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Phonetics book

ANDY.F (15 posts) • 0

Hi everyone! I need to teach english to a girl but she doesn't know gow to pronounce some sounds,so i wanted to start from the pronunciation part. has anyone a good book on english phonetics for chinese people to suggest me?

GoK Moderator (5096 posts) • 0

Some phonemes are not found in both English and Chinese. Teaching phonics can also be a struggle with young students. One useful book is 'Ship or Sheep'. It would allow you to build on what the student already has correct.

GoK Moderator (5096 posts) • 0

Personally I would not worry that much about pronunciation yet. Let her learn to talk, all be it badly, to begin with. When she is comfortable producing speech she will start to tune into the way you speak. Correction to early, may kill her interest.
Personally I hate phonics. I think that there is often too much emphasis on pronunciation. There is a wide range of 'natural ' pronunciation among native speakers and an even wider range of acceptable/intelligible pron. among non native speakers.
I will always speak Chinese with an English accent. No Chinese that I have met thinks that this is a problem. I will only correct a student's pronunciation if it creates a problem, e.g. If it is confusing or rude (sheet/shit). Usually this is with intermediate learners, not true beginners.

ANDY.F (15 posts) • 0

shw is not a kid, she is 29, and she wants to take notes but she can't cause she doesn't know how to read them... This is the problem

Liumingke1234 (3297 posts) • 0

I think you can start with the easy sounds like:
b, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, z.

Then use 'a' as in at and write down words with the same sound ending like:

at, bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, nat, pat, rat, sat,

Xinhua bookstore has Phonetic Flashcards you use with a MP3 CD. Check it out.

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