Accents

TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages), is a module I have started this semester. Over the next couple of weeks I am going to post the things I find most interesting and also any problems or challenges I may face.

 

This week in TESOL, we have been learning about some of the challenges a student learning a foreign language may face, particularly the many different English accents there are depending on where you live or what type of English you have been taught.

One of the most difficult for students to understand is our form of English, Irish- English, particularly because our pronunciation and phrasing can be very different to the traditional styles (British and American)

The above link gives an idea of the many different variations there are on the Irish accent, depending on what part of Ireland the speaker is from!

 

We, as potential teachers, need to be aware that the student may not always comprehend what we are saying and we need to make sure that what we teach in the classroom is also what we practice. Some common Irish phrases, such as “isn’t it a grand day for drying” or some more colloquial slang like “those tackies are unreal”, are everyday phrases we use without hesitation but our student will not understand unless explained.

Until at a level or fluency where they can both write and speak the language competently, students will take everything we as teachers say and do at a literal meaning.

 

 

Here are some examples where what we say doesn’t quite have the same literal meaning:

Afters	Dessert
[To be] after	Used in several past-tense verb forms.	• “I’m after winning the lotto” means “I won the lotto.” • “I was after winning the lotto” means “I had won the lotto.”
[See you] after	[See you] later
[Tell her I was] askin’ after [her]		Not so much “inquiring about” as “sending regards,” whether a mere “say hello to” or a more-serious “tell him/her [on my behalf] to get well.”
And (me [etc.] [doing something]) …		“It was half-four and me coming out of there…”
And the rest.	You can say that again.	Agreement in full
Anything strange?	What’s new?	Usually pronounced “ent’n strange?”
Amn’t I?	Aren’t I?
Are y’alright?	Not so much a question as a general greeting, in a shop or pub.	Roughly translated: “May I help you?” One response is “could I have a Guinness, please.” There is no rude connotation in the phrase. In a late club, “Y’alright, lads, please” means it’s time to clear out.

(http://stevenroyedwards.com/irishenglishterms.html)

This was a lesson I really enjoyed, and look forward to researching more about.

 

Main points this TESOL lecture has taught me as a future teacher are:

• To have correct pronunciation
• To speak clearly and accurately
• To use phrases that are grammatically correct so students learn the rules of the language
• To make students aware of colloquial language so that when they hear it they can understand it but to avoid using it in the language classroom