We're hosting Donna Brinton on Wednesday for a webinar on teaching pronunciation. Are you able to make it? You can see the registration link on the Calendar here in TSN - we hope to see you there. As a preview and lead up to that talk, we're happy to share here a handout on the 5-part Communicative Framework and a guide to understanding language barriers in English pronunciation. @Leonardo Gomes put this together and added some reflections from his trip to Brazil. Before getting into the framework, we ask three questions: Question 1: Have you ever experienced a language barrier due to pronunciation differences? Share a specific instance where a mispronunciation led to a humorous or confusing situation. Question 2: For non-native English speakers: What English sound or word do you find most challenging to pronounce, and why? For native speakers: Which sound or word have you noticed non-native speakers often struggle with? Question 3: What do you think is the biggest challenge in learning English pronunciation? You can add your thoughts below to get the conversation started before the webinar. Looking forward to the session on Wednesday.

Hi, I’m Cathal. I’m Irish, and I mostly teach Spanish speakers. Have lived in Mexico and Galicia, Spain, but, as I married a Swede, I live, alas, in Sweden (a terrible place for an English teacher, language learner, or chatty person to live — but, on the other hand, a great place for parents of a toddler and a baby. Swings and roundabouts). I speak decent Spanish, choppy, often incoherent, Swedish and, despite growing up surrounded by farmers and livestock in the west of Ireland, speak English without much of an Irish accent (this is at least what I get told in the west of Ireland and Sweden). I write a Substack which applies performance psychology to language teaching and language learning. It’s called The Performing Mind. Since mid-August it’s been on a hiatus as I’ve been dedicating all my spare time to building a pronunciation course. Apart from my regular students, I currently have one guinea pig client I’m experimenting the materials on, and the first client expecting a coherent course is signed up to start on the days after Christmas. I have the skeleton of the course created, but I feel like I still have so much to learn. That’s why I’m taking the Speaking, Pronunciation and Autonomy Course, and why I’m looking forward to the discussions on the boards. And why pronunciation? Why am I making that my niche? Well, because it’s arguably the most psychologically enigmatic aspect of foreign language speaking, and so, to me, it’s the most fascinating. If you like, add me on LinkedIn or follow my newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathal-larkin/ https://cathallarkin.substack.com/