Simply Speaking
This site hosts the Simply Speaking Series, a free resource for teachers and students that I design and use in my own university courses. Be sure to read the "Simly Speaking: Why and How" section.
The main purpose of Simply Speaking is to learn or review a story or article, and then tell that story to another person in your own words WITHOUT looking at the text. If you self-study without a partner, you can record yourself.
There are also other useful links on this site. Check out the page tabs at the top of this site.
Pronunciation Book
This book covers ALL the possible sounds and syllable stresses of the English Language.
The first 21 vocabulary words are high frequency words (most common). Learn their pronunciation AND their meaning. The other lists such as the Word Patterns and Syllabic lists, are pronunciation exercises only. You do NOT have to understand the meaning of the words.
Music Videos
Check out my Music Videos tab with links to YouTube music videos. These are a select list of my favorite music videos from either Billboards Hot 100 or America's top 40.
Why music Videos
As you know, the English language is full of many accents from many places: UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, to name a few. And even within each of these countries are many more accents. The UK and USA combined have about 9 major accents and more than 10 minor ones.
But Amazingly, when people begin singing in English, the accents disappear! Everyone seems to sing music with roughly the same accent (more or less). This means that music brings out the core sounds of the English language, the heart of pronunciation.
How to:
Some few videos have lyrics already. Just click the CC button (closed caption).
Most, however, don't have CC lyrics. In that case, google the name of the song and type "lyrics": e.g. Taylor Swift, Bad Blood, Lyrics
LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN, before you try to start singing the song.
Learn the song, then learn to sing the song. If you're not a good singer, this is just for your own learning, so don't worry, just do it.
Remember, don't think too much. Don't always try to
understand everything that's being said. Listen first, then, have a go and try it yourself. This is for improving your pronunciation, not learning the "meaning" of the words. You can learn that in your other studies. In fact, some songs don't make a lot of sense because their about fun musical sounds, not meaning.
Foul Language
I apologize to the world for the American Music Industry's tolerance and promotion of foul language.
Foul language is not cute even though young people think it is. I advise English learners to stay away from it! If you try to be cute at the wrong time and wrong place you could have serious trouble--loss of job, loss of job opportunity, loss of respect, loss of friendship, or even a punch in the face.
That being said, however, I try to give my students what they like and I do myself enjoy the melodies though I find the lyrics and even subject matter distasteful or even offensive, but I post a variety of videos and have stopped trying to screen every "r-rated" video. :(
Other
All other Tabs and links are reference materials and other resources I use with my students. Peruse at your leisure.
