Am I an up to dated English teacher?

Question

As an EFL teacher who has studied English in Iran I am very worried about my pronunciation in the classroom , because not only am I not a native speaker but I am not a native like one.also I can not distinguish between American English and British one.in other words my pronunciation is a mixture of them. How can I solve my problem?
My e-mail address is:[e-mail]

Answer 1

Watch My Fair Lady. And don't feel self-conscious. Your enunciation/prononciation will improve!

Answer 2

I'm an EFL teacher in China, born and raised in England but lived nearly 20 years in australia, I am a native speaker but I know what you mean, it's always a problem not knowing the difference between American and English English, however, don't despair, if you visit England, America, New Zealand, Canada you'll find all the countries have very different pronunciation, many of my students say to me "shall I learn English or American?" and I simply say learn English because it doesn't matter what accent you have, it'll be understood all over the world.

Where I grew up in the North of England my accent was noticably different from that of my friends at school, most of whom came from the South or at least South of me, places like Yorkshire, Liverpool and even London - all of us spoke differently.

In fact there's no right or wrong way to pronunce anything - the issue is can you be understood, if the answer is yes then you're speaking and communicating in English.

I guess you've recently qualified or you wouldn't be asking the question so I wish you all the best with your career, it's the most rewarding career you can imagine - enjoy it.

I've been doing it a while now both in Australia and in China so if you want any advice I'm on [e-mail] I'm happy to help in any way I can.

Good luck.

Answer 3

I will always remember an occasion when I met a man in Mauritius (a native of that country) and was surprised by his excellent English pronunciation. I spoke to him about it and he told me that although he studied English at school he was aware that his pronunciation was not good, so he started listening regularly to the BBC World Service. This is the first thing you could do, but a word of warning, if an announcer/commentator comes on the air who speaks with a 'funny' accent, they call it a regional accent, switch off and tune in again later.

Another thing you could do is to try to get some tapes specifically produced to help people with English pronunciation. The net, or the British Council should be able to advise you where you can get these.

Finally, get a book on pronunciation and find somebody who has pretty good English and work on it together, listening to one another's speech and trying to refine it in that way.

I hope this helps. Good luck and keep at it. There is nothing worse, especially for the students, than listening to a teacher with faulty pronunciation/grammar.

Contact me if you need to have any American English expessions put into British English.

Answer 4

Chose one form. Only watch shows from the country you chose. Tape record yourself while reading English out loud. Compare your pronunciation to what you hear on the TV shows.

Usually, it is only a couple of consonant sounds, and how you make the vowels.

Then, pay attention to your word order (often we can write in another language better than we can speak). For instance, your question should have read "Am I an up-to-date English teacher?" "Am" is present tense, so all any other verbs in the sentence should also be present tense. "Up-to-date" is an adjective, and should not be conjugated.

;o)

Answer 5

Watch lots of TV from English-speaking countries. Interact with English-speakers as much as possible (i.e. host a foreign exchange student, work for the government as a tour guide or interpreter in your spare time, apply to study abroad)

I hosted a German exchange student who couldn't tell the difference between British and American accents, either.

Answer 6

What the heck does being an English instructor could desire to do with somebody desirous to this component you? in my opinion I wouldnt date you, because of the fact first; you're too youthful for me, and secondly, whether you have been greater my age, your occupation has particularly no longer something to do with whether or no longer we experience chemistry in the direction of one yet another. I want you many of success!! With all due understand, did no longer you learn something at college? i'm hoping you probably did no longer grow to be an English instructor interior the hopes of having a woman. WHOA!

Answer 7

You will find that your english is better than any natives. Our english is very bad. Try watching local tv, like the news to learn how the people speak locally.

Answer 8

The best way, is to spend time in each of the countries to hear the language spoken by native speakers