Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy!

A podcast for English learners!  Improve your listening skills, practice your pronunciation, learn new vocabulary!     

This episode, I'm chatting with Jane!   We chatted about growing up bilingual, accents, and favourite words...

Pronunciation tip = practicing the /ð / to / z / sound with plurals like 'clothes'.       


Presenter = Sam  @_emaileng (Twitter, IG), @emaileng (TikTok)     

Music = "Baby Bloodheart" by Mara Carlyle  @MaraCarlyle    www.maracarlyle.bandcamp.com     

Artwork = Penny Rossano  @pennyrossanomusicart (IG)   www.pennyrossanoillustrations.com     

Transcript

EPISODE 12 = EASY, PEASY, LEMON SQUEEZY! 

Hello! And welcome to Chat ENG – a podcast where people chat about how they learn and use English. My name is Sam, I’m a CELTA teacher and a performer, and I have a particular interest in pronunciation and expression. 

In each episode, non-native and native speakers will chat about their experiences with English, share their advice and, at the end, I’ll give some pronunciation tips for you to take away and practice. 

So – ready? Let’s get Chat ENG! 

This episode, I’m chatting with Jane. Jane is an English Language Teacher who currently lives in France! We met online, as we’re in different countries, so there were some slight delays and overlaps ... but we’re all used to this now! 

We chatted about growing up bilingual, accents, and favourite words, but I started by asking Jane to tell me a little about herself... 

INTERVIEW 

J: Alright! Well, I’m Jane. I am an English teacher. I am half Belgian, half British and I was born in Germany, and I’ve been living in France now for a few years. 

S: Half British, half Belgian - how would you describe your English? 

J: Well I’ve learned English since I was a baby - my father was always talked to me in English. He was an English teacher, and he really was ... one of his main missions was ‘okay I want my kids to speak good English’ and... well, you know, basically even though he’s obsessed with English, with his own language and, you know, last week when I was at his place, you know, he was writing down new expressions that he picked up in a newspaper that he likes, 

yeah, even now he still does it.. he still really ... when you have random conversations. I think he did a good job! I think you did obviously you know I went to school in French the whole time so obviously you know my level of English is a bit under my level of French I did go to Canada I did do a few things well most of my school years were in French so my English is more basically the huge input has been from my father. 

S: Fantastic! It sounds really interesting that he continues to write down expressions - are you are influenced in that way, you do you do the same thing? 

J: Well, yes I think, I do it but not just in English because he’s really... he has this idea that English is the top language, and which I do agree with, I really love English as well, but since I also speak other languages in my daily life, you know, I do write down stuff but not just English... it’s kind of multi lingual. 

S: Whereabouts is your father from?
 J: He’s from a little village near Aberdeen.
 S: A-ha! So his accent - was that any sort of influence on you growing up? 

J: Well, actually he had already changed his accent, because we were in Germany at the time, and he used to be a geography teacher but decided, you know, so that ‘okay I could be an English teacher’ but he also noticed that his accent was not the English that people were trying to learn, they wanted more Received Pronunciation (RP) so he totally changed his accent, and now he has kind of a neutral accent now and even now English speakers they can’t really place him they’re like, you know, “are you South African?” because, obviously, when you talk to him, they can see or hear that he is a native but they can’t quite place him. 

S: Are you more aware of your accent because, you know, your father changed it, and that you’ve lived in different countries and you have lots of different influences because you speak different languages? 

J: Well, I think I’m aware of my accent because, you know, I’ve recorded myself and being an English teacher and so on.. “okay, what do I sound like?” And now being a mother and trying to be an example for my daughter, I’m like “hmm.. what do I sound like?”. And, I remember when I went to Canada I was 17 - I went for a few months, I was in a host family - even at the time, I was kind of, really... well, not obsessed with my accent but I somehow wanted to sound native. I wanted this..it was dear to me, and my host mother said to me “well I think if you want to sound like a native, you need to go to a speech therapist or something because you don’t sound like a native!” 

S: Oh wow! 

J: And I was like “oh, she’s probably right ...she knows!” But, I think as time goes by, you learn to accept yourself and to think okay, I’m not just like my dad, who grew up just only in English - I’m not a real or 100% native, I’m another version of that... it’s a part of who I am as well. 

S: Absolutely - but do you think it matters? 

