Real English series: Can for ability and what are the French like?

Two new videos in our Real English series. In the first one, a group of people in the street answer questions with the verb can so that we can find out their ability to do something.

Can you play any musical instruments? I can play the piano
Can you cook?
Can he cook?
What else can you do?
Can you speak any foreign languages?

You can watch the same video clip with subtitles on the Real English site here.
You can do an excercise on the video above on the Real English site here.

Pay attention to the differences in pronunciation between affirmative can and negative can't. This is a subtle difference that causes English learners of all levels great difficulties as many times listeners fail to understand whether the speaker is using can in the affirmative or in the negative.

For a detailed explanation of how to pronounce can, check this blog entry.

The second video, What are the French like?, is a repeat of the entry What are the English like? and What are the Americans like?, which we studied last week. So revise the explanation we gave to this tricky question before you watch the video.

The main difficulty of the video lies on the vocabulary, mainly adjectives, the speakers use to describe the French. Most of the adjectives will definitely be understood by elementary learners (Básico 1 and Básico 2), but a few of them are a bit tricky. It is advisable to watch the video clip below with subtitles on the Real English site here.

You can also do an excercise on this video here.

Real English also provides a longer version of the same video for intermediate students here.

Microcar Museum

Madison, Georgia, population 5000, is annually host to more than 35,000 visitors who come to see the town's beautiful antebellum and Victorian homes as well as its lovely historic downtown commercial district. Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, Madison is steeped in history and beauty. The city also hosts The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum Inc.

The Museum Collection is primarily focused on Microcars in the late 1940's- pre-1964 range with Engine sizes of 700cc or less (many are 250cc and 50cc) and 2 doors or less.

The Museum's webpage gives us an opportunity to get acquainted with everything we need to know about car together with lots of facts and figures about the history of microcars that will enhance our English [car] vocabulary and reading skills.

There is also a collection of short videos which explain some of the museum exhibits. If listening is your priority, start off by taking the virtual tour to get familiar with some of the basic car-related vocabulary and then take your pick of the videos.

Highway code

Highway code is an online grammar game from Let's have fun with English. The game is a great excuse to revise must for obligation, mustn't for prohibition, can/can't for permission and should for advice.

Ideally speaking it should be played by four-to-six players, but I can't see any reason why we can't 'play' on our own. Ok, if you play on your own you will be revising modal verbs, but you might be killing all the fun.

Before we play, we must get familiar with the game by reading the rules. The rules page will give us access to all the other components of the game:
You need a driving licence that you can download if you wish.

You need to get acquainted with the road and traffic vocabulary as well as with the modal verbs. You can do all this from here, with the added bonus that there is and audio file for each of the vocabulary items, which will enable you to get the pronunciation right.

Finally, you are given the solutions to all the questions in the game.

So it doesn't matter whether you are on your own, or with a group a friends, or you are a teacher with a whiteboard or a computer room at your disposal. Highway code will help you revise your modals in a funny way.

Can versus can't

The pronunciation of can and can't is probably the best example of the difficulties of English pronunciation for Spanish people. The pronunciation of this (modal-auxiliary) verb presents these features:

- Pronunciation of  difficult individual sounds / æ / and /ə/ in can, /ɑ:/ in can't.

- Variations in the way the verbs are pronounced, depending on their position in the sentence: We only pronounce can as / kæn / in short answers, or at the end of a sentence or before a pause, or for emphasis:
A: Can you swim? B: Yes, I can. / kæn / (short answer)
A: Can you have it for Friday? B: I think I can, but I need ... / kæn / (before a pause)
A: Sue can't swim, she's too young. B: Of course she can swim. / kæn / (emphasis)
Can you come at six? /kən/
I can run faster than you. /kən/

- Ellision of sounds: the "t" in can't is very often not pronounced; the "a" in can is very often not pronounced when it is pronounced /ə/ .

- Stress: can't is always stressed, so speakers know if a sentence is affirmative or negative because of the stress on can't, not because they hear "t": I can't go (both "can't" and "go" take the stress)
When can is pronounced /kən/ is always unstressed, and the stress falls on the main verb: I can go. (only "go" takes the stress).

For Spanish speakers it is very difficult not to give stress to any words in a sentence, as our language gives the same stress to all the words. Consequently, when we use can in conversation it is sometimes very difficult for listeners to know if the sentence is affirmative (can) or negative (can't).

There are two tricks we can use to pronounce can in an unstressed position:
1) Omit the vowel sound and pronounce can quickly: I can go to the cinema  / ai kn 'gəu /
2) Make can part of the subject, as if they were the same word: I can go to the cinema / aikn 'gəu /

To complete the study of this difficult pronunciation point, you can watch these two videos from Accentworkshop.com. The first one is about the pronunciation of can, and the second about the pronunciation of can't.





If you're still uncertain about this point, Jennifer ESL also has some videos with explanations and examples.
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwJAiCj-Rcs&feature=channel
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B43GFCO4pes&feature=related