The schwa and other phonemes.

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I remember the schwa /ə/ from some language class in the distant past as the pronunciation of the letter 'e' that English speakers use when they get a little lazy and don't quite make it to the 'e' in 'bed. I don't equate it with how I pronounce the 'er' at the end of "teacher",  which is the example given by EnglishClub.com (2018) in their Phonemic Chart. I attribute this difference to the chart being based on British English associated with  the accent of southern England. To me, it is the vowel sound I use for "the" or the second 'e' in "television".

Imagine my surprise when I was confronted by 43 more of these odd looking symbols that I will have to learn and be prepared to use in teaching English pronunciation. Of course it isn't actually as bad as that. Seventeen of them (e, p, b, t, d, k, g, f, v, s, z, m, n, h, l, r, w) are letters of the English alphabet that I already associate with their assigned phonemes. One is an upper case version (I) that requires attention to the font. Four of the consonants are intuitive ( ʃ, __ʧ, ʤ), and three of them I recognize from other alphabets that are familiar to me (ð - used in Icelandic , θ - greek, used in math, j - also used in Icelandic with the given pronunciation of the 'y' in "yes"). Remaining are about seventeen vowel phonemes whose symbols will take time for me to make sense of. 

Learning these symbols, most of which are altered versions of familiar alphabet shapes, will be a challenge, but the process will give me further insight into what my future students will face. 

Resources: 

EnglishClub.com (2018), Phoneme Chart, [printable image], retrieved from https://www.englishclub.com/images/pronunciation/Phonemic-Chart.jpg

Leaving the NEST

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As someone whose L1 is English, I have wondered why many of my TESL professors and classmates are L2 English speakers. After reading Chapter 8 of Brown and Lee (2015) and the introduction stories of my current classmates, I am now able to understand why this is the case. I can also see how this can be a great advantage, both to students and to the ESL teaching community.

Brown and Lee (2015) use the terms “native English-speaking teachers” (NESTs) and “nonnative English-speaking teachers” (NNESTs), and further states, “NESTs are…not better teachers than NNESTs by virtue of their ‘native’ language background. The most important qualification for a teaching position is training and experience in teaching languages.” (p. 165) I felt discouraged when I first read this, but then I realized that “not better” doesn’t mean to imply worse, and that training is the most important factor.

Among the advantages of being a NNEST listed by Brown and Lee is that of “familiarity with what it is like to learn the target language as an L2 and be more empathetic with students about their needs and challenges.” As a NEST, I do not have this advantage. However, as a lifelong L2 learner of French, I find that I can relate to the concepts, situations and difficulties that are presented by my TESL courses. I have been exposed to a number of different learning situations in the process of my L2 learning, and I can reflect on how they were successful or not, and identify the methods and teaching philosophies behind each of them.

I also have the advantage of being able to call on my ever-expanding PLN – my classmates, my instructors and the wider ESL teaching community. This community is geographically diverse, but they are most welcoming and willing to share their experiences, resources and opinions with teachers and learners alike. I look forward to the resumption of the bi-weekly #CDNELTchat (formerly #LINCchat) sessions on Twitter.

Resources:

Brown, H.D. & Lee, H., (2015), Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, 4^th ed., Pearson Education Inc., White Plains, NY, pp. 156 - 174.

Back to the beginning

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My Personal Learning Network Diagram

After having taken all but two of the TESL courses last fall and in the spring of this year, I now find myself going back to the beginning, that is the Fundamentals course. Of course there is some overlap with what I have already learned, but going back to the beginning has prompted me to think about and reaffirm my reasons for embarking on this challenging field of study.

Since I have not previously been a language teacher (although it could be argued that Mathematics is a kind of language), I sometimes feel out of place or inadequately prepared to take on this task. However, after reading the introductions by my classmates, I am reassured that we all come to this with different backgrounds and skills, I am reassured that my teaching experience, along with my own love of language and penchant for learning, will serve me well in this pursuit.

I am also delighted to see that the size of the class is much larger that it was last year, indicating that this area of teaching is growing and that we will continue to expand the cohort of teachers and learners who can help and encourage each other.

Here's an older approach to language instruction:

"Pickering, we have taken on a stiff job." -Henry Higgins, Pygmalion (1912) by George Bernard Shaw