A few days ago
Anonymous

ESL teach at a University in Colombia and I need help with ideas of how to teach phonetics to Spanish speakers

I am a Canadian teacher and I am teaching at a University in Colombia, my students are very frustrated with the English language at the moment, as they believe everything is pronounced completely differently from how it is spelt. I would like to teach them phonetics and though I have experience explaining phonetics to children, does anyone have an idea as to the best way to begin with university students?

Top 3 Answers
A few days ago
jateef

Favorite Answer

spelt??

Anyways, I’ve had success in working with mirrors and minimal pairs. Sometimes it’s the placement of articulation (tongue, teeth, lips, palate, etc) that throws ELLs off.

Don’t work it to the point of frustration, though. Come up with a few patterned examples (ie., bill, will, fulfill, until, pill, ill / bell, well, fell, tell, relevant, telephone, elephant…).

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A few days ago
Sylvia
Hi. I teach community ESL to adult Spanish speakers in San Francisco and my curriculum is very flexible. Therefore I use Dr. Seuss books like Hop on Pop and Green Eggs and Ham to teach reading. Many but not all Dr. Seuss books were written specifically for teaching phonetics, so the words are chosen for this purpose. Be careful in choosing the right book – some are more useful than others. My students also love the books because they are fun and silly.
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A few days ago
Max
I suggest books and cassette tapes or Cd’s for Spanish speaking people who are studying English.
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