Roxy TS #10

 I went to the roller-skating rink with Amir because I wanted to show him a classic American pastime, including the food, the music, and the general mood. He told me that in Kazakhstan they do not have roller-skating rinks, but there are plenty of ice-skating rinks, and these are very popular. We talked about words like ‘balance,’ (and its synonym ‘equilibrium’), ‘blade,’ ‘in-line,’ and ‘rental,’ among others. Most of the time, when discussing these words (some of which were unfamiliar to Amir), I would focus on his pronunciation. His knowledge of English is extensive, so his pronunciation is one way I can help him improve. We talked about how the American accent is typically quite nasal, so the ‘a’ in the word ‘tobacco,’ for example, has a sort of high-pitched quality that does not come naturally to Amir. I am ambivalent about correcting this in nonnative speakers, because I do not believe that one accent is necessarily right and another is wrong, but when it inhibits general comprehension, I suppose correction is necessary. This is the sort of tiny detail I am glad to come across in my tutoring sessions.

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