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The correcting should be done quickly and summarily. For
example, "No, no, not thees ees but this is repeat this is good", and
the teacher moves on. He does not look for perfection in that
particular moment, but, by repeating the process every time the
student makes the same mistake in the future, he will eventually get
perfection from him. The danger usually, however, is of the teacher
not correcting the student's pronunciation enough.
" When to labour the pronunciation
As already explained, the teacher must correct the student's
pronunciation very carefully each time he makes a mistake, but must
not over-correct it, or insist on perfection at any particular moment,
or labour the matter too heavily. There are occasions, however,
when he must labour the pronunciation very forcefully. This is best
illustrated by an actual case. A Callan Method school once had a
private student, a novelist, who had taught himself English to a very
high level and had been using it for the last 20 years. His
pronunciation was, however, in a very bad way. His knowledge of
English was vast, but his speed of speaking and understanding was
slow.
He was started on Book One of the Method in order to speed up his
reflexes and, above all, to improve his pronunciation. During the
lesson the teacher would correct his pronunciation extremely
carefully, and get him to repeat the correction two or three times.
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The reason for this is that a student of his kind attends a school, not
to learn English, but to speed up his ability to speak and understand
it, and also to have his pronunciation put into shape. It is only under
such rare circumstances, however, that the teacher should labour the
pronunciation, and even then it can only be done with a student
taking private lessons, or with a group of students who all have the
same problem.
" Even an "s" can throw a student out
The teacher must always be on the look-out for little unsuspected
difficulties. Examples of this are the words "countries" or "hats".
The student might know these two words and understand them
without difficulty in their singular form, but the mere addition of an
"s" can make them sound like new words to him. In the word
"country" a "z" appears in the plural "countriez", whilst in the word
"hat" the "t" almost disappears and a hissing sound takes its place.
Pronunciation adjustment
Many words in English have more than one correct pronunciation.
This fact does not present the students with much of a problem once
they have finished Stages 1 to 4 of the Method, but during Stages 1
and 2 any variation in pronunciation among the teachers can make
the students' work much more difficult. For example, if one teacher
says "often" and another says "of'n", the students get confused and
do not know what to say. They might think that one form is correct
and the other is incorrect; and even if they realise that both are
correct, it is making their task of mastering English pronunciation
much more difficult. It is like having to learn two words instead of
one.
To overcome this problem the teachers at any particular school
should decide among themselves which pronunciation of the
following words they will use. The matter can generally be decided
by the Director asking each teacher how he normally pronounces the
words, and then choosing the pronunciation of the majority. Daniel
Jones in his English Pronouncing Dictionary offers as a guideline
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the pronunciation he lists first among the various alternatives.
Fashions in pronunciation, however, change from time to time,
which is why the issue has to be decided by the teachers themselves,
provided they are all standard-English speakers.
If the teachers cannot agree on the pronunciation of any particular
word, the following list can provide pronunciations that could be
accepted by all.
Very Important Important
1) Against = as in gain 1) A = as in about
2) Asia = ashia 2) Paradigm = as in dime
3) Ate = eight 3) Poor = as in four or
pour
4) Direct = die-rect 4) Soldier = soljer as in
note and her
5) Either = ither 5) Sure = as in shaw or
shoor as in moon
6) Interesting = intristing 6) The = as in a in
about
7) Neither = nither 7) Their = as in air
8) Often = of n 8) There = as in air
9) Prefer = pree-fur 9) They re = as in air
10) Room = as in root 10) We re = as in ear
11) Salt = as in halt 11) Your = as in four
12) Suit = as in mute 12) You re = as in four
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13) Translate = as in trap 13) Because = as in cause
14) Were = as in her
15) Year = as in ear
Less Important
1) Bore = as in four
2) But = as in nut
3) Children = as in about
4) Door = as in four
5) During = as in due
6) Hole = as in coal
7) Mathematics = usually pronounced without the e
8) Pass: fast: glass = as in far
9) Was = woz not wuz
10) One: done: above = wun: dun: abuv
The phonetic symbols used for the above words are based on the
following:-
Fate: Far: Me: Hur(her): Mine: Mote: For: Mute: Moon: Dhen
(then): El'"-m"nt (element).
These symbols are for teachers whose mother tongue is English.
Those teachers for whom English is not their mother tongue should
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be guided by the international phonetic symbols as used in Daniel
Jones's pronunciation dictionary.
Phonetic symbols cannot be totally accurate. Consequently, the
words "sure, your" and "you're" are sometimes given two
interpretations. The more normal pronunciation is probably found
somewhere between the two.
The words "their, there" and "they're" in the above list are all given
the same pronunciation. Although differences can exist, it makes
things easier for the students to be given just one pronunciation.
The same applies to "your" and "you're".
" Separate your words - not "thizevning"
One of the characteristics of English-speaking people throughout the
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