J: I don’t know - but, you know, when you grow up in the country that’s not yours - we were in Germany and I wasn’t really German at all or even in the German society, since we were going to a French-speaking school - at some point, you’re just looking for a sense of belonging, and even when I go to Scotland - I really look Scottish when I go, but once I open my mouth and they go “oh this is a French girl” and when I’m in Belgium, it was like okay you’re Belgian but you’re not quite Belgian, so there’s also this... so I think it’s more about that, especially when you’re younger, you know... 

S: Let’s talk about your teaching, then - are there things that you do in your teaching that you have taken from your own learning, or do you think you’ve developed some things that are specific to you, Jane, as a teacher? 

J: Well, I think, not just related to pronunciation, but I think what I’ve learnt, you know, about learning languages is that you have to find something that, you know within the 

language, something you’re passionate about, or something that you really like and, well obviously to me, and maybe it’s because my dad taught me English, but I think for me, you know, having to speak with someone that really interests me, or that I really like or really love has definitely been a very.. it motivates me a lot in learning a language and that I think... that’s what I tell my students, you know, if you’re into a series or if you’re into comic books or, you know, something about the culture of that language, or if it’s music - it’s music or anything in there you can just dive into because I think that’s truly motivating. 

S: So about your students then, is there anything when you’re teaching that, you know, your students will understand and get quickly? Anything in English that you think ‘oh, this is easy’? 

J: Well, most of my students already speak French, so obviously you’ve got many words in common and, you know, the English-speaking culture is just already already over - in films, you have all the films coming from America, now Netflix is huge... even if it’s not their own language, they already have, you know, on a concept of mainly Americans... but music, music is definitely and... we all do that, we sing songs in languages we don’t understand! You know, we feel it, you don’t have to understand it.. 

S: It’s true! 

J: That’s what I really try to... and I think it’s also a part of, you know, me as a person growing up bilingual, is that you don’t really have to fully understand but you have to have the concept right and I see that some, well who just have one.. monolingual students, they really struggle ... well, I think my way of teaching English because, they really want “yeah, but what’s the equivalent?” D’you know? Like “what’s the translator optic ... but what is the exact word in French?”. I have low level (students) of English, and sometimes when we’re doing an assessment, or something, and they have this idea that they want to say it in this way they have this idea in their heads, and I’m always like “try to use the knowledge that you know to go around your difficulty.. to try to tell me what you want to tell me but in a different way.” Of course, if the level is too low it’s really difficult because you do need the words, but I think, yeah, I try to do that a lot with them. 

S: As you teach lower level students, sort of people starting out, younger kids, are there any particular phrases that are popular? 

J: I try to, you know, introduce little tongue twisters and little expressions and stuff that, you know, would say like “yummy!”, “yay!”, “hooray!” stuff like that that you squeeze in, or like “this exercise is easy” and then they always go “Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy!” And I had some of them in their first year in middle school, or secondary school, and now I have them later and they still remember that stuff ... way more than complex grammar that you would teach, and it’s just the fun of the sounds. I do a lot of that, I try to bring some fun into it! 

S: Is there anything that you avoid doing when teaching lower-level students? 

J: Well, obviously, when you have lower-levels, you have to prepare a lot in the sense that you don’t have to overwhelm them with language - in fact, you lose them. You have to really build this trust net and be like “ok - we saw these words and we use them”. 

S: Absolutely. I think the idea of not overwhelming people is really important - you must feel like you’re making progress. 

J: Yeah, exactly! I mean, it’s very easy when you’re learning a language to feel that you’re totally.. “it’s too much for me!”. I’ve had that many times - when you’re in the country and you’re, like, with people talking and you’re just... you have a brain overload, you know, “I can’t take any more and I have to sink back into myself and go take a nap!” because your brain is going “oh!” and you’re trying to keep up and it’s not possible! So you have to, yeah, really try to avoid that as much as possible - especially in a classroom. 

S: Can I ask you about your own skills? Is there anything about your own English like grammar or vocabulary or pronunciation that you would improve if you could? 

J: Well I would definitely try to improve my pronunciation if I could. When I listen to myself or you know I do a lot of reading at night bedtime stories and you know sometimes I’m like “oh I kind of landed badly” but I think it’s just I have to practice more. 

S: Is it the rhythm or is it particular sounds? 

