Long vowels and Reduced Long Vowels

English grammar and usage issues

Moderator: Joe

koster
Member
Posts: 2
Joined: 15 Feb 2005, 13:01

Long vowels and Reduced Long Vowels

Unread post by koster »

I am an EFL Teacher, and I have been asked by one student I teach privately to help him distinguish between "long vowels" and "reduced long vowels". He needs to be able to do this for a course he is studying which leads to an examination.

I have never taught this and don´t know what they are. Please could someone help me with some examples, preferably minimal pairs, and any tips on teaching this?

The course is "That's English" which has been created by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science in collaboration with the BBC. There is an exercise on the level 7 course CD-ROM which requires the students to put "long vowels" and "reduced long vowels" in the correct category.

Thanks in advance!
Laurence
malcolm
Member
Posts: 13
Joined: 23 Feb 2005, 14:09

Long vowels and reduced long vowels

Unread post by malcolm »

Laurence,

I couldn't get through to your website.

I haven't heard of this. Is the difference between long vowels like ee in "me" and diphthongs like /ai/ in my?

can't say any more mate
chosimba
Member
Posts: 6
Joined: 20 May 2005, 21:11

Unread post by chosimba »

For a learner to differentiate between long and short vowels, they must be able to hear the difference before being able to produce the difference. There are many different techniques for this. I have found many tasks from doing a search for minimal pairs on dogpile.com. Hope this helps! :D
Post Reply