Rachel, ESL teacher and web developer from New York

[RachelsEnglish]

Hello. My name is Rachel and I just got back to the US from living abroad. I have taught ESL and was inspired to create a website aimed at people who want to learn/improve an American English accent.

I am joining here to reacquaint myself with ESL, I did not teach formally in the 6 months I was living abroad (I was instead studying German). I have always really enjoyed the people I have met through teaching.

My website is www.RachelsEnglish.com, hope you'll check it out!

[Zhenyi]

^^thanks,i will

[Happytofita]

Hello Rachel,

As far as I am concerned, your website is just great! but don't you think that the content of your website is difficult for most learners here. I think place of articulationn, manner of articulation, and voicing are tough nuts to crack.

[Joao Fonseca]

Hi dear new friend, once you get your site ready let me know so I could visit your ideas. even though I study English for a long periord but still seeking for new improvemenhts.
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Joao Mª H. Fonseca
Your last mistake is your best teacher.

[RachelsEnglish]

Hey everyone,
Thanks for writing!

Happy Tofita: I think you are right that articulation is difficult. But I also think correcting old habits is hard. If one pays no attention to pronunciation until they are already very comfortable with the language itself, he or she might have an accent that is difficult to understand, and at that point it becomes a hard habit to break.

Joao Fonseca,
It is ready and live! So feel free to visit.

Thanks again!!
Rachel

[Happytofita]

[Gray]

Hi Rachel,

That is a good resource to improve pronunciation. Thanks for making it available to all.
But could you please guide second language learners like me on where to start and how to progress through the content you have created? I am confused at what I would be achieving at the end of this exercise and how could I measure that?

~Gray.
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First lesson - English, not english. I, not i. ~A student of English

[Recep]

hi this recep froö turkey and stuied english language litertaure ı want you to be a frıend of mıne to improve my englsıh and help me how to be a professional in that language.here my email please could you add me : kahtalirecep@hotmail.com

[Nutan.bomburey]

Thanks Rachel

Yes, i have visited the website abd i feel it will be helpful for me in improving my pronunciation of words

It will be a good source for the people who are here to learn/improve their English pronunciation.

[Stew.t.]

hi Rachel

Great very specialised website. with all the necessary resources to hand.

Did you teach pronunciation particularly? Or do any voice coaching.

How did you find learning German aiding your teaching or your own awareness of speaking?

Youtube is a great resource for vids, and nice to see some quality there.

Unlike this gal;



who sounds a bit like a bad imitation of Eliza Dolittle from "My fair lady".

My faves on accents are this guy:



And this one for many different accents.



Power to your elbow.

cheers stew.t.
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Please meet Stewart Tunncilff

[Gray]

I didn't get what "Power to your elbow" means. Can anyone explain it please?
_________________
First lesson - English, not english. I, not i. ~A student of English

[Gray]

Also, are these usage standard? -
vids for videos
faves for favourites
_________________
First lesson - English, not english. I, not i. ~A student of English

[Stew.t.]

hi gray

You use power to the elbow to denote respect for the effort someone puts into something.

As for standard the short forms are not really, but quite common in their usage in BrE at least.
_________________
Please meet Stewart Tunncilff

[RachelsEnglish]

Interesting, I've never heard "power to the elbow" before.

"Vids" and "Faves" are not standard in formal writing or speech, but certainly ok in posting to forum, etc, when one speaks more causally. I am constantly shortening words, which many of my friends find (lovingly?) annoying. :)

Yes, I love that guy's accents! As for me, leaning German helped me because it has some sounds we don't have in English, so I wanted to try to think of them as new sounds rather than a variation on a sound I already know, which often just gets substituted for a sound that one is already comfortable with from his/her native language. I wanted to focus on pure imitation ... there were several other Americans studying at the Institute who had a very obvious American accent, I wanted to try to avoid that!

[Happytofita]

Hello Stew.t.,

The above gal does sound like Eliza!