Saying numbers in English

Numbers are found in prices (35€), dates, fractions, maths formulae, financial reports, telephone numbers, etc. Numbers are everywhere! That's how important they are. We say the same figure , say 2010, differently depending if it's a time, a year, a price, a code so learn not just the numbers but how to say them (and their associated prepositions if necessary!).

People all levels seem to have a lot difficulties with numbers, whether it is when saying dates or with fractions or long numbers. Here is a compilation of material that you, if you are one of these people, might find useful.

Numbers

http://www.learnenglish.de/basics/dates.html

See them, hear them + lots of useful info.

Number+ teen     number +ty

Thir teen                    thir ty

http://www.engvid.com/english-pronunciation-numbers/

Saying long numbers:

very easy, same order as in your language

Watch and learn:                                    J

http://www.engvid.com/speaking-english-saying-numbers/

Three hundred and thirty three thousand three hundred and thirteen… quin número és?

In British English we use and after “hundred”. We pronounce it very quickly like in Guns ‘n roses, the musing band from 1990s!

 

Dates
In English, we can say dates either with the day before the month, or the month before the day:
We write: 1st Jan, 2001 or Jan 1st, 2001… and    1 Jan, 2001 or Jan 1, 2001

We say: The first of January / January the first.

Remember to use ordinal numbers for dates in English even if we do not write it.
(The first, the second, the third, the fourth, the twenty-second, the thirty-first etc.)

Years
For years up until 2000, separate the four

numbers into two pairs of two:
1965 = nineteen sixty-five
1871 = eighteen seventy-one
1999 = nineteen ninety-nine

For this decade, you need to say "two thousand and —-" when speaking British English:
2001 = two thousand and one
2009 = two thousand and nine

Large numbers
Divide the number into units of hundreds and thousands:
400,000 = four hundred thousand (no s plural)

If the number includes a smaller number, use "and" in British English:
450,000 = four hundred and fifty thousand
400,360 = four hundred thousand and three hundred and sixty  

Watch this video: http://www.engvid.com/speaking-english-saying-numbers/

Fractions, ratios and percentages
½ = one half
1/3 = one third
¼ = one quarter
1/5 = one fifth
1/ 6 = one sixth etc
3/5 = three fifths

1.5% = one point five percent
0.3% = nought / zero point three percent

2:1 = two to one

Saying 0
Depending on the context, we can pronounce zero in different ways:
2-0 (football) = Two nil
30 – 0 (tennis) = Thirty love
604 7721 (phone number) = six oh four…
0.4 (a number) = nought point four / zero point four
0C (temperature) = zero degrees

Talking about calculations in English
+ (plus)
2 + 1 = 3 (two plus one equals/is three)
- (minus / take away)
5 – 3 = 2 (five minus three equals two / five take away three equals two)
x (multiplied by / times)
2 x 3 = 6 (two multiplied by three equals six / two times three equals six)
/ (divided by)
6 / 3 = 2 (six divided by three equals two)

 

I am reaching the conclusion that teaching vocabulary at advanced levels if they are not going to be exposed to it is just a bit frustrating. For them , they are not going to get many chances of acquiring it and they probably want more feeling of progress than just learning new expressions. Grammar will help them understand more, and with effort, you can actually get them to use it in an undersatable way.


We are at a stage where people have been exposed to a considerable amount of English.
Vocabulary is key.
The latest example is of somebody who says… dots meaning points. Ununderstandable nearly.
We can share this dots  based on our eHIS   
People are not aware that words don’t just have one meaning, one translation.


desensenyar i reensenyar i reaprendre
es el que s'ha de fer amb angles als meus adults

we insist on teaching structures and words which students will very unlikely use. Not because they lack the ability but because culturally it's just too different. they don't relate to them.
their brain uses whatever pattern it has and whatever is simpler to retrieve.
that's considering they are not exposed to real English and by real i mean British or American english, or Australian.

