LAUGHING & LEARNING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

Here's a look at a different way

 of pronouncing the 'TH' sound.

THANKS Natalie B.

 for sharing a humouous look at

a most difficult task!!

 

PRACTICE... my friends!

 

Note: click on image to  make it bigger.




 

 

Here are two that you find right here!

Click on the image on your right

and there's a link to the BBC pronunciation site.

 

 

 

 

And another:

 

And a classic from years passed.

INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU

 Learning American English

 

 

 

HAVE A FUN WEEKEND!!!

SUZANNE 

 

LET'S TALK ABOUT .... AUTUMN!!!

 When I say the word AUTUMN  ...

what is the first word that comes to mind ?

 

season, fall

trees, leaves, colours

afternoon, Indian Summer

festivals, harvest

outdoor markets

apples and apple pie

pumpkins and Hallow’een

change, weather, cool, rain

TEMPO’s (just kidding!)

Many words come to mind and many images do also. 

This is what is called ASSOCIATION!

Put all these words together and you get 

A STORY ABOUT AUTUMN.

Sounds like the title of a movie, doesn’t it? Actually it is in fact the reminder that in English, Autumn is a girl’s name, just like Winter is, and Summer and Spring as well. There are  April’s, May’s and June’s too.

 

But let’s concentrate on the word AUTUMN which is the name of a season, one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter, from hot to cold, weather that is! The synonym being FALL. Which of course comes from LA CHUTE DES FEUILLES: falling autumn leaves and we get, fall foliage and fall colours. These are all expressions used while talking about autumn.

 

You have song lyrics and poems that celebrate this colourful season. There are novels and short stories too. You also have visual art forms, paintings and photographs and videos that show many of our fall colours. These are the ones used to best describe them: red, yellow, orange, gold and crimson, rusts and browns, and all the different hues of each. The most spectacular presented by the sugar maple tree!

You also have the sounds of fall: the Canada geese flying over, the rustling of leaves on the ground, the sound of the cool wind in the trees, the little squirrels running around gathering their nuts for the winter. And what about the smell of woodsy dying leavesand the cool fresh air hitting your nostrils. All your senses are sollicited!!!

 So, no wonder that autumn is so much a part

     of our lives here in Québec …

YOU CANNOT MISS IT!!!!

You can SEE it, SMELL it and HEAR it!

You can also EAT some of it

But mostly be ... TOUCHED by all of it!

I WISH YOU ALL A GREAT FALL

and A HAPPY AUTUMN!

 

SUZANNE

LEARNING ENGLISH

 

A COMPARISON THAT MAKES A POINT!

I found this very interesting post on a blog.

I thought it was a great comparison between

learning Yoga and a second language!

So here it is in it’s entirety from Jane

(I ignore her last name).

 YOGA and LEARNING ENGLISH

Has it ever occurred to you that there is a relationship

 between yoga and learning English? Most people are very self-conscious when they learn a new language. When they are speaking, they are self-conscious about how they sound, about whether they are making grammatical mistakes, and whether the other(s) can understand them, and more.

Some also worry about sounding stupid. Mispronouncing or having a strong accent. Worrying about how you sound almost seems to be an intrinsinc part of learning another language - because you want the other person to understand you. 

In a yoga class, the teacher says, "Don't look at the person next to you."  In a yoga class, the teacher tells the class to "have your own practice".  The teacher says to her students, "Don't think about how you look, or whether you look beautiful or as good as the person that you've seen in the yoga magazines."

I think there is something here for anybody learning English, or learning any other language. When you are trying to speak, do you focus on the negative and worry so much about how you sound, or whether you are making mistakes, that you can't get the words out? Learning a language and making grammatical mistakes go hand in hand.  It takes a while to learn the new system, and the old (your native language) wants to impose itself on the new. 

It takes a long time to learn the new system, and to develop a separation between your first language and your next language. And if you are learning English (or any other new language), feel good about your undertaking this very worthwhile and rewarding experience.

 

And I might add as your ESL teacher:

“Be proud that you have decided to learn … PERIOD!!”

Don’t forget next time you are in class…

SUZANNE