Teach English in Baima Zhen - Taizhou Shi

Spain is a vast country with a great and diverse population from all across the world. As such the mixture of cultures introduces many curious sounds, in many different languages and accents, across the land. Historically, the consensus regarding learning other languages in Spain, was that it is not essential. Even after the dictatorship ended, there was still a lack of interest from the generations at the time, but as globalisation affected the different markets and industries, the need for English, French and other neighbouring languages became unavoidable. These days, In Spanish schools, ideally, they would usually have British ex-pats teaching English or subjects taught in English, therefore they have at least some reference as to what spoken English is supposed to sound like. In the same essence, the most popular audiovisual media that is consumed these days is produced by the United States. Therefore provide an even greater variety of accents and pronunciations. In most cases, that is a good thing, but their merits can equally affect the learners In a negative way and stunt their growth. Where in school it is the lack of variety in exposure that may narrow down progress, through media it has the potential to overwhelm. Most teachers encounter the same few mistakes, often the reasoning being not the accurate pronunciations of their alphabets but in fact an emphasis on the accents. The accents in certain cases are evening bastardising the actual language itself. However, this can be resolved by using the original alphabets and pronunciations, by breaking down the word, based on how it sounds as per the pronunciations using the Spanish alphabets. To further elaborate on this instance, the pronunciation of the letter L in doubles is a curious case to observe. Marvellous, a word which for a Spanish speaking person would be pronounced as “Mar-ve-yos”, in certain parts it would sound like “Mar-ve-jos”, and as a more stark example of deviation, in the Argentinian accent, if treated the same way as they speak Spanish, it might sound like “Mar-ve-shos”. The word ‘llegar’ which means to arrive in Spanish, is perhaps the best example to demonstrate this phenomenon for Spanish speakers in Spanish. Thereby giving an idea of how pronunciation is affected with alignments to accents and not just the native language. Similarities in vocabulary have also come up as reasoning for mispronunciation, using the example “collection”, the “shon” sound that is made by the tion part of the word collection, may be pronounced as a “cion”. That's because the word for collection in Spanish is “collecion”, therefore a force of habit often takes over and some never even learn the difference or that they are making such an unintended alteration. Furthermore, one common issue is the limitations formed from the lack of phonetic range and the ability to distinguish sounds. As such, most Spanish people who learn English only in the traditional way, go on to not being “able to hear the sound” and their reciprocation is always produced in the sound most closest to the one requested. Words starting with the letters S and D are the most common culprits of this phenomenon. The solution to that is to counter the fact of the absence of the sound in their registry by reminding them of an existing word or phrase, which by habit forces the required pronunciations. Brand names of products, television programmes or even song lyrics are excellent for this purpose, as they can produce the exact examples required, and having such an impactful platform on the popular culture and subconsciously on the minds of the general population. The merit of them having such iconic names, sounds or slogans, make them ideal for the purpose. One of the biggest challenges for Spanish speaking English learners is the frequent occurrence of irregular silenced syllables. In Spanish, silenced syllables tend to happen during the bastardisation of the original pronunciations, reliant on the different accents and cultural practices. But in English, it is more sporadic and often the bane of learners, causing hindrance towards their overall progress with sheer confusion. This kind of issue is best resolved with the tried and tested, list and memorize method, although there are a great number of these words such as; often, schedule and so on. As well as any verb in the past perfect tense, where the pronunciation of the “ed” for Spanish speakers are often emphasised and in reality the sound is closer to the “e” being omitted. Which albeit is not a common instruction, does provide the required result, at least for Spanish speakers. There is however a case to be made with the letter ‘H’, which in Spanish is silent. As such, it forms part of most of the mispronounced syllables, words and phrases for Spanish speakers, where they end up usually substituting it for a ‘kh’ sound in most cases. There are other instances of pronunciations being changed, due to either established or unsaid rules in the common Spanish accent that is more standard and formal. This is often seen between ‘s’ and ‘z’ sounds, ‘m’ and ‘n’ sounds, ‘v’ and ‘b’ and so on. Finally, there is the dilemma between the British accent and pronunciation and its American counterpart. For this matter, and considering that many other legitimate native accents for English do exist. It is arguable if some of the mispronunciations may be excused with reference to the native accent as a factor and not a fault. But, if one is to consider the formal British pronunciations to be the standard, as it ideally is for professional and academic settings, then the matter to be seen is that proper training is provided towards the accent itself and not just the language in general. Because the language itself is not used generally or in the same way, across the world, or even within the aforementioned regions. In that view, there are many things to be desired of the natively Spanish speaking learners of English, in order for them to have an optimum level of Spoken English. As it is a matter of pronunciation that is prioritized after all. However, without a good knowledge of the alphabet and the different phonetic ranges and pronunciations that exist, it is nearly impossible to confirm a good level of control over the language. Even with excellent knowledge of grammar, spelling, and a decent vocabulary, most learners fail at the very basic when they learn and subsequently use the wrong pronunciations, a good example of this is the infamous “Indian” English accent. In a way, the reality that is the language is changed for them, as It doesn't only affect their writing abilities but all four of the communicative skills, as are their expressions and overall understanding.