TESL Ottawa was delighted to have Judy Thompson give the keynote address at its Spring 2011 event. Judy is a well-known speaker, author and professor of English as a Second Language. Founder of the Thompson Language Center, Judy Thompson has revolutionized the way English is being taught with her ground-breaking textbook English is Stupid. Currently a professor at Sheridan College, Judy teaches “Essential Communications,” as well as “Speaking Canadian English.”

Judy made her presentation to a room full of ESL teachers, so it came as no surprise to us to hear her assert that English is completely messed up and that written English and spoken English are two completely different languages. She quickly demonstrated how English letters do not represent the sounds of spoken English by listing the words: blue, you, few, through, who, and shoe on the board. The spelling of these words varies considerably, although each includes the vowel sound represented by the phonetic symbol [u]. Clearly, spelling is random. If spelling is random and the words on the board include the same vowel sound, how can we expect ESL students to “sound out a word”? The answer: we can’t.

Why is English such a mess? Judy informed us it’s all about the history of England and its various conquering groups. The English language has Germanic, Scandinavian, Celtic, French and Roman roots, amongst others. And historically, the ruling class spoke one language while the serfs spoke another. William Caxton and his first English printing press in 1476 soundly split written English from the spoken. Spoken English was highly flexible and, over the years, while spelling was standardized, pronunciation continued to evolve.

Judy reminded us that we write using the 26 letters of the English alphabet, only five of which are vowels. When speaking, however, we use 24 consonant sounds and 16 vowel sounds; thus the English Phonetic Alphabet is comprised of 40 sounds. How can teachers help their students get over the hurdle this creates and learn English as a second language? The first step is to recognize that written and spoken English are two separate languages and need to be taught differently. One of Judy’s solutions to teaching spoken English is the use of colour codes for the 16 vowel sounds. For example, the is colour-coded as blue and, therefore, the words blue, you, few, through, who, and shoe are given the colour blue on flashcards designed by Judy. Another teaching tool that she has developed, the Thompson Vowel Chart, demonstrates the colour-coding of the 16 vowel sounds and representative words, providing a highly functional pronunciation tool – the English Phonetic Alphabet.

Teachers must also ensure their students understand that spoken English is a stress-based language, and that all words are not created equal. The important words in a spoken sentence carry the day. In addition, word breaks in spoken English are different from the written language. English speakers drag the ending consonant sound of one word to begin the following word. Consequently, instead of saying, “I want to eat a cookie,” we say, “I wanntweta cookie.”

Judy covered a lot of ground, and I cannot do her lecture justice in a brief review like this one. A short version of one of her talks is available on YouTube. More information about Judy, her book English is Stupid, and the Thompson Language Center is available at www.englishisstupid.com.