ESL Teaching - Jobs, lesson plans - View Single Post - American accent, but wait, I love my Aussie accent!

felicity booth · Mon 27-Jun-05, 11:35 PM

Hi.

I'm an Aussie teaching here in Japan. At times, my students cannot understand my Aussie accent. Even simple things such as "What is your name?" and "Where is your home?". But as soon as I change my pronunciation to that of an American, then they understand straight away.

I wonder.... should we be teaching students always with the American pronunciation, or should we use the pronunciation we were born with? It gives me a headache when trying to mimic Americans.

and I don't like it too as I'm proud to be Aussie. Not that I have anything against Americans though, don't get me wrong. They have great movies!

One of the biggest buzzes I get is when I hear my 3 year old student say the days of the week using the Oz pronunciation. It's GREAT!

Mon 27-Jun-05, 11:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
felicity booth Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Nationality: Australian Occupation: Teaching Location: Posts: 11	American accent, but wait, I love my Aussie accent! Hi. I'm an Aussie teaching here in Japan. At times, my students cannot understand my Aussie accent. Even simple things such as "What is your name?" and "Where is your home?". But as soon as I change my pronunciation to that of an American, then they understand straight away. I wonder.... should we be teaching students always with the American pronunciation, or should we use the pronunciation we were born with? It gives me a headache when trying to mimic Americans. and I don't like it too as I'm proud to be Aussie. Not that I have anything against Americans though, don't get me wrong. They have great movies! One of the biggest buzzes I get is when I hear my 3 year old student say the days of the week using the Oz pronunciation. It's GREAT!