Re: Grammar

On Mon, 1 Dec 2003, Holger Dansk wrote:

> On 1 Dec 2003 14:23:54 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Herman Rubin)
> wrote:
>
> >I have heard many of them pronounce English well.  However,
> >learning to mispronounce, or not learning sounds early, CAN
> >be a difficult problem, which can be partly overcome by
> >specifically teaching how to physically make the sounds.
>
> It's hard to understand why, in a public school, when a negro says "foh"
> for the number 4, the teacher, evidently, doesn't say, "That's not the
> proper pronunciation of 4.  It's pronounced four to rhyme with "law" or
> the aw in awful."

When I first started working with these kids, I tried that too. Just
telling a child the pronounciation is wrong doesn't do the trick tho.
They don't know their sounds and the sounds they're given in these
drive-by corrections don't match their experiences. You'll have to
put out a little more effort than that. You seem naive.

BTW, I've never heard anyone pronouce four to rhyme with "law"
or the aw in "awful." "Foh" is at least close.