To all:  

Correction:  The book is Sounds Easy by Sharron Basson published by Alta Teacher Series. 

Thanks,
Linda
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: selover200 at comcast.net

> Hello all-

> We do letter names and letter sounds in my class, and we use the Sounds are Fun 

> book for some exercises. (I just found the book in Feb, so we are not going to 

> get through the whole book this year.) 

> I find that the book can help barely literate students to understand that 

> letters have individual sounds, and this helps them with their reading as well 

> as their pronunciation and hearing. 

> 

> I tell my students that we need gymnastics for their mouth, tongues, lips and 

> ears when we do exercises from the Sounds Are Fun book. I explain that as 

> adults, our tongues, lips and other muscles are less flexible than when we are 

> younger, but we can still exercise them and practice and make our pronunciation 

> better with practice. 

> 

> We laugh together as I teach them to stick out their tongues a bit to make a th 

> sound, or smile and then make a Vvvv sound. However, when they do it, they get 

> it. They might not be able to say it every time, but they learn how it is made. 

> We do this as a whole group, so I don't usually single out students. I might go 

> around the room and listen to students individually if they are having problems. 

> 

> They laugh at the faces I make when I try to emphasize a sound so that they can 

> see how I am using my tongue, lips and mouth. Too bad I don't have a computer 

> generated cut away that can show that actual position of the tongue inside the 

> mouth. 

> 

> I still cannot do a properly trilled rr in Spanish. I can approximate the sound, 

> but my tongue does it in the front of the mouth, when it should be done further 

> back in the mouth (I think). However, I can accept that my pronunciation of 

> Spanish may not be perfect, but my students can understand me clearly if I use 

> it to explain something. 

> 

> There may be some sounds that we cannot mimic, and some that we cannot hear 

> correctly or differentiate easily because we are not accustomed to making or 

> hearing  those sounds. So, we might still speak with an accent, but that does 

> not mean that we cannot learn a language well enough to communicate. 

> 

> Many Americans are just too willing to accept that they "cannot" learn a 

> language as an adult  so that they have an excuse not to learn other languages. 

> 

> I have picked up a book that explains that the brains is much more flexible or 

> "plastic" than originally thought. This book talks about research with brain 

> injured adults and how different parts of their brain can take over for the 

> damaged parts. 

> Therefore, I would think that our brains are much more powerful than how we use 

> them in daily life. 

> 

> Linda Selover

> Healdsburg Adult Ed

> 

> 

>  -------------- Original message ----------------------

> From: "Martin Senger" <MSenger at GECAC.org>

> > Pax all!

> > 

> > I completely agree than full language acquisition

> > (listening/speaking/reading/writing) cannot be accomplished through

> > passive listening alone. What I am looking at here is how the brain

> > learns the "sounds" of a language only (auditory phonetics), and nothing

> > more.

> > 

> > That being said, do we have any evidence, yea or nea, about how the

> > brain hears and remembers specific sounds in any language, L1 or L2?

> > Unless someone here is privy to very new and advanced research on the

> > brain, we may not have the answer. Until we have that research,

> > anecdotal evidence may be our only choice.

> > 

> > And is there a "critical period" for acquiring language sounds? Steven

> > has said the he disagrees, but I am not convinced. Is it 100%? No, but I

> > cannot help but feel that an infant is somehow "hardwired" for learning

> > new sounds (a vital skill for a new human). When one tries to acquire a

> > second language later in life, has something changed in our brain from

> > infancy which makes it harder?

> > 

> > And if, if that is true, is there anything we can do in infancy to lay

> > groundwork for later sound acquisition? Again, I must state that this is

> > regarding phonemic awareness only.

> > 

> > Then, what about adults learning new sounds? In your classes, do you

> > teach specific problem sounds to your students, and how? In my classes,

> > I try to identify my students' specific speech problems, then try to get

> > the student to see their problems themselves. The "first step to solving

> > a problem is admitting you have one" sort-of-thing.

> > 

> > Most of us here are teachers. What do you think about this? What

> > anecdotal evidence is there?

> > 

> > Ciao!

> > Martin

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