Learning should be FUN!

Today I went to a MeetUp meeting I like to go to where I teach an ESL class to random people that come for a lesson. It is really strange since each week there are 10 - 20 people and a large percentage have never been there before. So I could really do the same thing every month and just rotate over 4 weeks. I enjoy it and I feel I am contributing to to others' lives. It is interesting to see the diversity of people that attend. Today there were a few people from Mexico, some from India, a couple of Asians, and even a girl from Peru

 We started with an introduction of everyone and waiting for the people that came late. Then we talked a little about ways to practice listening. The usual problem with listening is people that speak another language can't tell where one word ends and the next word begins. Say, "What time is it?" Say each word separately, doesn't it should strange, like a robot? Now say, "Wha time i sit?". Isn't that really how we say it? We blend the 2 t's together and we take the "s" on is and put it on "it". That is why many people can read and write and not hear when native speakers speak. The problem is people stress about it too much.

It is important that non-native speakers understand what their problems are so they can understand how to correct them. One way to help with the way we blend words is Tongue Twisters. So then we paired everyone up and practiced tongue twisters. I told them not to worry about the meaning of the words, like how big is a peck, but worry about pushing yourself to say them faster. If I don't make it fun then their heart isn't into the work and they don't really learn anything. The tongue twisters we used are:

1. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
   A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
   If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
   Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
2. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
   
3. She sells seashells by the seashore
4. How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?
5. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream
6. I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine shop
7. Susie works in a shoeshine shop. Where she shines she sits, and where she sits she shines
8. Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy, was he?
   
9. Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?
10. I have got a date at a quarter to eight; I’ll see you at the gate, so don’t be late!