For native English speakers, none of these are a problem but they can create havoc and apprehension with English language learners, particularly those who do not benefit from being in an English-speaking country.
Number 5 - Idioms and Expressions
Every language has its idioms and expressions and English is no exception. In fact, it sometimes seems that 50% of what we say is idiomatic with the grammatical portion of the language just acting as connectors. I term it 'the colour of the language'. Idioms are phrases that when spoken usually do not have much if anything to do with the words being used. No wonder ESL students have comprehension problems. Let's look at some animal idioms to give you some examples:
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
"Holy Cow!"
"When I tell my mother, she's going to have a cow!"
"It looks like a dog's breakfast."
"She's barking up the wrong tree."
Try explaining those to students who have never encountered these idioms and have nothing to relate them to.
Number 4 - Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal verbs are verbs containing more than one word.
'Up' is one we use all the time: bone up on, break up, bring up, burn up, butter up, call up, draw up, dress up, ease up, give up, hurry up, listen up, look up, move up, smarten up, tie up, wise up...
Off is another one: back off, beg off, face off, hold off, show off, tell off...plus several I won't mention!
Or how about 'back' as in: back down, back in, back off, back away, back up...
Speaking of 'down, we have break down, bring down, die down, dress down, lowdown, show down...
And far from the end but all I can cover here, 'in', as in, call in, figure in, give in, listen in, run in, shoe-in...
Number 3 - Homonyms
Homonyms are words that are pronounced the same but mean different things and are often spelled differently as well. For example:
1. The referee blew his blue whistle.
2. Cheryl rode her bike as we rowed our little boat in the river.
3. She had never seen such a beautiful scene.
4. The new site for our building is quite a sight.
5. It seems the seams in my pants have split again.
6. Years of rain didn't interrupt the king's reign.
7. Due to the dry weather, we do not see any dew on the grass.
8. Our zoo has a new gnu.
9. Some people know that you add to find the sum.
10. They're on their way over there.
11. I ate the eight cakes that were on my plate.
12. How many ways can I tell him that he weighs too much?
13. They banned the crude band from playing at the concert.
14. We only won one prize.
15. They had to raze the old building before the sun's rays could raise the temperature.
16.I'll walk down the aisle on the Isle of Capri.
17. The boy threw the ball through the window.
Is it any wonder, new learners get confused?
Number 2 - Tenses
Past Simple - Present Simple- Future Simple, right?
Well, it's not quite that simple, is it? We add present continuous and present perfect, past continuous, past perfect, future continuous, future perfect and then we have present to talk about the near future, present continuous for the future...
Explaining each of these different tenses to students and expecting them to understand is challenging and it doesn't happen overnight. Then, expecting students to learn when and how to use them is another facet of the task.
I don't have space to go into a full explanation of tense use here but if you want a good explanation, you might like to go to My English Pages.
Number 1 - Word and Sentence Stress
Some languages are described as musical. Well, English has quite a lilt to it when you listen to it. In words of two syllables or more, only one is stressed or spoken a little louder than the rest.
In these examples, I have shown the stressed syllable in caps: CA-na-da, a-MER-i-ca, CHIN-a, ja-PAN, pho-TOG-re-pher, con-sti-TUT-ion.
ESL learners have a tough time figuring this all out. It takes a practiced ear.
Similarly, certain words or parts of words in sentences are spoken a little louder to signify their importance in the meaning of the sentence. Sentences are usually spoken in 'thought groups' and thee is usually only one stressed point per thought group.
Here is an example of a sentence with four thought groups with the stressed point shown in caps:
I'm GOING | to the MARket | by mySELF | on SATurday.
As native speakers, we say it quickly and don't even think about it but for non native speakers, it takes a lot of practice listening to and imitating English speakers.
One of my favourite exercises is to have students pronounce this sentence in nine different ways. Each way has a different meaning.
"JOHN and Sally walked to the small restaurant yesterday evening" (Not Bill)
"John AND Sally walked to the small restaurant yesterday evening" (John was not alone)
"John and SALLY walked to the small restaurant yesterday evening" (Not Susie)
"John and Sally WALKed to the small restaurant yesterday evening" (didn't drive)
"John and Sally walked TO the small restaurant yesterday evening" (not from)
"John and Sally walked to the SMALL restaurant yesterday evening" (Not the big one)
"John and Sally walked to the small REStaurant yesterday evening" (Not the pharmacy)
"John and Sally walked to the small restaurant YESterday evening" (not today)
"John and Sally walked to the small restaurant yesterday EVening" (not the afternoon)
So there you have what I consider to be the five most difficult aspects of learning to communicate in English. If you are learning English, the best way is to be in a country where English is the main language and you have the opportunity to practice it 24/7 (an expression). If you cannot do that, join an English Club, read books, newspapers and magazines, watch English videos. Replay them a few times and listen to the stress, the idioms and the way the language is used.
Robert Taylor
Dr. Robert Taylor is a Canadian educator who lives in Thailand and specializes in teaching English. He has a teacher training school for people interested in teaching English overseas Sunbridge Institute of English and an online club for business people who need to improve their written English communications My Business English Club.
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