South Asian
Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati,
Nepali, and others
Vowel sounds are
articulated with
more intensity
Students frequently
do not notice,
understand subtle
vowel sounds.
Also have difficulty
reproducing subtle
vowel sounds
Examples of sounds
hard to distinguish:
said, sad,
he’s his
died dead
tie toy,
math, meth
Chinese
Complications Of learning from
Western Canadian Speakers
Teaching Implications
English vowel articulations hard to
distinguish:
Canadians have softer pronunciation
than other speakers of English. To us
many American over-pronounce vowel
sounds. (This is why Americans say we
say aboot, and we think they say
abowwwwwt))
There is no expectation to alter
your basic speech, but be aware
of possible areas of
misunderstanding. The
suggestions below are tips for
when you are repeating
something to a student that does
not understand.
Eat as it
Bean as bin
Can’t distinguish:
fool full
luke, look
Short A sound not present in Chinese:
Tap as tarp, tup, tep
often students guess at meanings and
pronunciations
v is absent as a sound invite becomes
inwite live as lif
Some dialects don’t use “n” sound so light
and night sound the same to them
Despite use of Z in many Romanized names
Z sound rarely used in Chinese dialects rise
becomes rice, lazy is lacy,
Final consonants in general are
problematic often omitted or extra vowel
sound added
Non stress syllables rare and pronounced
more strongly than in English. Chinese
learners will pronounce all syllables, and
often miss hearing non stresses syllables.
Tend to merge sounds that other
English speakers distinguish:
Whine and wine, horse, hoarse, chalk,
chock, cot, caught, merry, marry, Mary,
bin, been, Mary, merry, (Note.
Apparently Tolkien was quite annoyed
Americans and Canadians thought the
Character Merry had a female name,
Mary)
The problems with subtle soft sounds,
especially subtle vowel sounds are
exacerbated by our blended lazy dialect.
To be fair our ancestors’ tongues froze
to their scarfs when they articulated
vowel sounds distinctly.
Western Canadian casual or lazy
enunciation of word endings are hard to
distinguish especially for Chinese
students. Suffixes like “ed” are often
almost inaudible in our dialect
prolonging learning of already difficult
verb tense concepts.
1. It is hard to know where to
begin when you attempt to
articulate more clearly to a
student. Often this becomes
simply slower and louder.
2. A focus on defining the vowel
sounds in your speaking is good
place to begin when explaining
something a second time.
3. Also be sure to trail off a bit
less on word endings.
4. Write key words. There is often
a disconnect between written and
spoken word. 20% of vocabulary
requests are words students know
orally but can’t spell or recognize
in print.
South Asian
Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati,
Nepali, and others
Pronouns
Due to gender marking of
nouns (male/female
nouns) pronouns lack
gender markers
So
he, she, his hers, are new
confusing concepts.
Often students omit these
words or aware they are
making errors use names
or other nouns at all times
and avoid pronouns.
Omission:
When my family came to
Canada my father got a
job, works at university, get
up early.
Over Correction noun use:
When my family came to
Canada my father got a
job. My father works at the
university. My father likes
his job. My father must get
up early.
Chinese
Complications Of learning from
Western Canadian Speakers
Teaching Implications
Chinese has pronouns but they are without
gender. So often gender is switched, or it is
used interchangeably with other pronouns.
Canadians generally have among the worst
pronoun usage of the BANA (Britain,
Australia, North America) nations, especially
when education is a factor. (i.e. pronoun
usage improves less with level of education
in Canada than in other countries.)
I often tell my students if they can
master pronouns (as well as the
difference between “good” and
“well”) they will have leg up on
Canadian students.
Mr. Myrol, she tell me to rewrite this.
Where are your parents?
My father in China. My mother, it is here in
Canada.
Note do not be offended when “it” is
used for a person
Personal pronouns used infrequently in
Chinese and there is no distinction
between subjective and objective case.
One of my former students shared this
on facebook:
Remember when you mixed up “he”
and “she”? LOL
South Asian users tend to improve pronoun
usage through immersion since their biggest
problem is understanding the gender of
each pronoun is enhanced by listening.
Chinese speakers are more susceptible to
picking up the common errors of English
speakers since Canadians mess up the
subjective, objective case frequently.
Me and Ming have math to study today.
Note to Canadians: google “myself and
reflexive pronouns”. Pretty good chance
you use “myself” too much.
Canadians generally are afraid to use the
pronoun “me” and make overcorrection
errors:
Contact Jesse or myself if you have any
questions.
People have been really nice to my family
and I.
Students are encouraged to hear that
Canadian students make the same
errors.
Model good language many of our
students cite errors made by
Canadians as excuses for their errors
or as a reason for higher grades.
Explanation of subjective or objective
case can be used in explanation with
more advanced learners. Pakistani
and Indian students frequently had
grammar based English instruction
and understand grammatical terms
better than Canadian students.
South Asian
Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati,
Nepali, and others
Questions and
Negatives
No equivalent of the auxiliary
“do” in questions
Often “do” is omitted
When you go to India?
You like soccer?
Negatives formed with
negative marker in front of
words
I no like this book
Or over corrected
I am not liking this cold
weather.
Answers to yes/no question
indicate assent or dissent.
Students often give confusing
answers based on their
understanding to what is
being asked, indicating
agreement or disagreement
with your belief not the words
you said. Yes/no answers are
generally used to check for
agreement.
