sábado, 26 de octubre de 2013

Boston as a second language

In summer this year Larry Ferlazzo posted about Talk Boston, a platform with an aim to teaching students how to pick up a Boston accent.

Bostonians have a reputation for talking funny, which makes it hard for non-native speakers to understand them. The accent is different, the vocabulary is different, and the idioms and slang are different.  I guess the same could be said about lots of specific areas around the world where English is spoken.

Because of that, Talk Boston may backfire on those students who have to study in a non-immersion situation, with hardly any possibilities to put into practice what they've learnt in class or on the platform.

Anyway, Talk Boston can be useful for students to come face-to-face with natives speakers and to gain some insight into what learning English the rough way entails.

Talk Boston is divided  into five sections: Videos (very short videos explaining pronunciation), Vocabulary, Game section to test what you have learnt, Translate, and Celebs, where we can hear some Talk Boston alumni on video.

Give Talk Boston a try. It's fun.