English is Easy, Intermediate (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781537070384)

This is a book for teachers of English as a second language. The author began the Beginning of English is Easy with its German origins and Intermediate with its French/Latin origins. Added to Intermediate are the Greek words that are international because these are used in science as are Latin words, especially words used for measurements, chemistry, biology, and botany. Where prepositions used with words are used in German, prefixes with root words are used to describe and suffixes used to position the word as noun, adverb, adjective, or verb. The most used suffix is the noun form 'tion, cion, sion, and pronounced as "shun" and mean 'in the act of' while 'ate' is the verb form and means 'to do' or 'to make' from Latin. The Greek language has its own set of suffixes and prefixes. So 'tele' means 'far' plus a noun and a suffix like "ic" means similar or like. As we have spelling from four different languages, English is not phonetic in spelling and so the letter S may have 8 different sounds and the sound different spellings, that also goes through the differences between British English and American English in spelling and pronunciation. And please note that the word is spelled 'pronunciation' and not 'pronounciaction' which some native speakers hired to teach English overlook as well as 'maintenance' is not 'maintainance'. While the profession of teaching English will not condone different accented English (African, Anzac, Indian, Irish, Scottish, etc) the author will be critical as to diction. Where Americans use more short sounds for vowels, the British prefer a clipped sound and a preference for the Italian soft "a" in nouns such as dance (they pronounce as 'dahnce' it goes to the American pronunciation is used in singing songs in English. While British accents, spelling, and slang are preferred in the EU, NATO, United Nations, and many international organizations, those who have learned British English before American English say they like the American accent once they learn it over the British accent. That is not to say British accents are the same all over the UK or the United States. So the first BBC broadcasts were criticized heavily by people all over England as being incomprehensible, there began to shift to a standard accent from the Midlands. American accents are mainly Midwestern because of a powerful radio station in Chicago (WGN) which could reach both the East and West Coast. The movie industry once sound was introduced into movies tended to use the Midwestern accent as does Canada today. English by African natives is still quite different especially in sub Sahara Africa as are accents of former British possessions in the Caribbean and Antilles. And the different accents in the United States have softened considerably due mainly to WW II and the expansion of the American military. At that time, the newly commissioned officers from the East Coast and South could not understand each other but both could understand the Midwest accent. This misunderstanding could also raise temperaments that could have disastrous consequences. The author could give many illustrations of this but concentrating on the British English used in China, they were ever so proud of it the Author would write mark, park, and bark on the board and they would proudly say: mocks, pox, and box. The author then explained they were all wrong for when it came to market, it would be pronounced as 'mock it' or make fun of something. And I gave printed copies of my books to other native English speaking teachers of English in China and they then improved the English of the Chinese and Indonesian teachers of English. I enjoyed my teaching experience with the students but not necessarily with the overall experience which was marred by limitations imposed by the officials put in charge of the English teachers. It became a problem of narcissism.

Author: Andrew M. Patterson
ISBN-10: 153707038X
ISBN-13: 9781537070384
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Language: English
Published: 08/14/2016
Pages: 74
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 11.00h x 8.50w x 0.19d