ESL Help for Chinese Learners

Those tricky little words like sheep and ship can stump beginning students when trying to perfect the vowels and consonants of English. This is where you should start. Here are six quick practice sounds to work on anywhere for ELS Chinese learners.

One: sheep and ship, long i and short i vowel sounds.

Two: bitter and better, short i and e vowel sounds.

Three: cat and cut, short a and u vowel sounds.

Four: muggy and mucky, guttural g and ck consonant sounds.

Five: see and she, s and sh consonant sounds.

Six: any and every "th" word: this, that, there, then, . . .

There are two effective ways to practice speech, one of which will be a lengthier process, but will check your progress over time. This way is to record your own speaking and reading into a tape recorder each week. With more practice, you should begin to pick out your own mistakes and then make corrections. The other way is to practice in front of a mirror. Especially use this with the "th" sounds. Although considered rude in Chinese culture, your tongue should stick out whenever you use this sound. Check your mirror! If you can't see your tongue, then keep practicing or this will sound like siss.

ESL help also includes reading good English so that you can write good English. An ESL teacher in China reads a lot of bad English when reading her students' papers. Chinese students pride themselves on knowing grammar, but when it comes to applying it, they need more practice. Reading and writing are important to any learner of language, even if it is your own language you are trying to perfect. Have other students or your teachers be honest with you about your writing. Constructive criticism is essential to improving in ESL help.

Chinese learners also need to practice pronouns! He and she can be very confusing when they are constantly interchanged. The listener cannot keep up with you if you do not know your masculine from your feminine pronouns in ESL learning. He is always masculine, referring to a man, and she is always feminine, referring to a woman. You can become as accurate as a native speaker in this if you practice into a tape recorder every week and correct your mistakes. It will become easier and easier to distinguish when and how to use these pronouns.

Use English corner as an ESL practicing tool for learning how to ask a native speaker good questions. When a Chinese learner is beginning, they usually memorize their question and do not really understand the answer. As you become better and more practiced, find out what questions might help you learn. For example, instead of asking, "How many English words do you know?" try asking, "How many synonyms can you think of for the word 'learn'?" Native speakers do not count how many English words they know. We simply learn in a very different way than native Chinese speakers learn. Also use English corner as a way to fine tune your speaking skills. This means really listening to the native speaker's accent and trying to emulate it. This will also be useful for using your tape recorder and your mirror. Look at the speaker's mouth when they say "cat" or "this" to try to get used to the movement of speech. Did you see their tongue-even if just a little-at that last word?

Another area that may help the ESL Chinese learner is to study the history of the English language. This may seem confusing at first, but you will be able to trace it from its Germanic sources across continents and cultures. Whether a beginner, intermediate or advanced student, by reading the history of English in English, you will develop a greater understanding and appreciation of the complexity and ever-evolving nature of the language.

Don't be afraid to keep trying and challenging yourself to do more. There is nothing short of practicing for the ESL Chinese learner to help you perfect your new language. Best wishes.