Example:
Did you study for the test?
(insinuation is they did not
study, student agrees with
you that they did not study so
answers)
Yes
The same student may
answer “yes” to Did you
forget to study?
Chinese
Complications Of learning from
Western Canadian Speakers
Teaching Implications
Chinese word order is identical in
questions and statements.
English is the most direct language. South
Asian speakers often guess at nuance that is
not there.
Rephrase yes/no questions.
Questions are often inverted:
Is the test for vocabulary when?
Good tip to give Chinese students is to put
the “question word” first.
Sometimes Chinese students are seen as
abrupt or demanding because they sound
like they are making declarative
statements when they are asking
questions.
Examples from y students asking
permission:
I go to my locker.
You help me with essay.
Beginner Chinese students often decode
questions as statements and vice versa.
Questions may seem like orders.
It is amazing how far a person can get
by guessing at yes no questions by
reading the person asking the
questions.
How much did you study?
Do you want to sign up for badminton?
Tell me what you are supposed to
do?
Be aware Chinese students may not
understand when something is a
question.
Students that come from more
authoritarian school systems, and
have trouble deciphering questions
are confused by the way we use
grammatical questions as orders.
WILL YOU PLEASE PUT YOUR PHONE
AWAY?!!!!!
Could you please be quiet!!!
South Asian
Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati,
Nepali, and others
Time and Tense
Chinese
Complications Of learning from
Western Canadian Speakers
Teaching Implications
Similar tenses exist in these
languages but do not
always match up very well.
Chinese does not express time by
verb conjugation so verb tense is
extremely difficult to learn.
Some English words
(believe, hear, know,
understand, want )are
rarely used in progressive
forms in English have
equivalents that are often
used progressively in Hindi,
Urdu, leading to extra
auxiliary verbs:
If time permits do more than
simply correct the error. Try to
get students to correct their
own errors with prompts:
Chinese students are frequently
confused believing present tense
means present time. They are often
baffled by phrases such as:
There are around 400 hundred
irregular verbs. So once students
figure out “ed” “ing” they have to
simply remember
Wake, woke, catch caught, etc.
I was wanting to go to the
pep rally.
We were believing it was
time for the bell to ring.
Also simple past is used
with some verbs where
present perfect would be
used in English.
I read the book now.
Instead of I have read the
book.
The test is tomorrow.
(Wait! “is” is present tense! Is
tomorrow now WTF!?? The space
time continuum is collapsing! or at
the very least I don’t know what is
going on!))
Progressive tenses (She will be
running the cross country race
tomorrow.) are especially
problematic.
I study long time.
Is this happening now?
Keep in mind our beginning students
have a total vocabulary under 500
words and most of our supported
students in regular academic classes
are in the K1 to K2 range, so there is
no way they understand many
irregular verbs.
Also our pronunciation of some “t”
sounds as “d” can hinder modeling
through speaking.
Okay, so if it happened in 1867
is “join” the right word?
This sounds trite, but with
irregular verbs commiserating
with students about the
difficulty of remembering
irregular verbs
Rephrase instructions with
different grammatical tenses.
The test is tomorrow.
So remember tomorrow will be
the test.
I am go to China for one month.
(really simple explanation)
Today no test, tomorrow test.
South Asian
Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati,
Nepali, and others
Chinese
Complications Of learning from
Western Canadian Speakers
Teaching Implications
Articles are perhaps the
most difficult English
concept since no definite
article exists. Articles,
especially “the” are
omitted or substituted for
with one.
There are no articles in Chinese.
Soft pronunciations of non-stress
articles hard to distinguish.
Exaggerate or pronounce carefully
“the” and “a”
Southern Americans sometimes say
northern Americans and Canadians do
not say “a” “of” “the”
Progression:
Who is one counselor for
grade 9?
Intermediate students tend
to guess and place “a” or
“the” randomly where
“one” would fit. When
proofreading reinforce
singular nature of “the”
inclusive nature of “a.”
Early learners omit articles completely
I play for volleyball team.
Intermediate learners insert
unnecessary articles
I need the 21 credits for a graduation.
Advanced learners recognize the place
for articles, but are unsure which one.
This is the spot for intervention.
I want to go to a university of
Saskatchewan.
(Is there more than one U of S?)
I need the girlfriend.
(Is there only one girlfriend in the
world?)
Western Canadian tend to say “d” for
the “t” sound at end of words:
Liddle for little, North Baddleford,
Torondo Argonauds,
This sound creeps into pronunciation of
“the” in casual conversation.
“a” is softly, and not specifically
pronounced (ah, uh, ) almost any vowel
sound is acceptable to all Canadians.
Try this, say to yourself”
I need a new car.
Or
I need uh new car.
Or
I need eh new car.
Or
I need aw new car.
Chinese students are often unable to
hear our pronunciation of “a”.
1. At beginning stages
articles may be too
difficult to learn. Focus on
what hinders
understanding.
2. If students are omitting
articles you may add
articles to corrections.
But, often at this stage
verb tense is a better
focus.
3. If students are using some
articles try to have them
identify where the articles
would go. Do not focus on
which article is correct.
4.
When students are mixing
up articles they are close
to understanding the
concept. This is the place
where teaching can occur
with questioning. (See
column on Chinese
students)