J: I would like to improve my speed of delivery, and I think, yes some sounds .. not many, to be honest.. not many, maybe like two or three that I struggle with but, I mean, I can get away with hiding that (laughing!) I think because, obviously, when I speak French, I think maybe I’m less self-aware but it just like .. it flows better .. and I would love to have that more in English but I know that, to have that I would have to really spend a few years, like, constantly... or maybe I would like to have more native friends around me... I have, in Spanish for example, I have my colleague - he is from Argentina - and I’m super happy to be like on a daily basis I’m just talking Spanish to him, and I would just love to have that in English - even though I’m speaking English all the time, but you’re always...you’re the top dog in the sense that you’re the one with the highest level of English and it would just be... it’s refreshing when you have.. someone has things to teach you because the level is higher than yours. 

S: Can you give me an example of a sound that you would improve? Because you said they were two or three sounds... 

J: Like, for example, the typical “clothes”- I can’t do the British way... I can’t, I just say “cloze” and that’s okay! 

S: That sounds pretty good to me, don’t worry! Final question, do you have a top piece of advice that you give your students when learning English? 

J: Well, I think... the top advice I think would be passion and discipline because... learning a language – it’s a lot of hard work and it doesn’t happen by chance, you really have to.. and it’s basically, well I think what my father passed on to us ... that kind of obsession with the right word or how could you say this to express what you want to say. And it doesn’t just 

apply to English, it applies to all languages, and I did that with my students because we’re doing a PenPal project and it was “okay, what’s your favourite word?” we did and the American students did the same, like “what are your favourite words?” and I actually thought about that ‘what are my favourite words?’ and then I realised that I have favourite expressions. 

S: Were there similar words that came up, or did someone have something completely out of left field? 

J: Well, no actually they have very different words, which I found even more interesting! And some, funnily enough, had English words, you know they wrote down English words and they were like ‘oh, yeah, I really like how that sounds’ and on the American side, you also had, you know, ‘amour’, words in French and they’re like “oh, that sounds so exotic!” and “it’s just so romantic!” and stuff like... yeah, I really like that! It was is a very interesting exercise... 

S: I was just thinking about my favourite word - I think one of my favourite words is “marvellous”! 

J: Oh yeah, you know, that’s a really cool word! Or even, you know, “wonderful”! It seizes the ‘ah!’ or, you know, “I am in awe!” - I just love that expression because you see the person with, you know, their mouth open and being just ‘ah!’ – Love it! 

S: “I’m in awe!” – I love that phrase! (Music) 

Passion and discipline is needed to learn a language. Jane’s right, so make sure you find fun stuff, and this helps you to work hard! Learning words like ‘mmm...yummy!’ or expressions like ‘easy, peasy, lemon squeezy’ are a great way to play with the sounds of English, and you’ll remember them for ever! 

So – this episode’s pronunciation tip is that tricky change from the ‘th’ = ð to /z/ in plurals as Jane described with the word /clothes/. 

We really want the tip of the tongue to do the work, and we want 1 transition – 1 move - and 1 continuous sound! This is a difficult one, so a little bit of practice! Start with the / ð / sound (which we practiced in episode 7!) – tip of the tongue between the teeth and a gentle buzz. 

Next - try the /z/ sound... Zebra.. Zoo. Notice – where is your tongue now? It should be just behind your bottom teeth. Now, what we want is the tongue to move a little bit from between the teeth to behind the teeth – so let’s go slowly = ð – z Don’t release too much air, and try not to open your mouth too much or your teeth – it’s just movement with the tongue! Clothes! 

To practice , I have 3 more examples of words with this ending in the plural. First = 1 mouth, 2 mouths
 Try this sentence = “How many mouths are we feeding today?” 

Next = I bathe, he or she bathes
 Try this sentence = “”He bathes in milk, she bathes in water!” 

Finally = You breathe, he or she breathes
 Try this sentence = “When she breathes in, he breathes out!” 

Final practice = let’s put the 3 words together in one sentence: “He breathes, she bathes, our mouths are open.” 

Over to you to practice! 

So there we are! The transcript of this episode is available to read on the podcast’s webpage, so take a look! 

Join me next time for more pronunciation and grammar tips, more advice and, most importantly, more chatting! 

My thanks again to Jane and, for her music, a massive thanks to the wonderful Mara Carlyle. Bye for now!