the “R”, you have to be aware of the inside of your mouth.
The tongue position for “R” is pretty easy. The 2 sides of the tongue, toward the back of the mouth, touch the upper teeth, or gums. Make sure the front of the tongue is not touching anything. Make the vowel sound: her gurr her gurr her gurr. Notice, it is pretty hard to make the other vowel sound sounds, like: high hate cone. This is because, the “R” goes with the soft “e” and “u” vowels, usually.
The tongue position for “L” is also easy. This time the tip of the tongue touches the front upper teeth. Make sure the sides of the tongue are not touching anything. Make the vowel sound: hill heel hill heel hill heel. Notice that the sides of your tongue do not touch the sides of your mouth. Also notice, that unlike with the “R”, the tongue has to move off the teeth between words.

FACT: It is difficult for many non-native English speakers to actually hear the difference in their own ears. So get used to feeling the the difference instead. Eventually, as your fluency improves, you too, will begin to hear it.

Original Art Moves Me

I collect art.  I am not really particular about whether an artist is famous.  I like to own a painting by an artist I know, or have met.  And then, of course, I will choose a piece of art that pleases me.

I have lots of walls in my house begging for art.

Because I work online, I get to see countless images of original art.  I even collect some of these images in an album on my facebook.  Sometimes I will save an image of a painting as my desktop, so I get to see it every day, when I am working.

I found this painting and I really liked it, right away.  I don't own it, it is just a digital image of a painting, and honestly, I don't even know who the artist is.  The thing I like best about this painting is her legs.  They are bright and in the light.  I don't really know where the light is, but I think it is below her.

If  you want to practice writing sentences, write your answers to the questions, beside the painting in the comments box and I will gladly edit your sentences right here, in bph~ESL.  

It's free practice.  And it is fun.

  ~~nel

My Passions

Last post, I mentioned that Language Functions were my passion! Well, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but when you are using English, knowing the language function you want to achieve can really help you with your accuracy. This is especially true when you use modal auxiliary verbs. Some verbs that describe a language function are: report, blame, insist, plead, describe, apologize, inquire, ridicule, support, warn, predict, explain, ... and there are many more. Understanding the differences will help you to customize your phrases. Try the poll to see if you can differentiate a few language functions.

Now, back to my passions! CURLING! Canada's favourite winter sport! That is my winter passion. Last month I attended the Canadian Women's Curling Championship and my favorite team won! I was so thrilled, and so were the curlers on the team. The skip, Jennifer Jones, was really excited and her excitement was captured on national television. After jumping for joy and hugging her team mates, she did a little twirl around in a circle.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vRzXLVboL5A Take a look at (and a listen to) this YouTube post. It shows that last few shots of the championship game (CBC Feb 24/08). (Clip Length - 4:46) After the the final shot, Jennifer does a little twirl. (You can advance the clip to 3:20 if you don't want to watch the final shots of the game).

What was she doing? Why did she twirl around like that? Make some guesses. Submit your ideas about why Jennifer twirled around in front of the camera. Language function: guessing, speculating, prediction, imagining. Use words that suit these language functions.

Also, if you have any questions about this exciting game, post those. I will edit your question format and answer your questions! I love curling! (Check out Lee Ji-ho's picture at the bottom of the BlogSpot.)
Thanks for reading. Please post and participate!
Nel

The First Poll

On the first ESL poll, voters chose "International English" and "Common Speaking Errors" as the two most important topics for discussion.

International English is the language spoken when a conversation is not possible in either persons' first language. It is different from the many native English dialects spoken around the world. Any English speaker can use and understand International English. However, two native English speakers in conversation will use more blended speech, local phrases and will often speak much more quickly than speakers of International English.

So far, my students have been Korean, German, French, Russian, and Hebrew speakers. The most common speaking error is the 3rd Person Singular Verb. It has an "S"! Even my advanced students forget that "S" sometimes. The next most common speaking error is misplaced determiners, particularly the articles: a, an, and the. Usually my students simply omit these. The meaning is still clear, but to an English speaking person, this is an obvious error.

One common bad habit that some of my students have is to find a "favorite" modal auxiliary verb and over-use it; most commonly, "should" and "must". In spoken English, "have to" and "have/has got to "<<'ve gotta, 's gotta >> are semi-modals that are used extremely often. These two semi-modal auxiliary verbs are less formal and not as strong. They are used for every day obligations. "I've gotta pick up some potatoes before I get home." "Fred has to clean up his act."

Next post - Language Functions... my passion.

All My Students

This is actually a funny title for this post because in Canada (and probably in the States too) there is a soap opera called All My Children. Now, I've never been a fan of soap operas but I am a fan of EAL, or ESL, or or EAP and this weBLOG is for you, my students.

I have taught EAL (I prefer to call my subject area English as an Additional Language) for a few years, both online, and in a classroom setting. I prefer the online environment. There are many benefits and advantages to learning online.... for starters, LESS PAPER!!!

I strive to be green and sensible in my life. I look forward to writing here in this weBLOG (from now on I'll just call it my BLOG) and seeing you here.

If I assign a reading, you can come here to read it. Posting is always optional here, but please create your own BLOG so that I can read your homework there, instead of having mountains of emails on different computers and servers. Let's keep it all together, here!

See you in class.
Nancy