ensenyar angles avui en dia es desensenyar el que saben o creuen saber.
desensenyar mal habits de parla i escriptura

i tall that to vicky

ana botella

http://my.telegraph.co.uk/expat/annanicholas/10151737/a-culture-shock-awaits-spaniards-swapping-their-homeland-for-the-uk/

http://simpleenglishuk.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/pronunciation-and-a-relaxing-cup-of-cafe-con-leche/
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/expat/annanicholas/10151873/why-spain-should-wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee/
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/informacion/2013/09/10/profesores-ingles-ana-botella/00031378824533063483935.htm
http://www.lasexta.com/videos-online/especiales/noticias/juegos-olimpicos/2020/entrevista-coach-ana-botella_2013091300020.html

vaughan
http://es.noticias.yahoo.com/la-sorprendente-f-rmula-vaughan-para-evitar-el-203000481.html


unfinished:

Echando una hojeada a la prensa internacional. Nadie se ha mofado de su inglés solo los españoles. Al contrario. Simpatizan con ella y los profesores

Se nota que ha puesto esfuerzo y algo de tiempo en practicar y que alguien le ha escrito el texto. Su mérito tiene teniendo en cuenta que como política nadie le exige que sepa inglés para acceder a su sitio de trabajo y que probablemente no lo haya estudiado hasta mayor. La gramática por lo general está bien, básica pero bien. ¿A cuantos les saldría bien el want this to be, o un –chor para –ture  (no correcto pero un intento del tur)? También hay el uso del muy básico posesivo its, que a menudo la gente lo tiene bastante olvidado.

A su favor, ha intentado pronunciar los diptongos, ponen énfasis donde lo pondría un británico, ha pronunciado bien el final de –ces,  buen intento con el comfortable , intento medio aceptable de –ture, ha superado el miedo que tiene de hablar en pública la mayoría de gente que no habla bien el inglés.

Omite lo típico de muchos castellano-hablantes el sonido final de algunas letras pero taste, last, peterburgh is mispronounced,

Cabe decir no necesariamente en su defensa que para gente de habla castellana pronunciar la g de gentlement, la schwa (vocal neutra como el francés je o el catalán en sílabas, o suavizar la h de hope o home no es fácil. El castellano tiene una cantidad similar de sonidos que de letras del alfabeto a diferencia del inglés, francés o catalán. El inglés hay casi el doble de sonidos, que varían un poco según la variedad y/o acento, mientras que en catalán tienen un 25% más, en grandes términos. Por lo tanto no sorprende la dificultad a la hora de pronunciar. A la vez, aquí se separan las palabras y las sílabas son todas claras. Una vez más, esto es distinto en inglés. No me voy a alargar explicando las formas fuertes y débiles, la vocal neutra y el sentence stress ya que da mucho de sí.

El perhaps y el welcoming son ejemplos de este poco conocimiento de como funciona el inglés a nivel oral. Pronuncia estas dos palabras como si cada sílaba fuera tónica y esto desubica.

Las pausas en la famosa frase “there’s nothing quite like a relaxing cafe con leche in Madrid’s plaza mayor”. It’s a statement and she kind of pronounces it as three/four different questions from the very first word. She pauses in the wrong place “there is nothing /  like eh / relaxing cafe con leche / in ...” she raises the intonation in each of this bits. It sounds as if she is going to ask a question but without the inversion of the verb to be. This is an attempt to put this emphasis and use the English pitch. Failed attempt.

Cierto es que es normal tener un poco de acento y todos sabemos qeu no es fácil aprender idiomas bien

 

De-teach and re-teach

Teaching English to adults in Spain is mostly a matter of "de-teaching" what they use and re-teaching them, feeding and helping them process the real English.
desensenyar per tornar a ensenyar.

do your homework

As a teacher you must really be familiar with the material you use in class/give as homework.
Do/read it all yourself beforehand.

the queen's english

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9280753/The-Queens-English-changes-through-the-years.html

teach with short films

In the TESOL regional event I went to on Friday, Kieran Donaghy from UAB idiomas told us about using videos in the class, something that many of us do already. Yet the sample of videos he produced to do so was just inspirational and breathtaking.

www.film-english.com uses short films that one can find in youtube or vimeo, made by people with ideas and causes and messages to get across, or maybe wanting to show off their skills. The videos as a stand alone thing are worth watching and if you can exploit them in the english class, asKieran has done, all the best! In an age where  illustration and film-making has become all the rage, it'd be crazy to overlook these pieces of material. All down to thanks to easy access to technology and "digitality" and affordability.

They are classified by levels and there's quite a few to choose from.
 www.film-english.com

Thanks for sharing Kieran.