Well, I decided that for all my podcasts, I'll write a little introduction and then put the transcript for the voice recording for you. So, welcome to "Alan's Weekend Words January 19th". Today some advice on pronuciation for all you English learners! Hello, for my weekend words this week I want to talk about pronunciation difficulties for learners of English. It seems to me that there are some sounds that present more difficulties that others. For example the English "th" sound. think thought thank thesis therapy nothing tether teeth are some words starting with or containing the sound 'th". For this sound place the top of your tongue against your top teeth - push some air through without too much pressure and say the word. think, thought, thank, thesis,therapy,nothing,tether,teeth The other 'th" sound is the same tongue position - but with less air movement and more voice. See if you can hear the difference between the two different 'th" sounds the,there,those,with,feather Try practicing these "th" sounds slowly then speed up Make sure that you keep relaxed when you speak and don't worry if you find it difficult - just keep practicing when you have a little time. The other sound I wanted to talk about today is the English "r" The British version is softer sounding than the American: run ready really roaring the american sounds more "strong" - in other words add more sound to your voice as you speak - with a little more energy. run ready really roaring I can't really speak with an american accent very well - but I just wanted to show you an example. Your tongue needs to be curled back about half-way in your mouth - but not touching any part of your mouth and then curl it back forward again and keep it quite loose as you do. "a Rumanian runner was running a revolution around a really rocky racetrack" Tongue twisters like this can be very useful for pronunciation practice Take care and see you next time http://www.englishsecret.com/pages/sound.jsp?pid=12

Buenos dias, bom dia,hallo, bonjour, jo napot,ni hao, Guten Tag! So many languages. But of course, as usual, I am speaking in uhm, English my mother tongue and today, I wanted to speak a little about fluency, but today I'm trying to do this as a "chatcast" - and my way of doing chatcasts now is to just...chat without a text. So, I will produce a text for the "PODOMATIC" site so that you can read what I've said, but I won't do that until after I've finished speaking. So today, "fluency". What does it mean? In fact what made me think about it was, I was speaking with a friend at work today and we were discussing..uhm..language learning because he said that he would like to learn French and I was giving him some tips and hints and we were discussing what fluency was. He said he would like to have a conversation with people (in French) and he considered that would be fluency. And my opinion is, that fluency changes the more you learn a language, or your idea, should I say, about fluency. Because the more you learn about a language, the more you think you need to learn. But my point of view is, that we should be able to be fluent... at any level. To explain what I mean, if you're having a very simple conversation - someone says, "how are you?" and you say, "I'm fine thanks and how (are) is your family? how are your children?" You say, "my children are well, my family is well" You are still speaking a language in a fluent way, because I think fluency means you can speak the language quite easily. But of course as the language level rises and the complexity of the sentences you're saying in your conversation becomes more difficult, then it affects the level of fluency. So my advice is try to stay in the level that you have and try and enjoy speaking at that level whilst trying to develop more language skills - and that way you develop your fluency. So, what I'm trying to explain from my point of view is that anyone can have a "level of fluency" that allows them to speak the language and uhm, I think it's worth thinking about because many many people will say to themselves, " I'm not very fluent, I'm not as fluent as I'd like to be". So, take your time, enjoy the conversations that you have in the language you're learning and if it is English, then practice it and say to yourself, "I'm fluent, I just need MORE fluency as I speak about more complex subjects". So that's my chatcast for Friday evening and I'll hopefully make a new "Weekend words" over the weekend. But, we have my son's girlfriend with us today so, (we) we've got a visitor here. Maybe I will have time but hopefully you'll have a nice weekend. Take care and we'll speak again soon...BYE.

I hope you like my latest guitar tune recorded today...

hello everybody. Alan here. Buenos dias, ¿Cómo estás? hablo poco espagnol a hora! Today I wanted to talk a little about learning Spanish. I'm starting to learn some Spanish. I wanted to start seriously to learn a few months ago, but for some reason or another I couldn't get started properly. It's always difficult starting a new language I think. Anyway, recently I started to visit Alba's podomatic spanish learning site here in Podomatic and also I borrowed a course "Michel Thomas" introductory course (2 CD's) from my local library. I think now I can get started correctly. I think that the best way to start learning is to start with some good materials - and this is what Alba's site and the Michel Thomas course do. They allow you to learn without stress. I think too many people learning languages put themselves under a great deal of stress and strain in pushing themselves too hard. Trying to learn vocabulary lists, memorise phrases and expressions and remember as much as they can. Perhaps the easiest and best way is to try to learn in a relaxed way. I know this isn't easy if you are learning in a classroom situation and you have exams looming.. Well, in any case, I think things are a bit easier if you are easy on yourself - don't become your most strict teacher! So, I'm going to see how my Spanish improves over the next few months. I might even try a small podcast in Spanish if I can. It's always interesting to feel a new language developing in one's head. It reminds me of trying to complete a very big jigsaw puzzle, or crossword in some ways. As you find the answer to a clue or find a jigsaw piece that fits so to speak - so you can tell yourself - I'm learning well! Some people are natural learners and can pick things up quickly. I wish I were one of these people, but unfortunately I'm not. Even so, it's best to keep interested and that is why my motto is "enjoy what you know and the rest can only grow" in other words enjoy what level you are and then you'll always find that you will learn more. Let's keep the language learning effort going! With podcasts, it's even easier than before because you can transport the recordings around on your MP3 player. I love downloading some language podcasts and playing them later when I have time to listen to them carefully - such as when I'm driving or my lunch break at work. Take care and bye for now

Text here: http://www.hltmag.co.uk/mar07/joke.htm Julian Beever's Inspired Pavement Drawings Ken Wilson, UK Julian Beever is an English chalk artist, who has been creating anamorphic pavement art since the mid-1990s. Anamorphic pictures are designed so that they appear to be three dimensional from certain angles. The drawings must be seen from one particular angle. If the viewer moves from the position, the illusion is lost and the drawing becomes an unrecognizable distortion. Julian also paints murals and is famous for his replicas of well-known works of art. He has worked in the UK, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany, the USA and Australia. He has been called "the Pavement Picasso," because the importance of three dimensionality in his work is reminiscent of Picasso in his Cubist period. This material was spotted by Ken Wilson, a teacher trainer and ELT materials writer, with more than 20 titles to his name. He writes both coursebook and supplementary material and his recent course material includes a Senior High course for China. He also wrote a book to accompany Channel 4 TV's first-ever ELT soap series. He was artistic director of the English Teaching Theatre until 2002.

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