Imam Reza, 8th Innocent Shiite Imams stated:

The weapon of the Prophets is essential for you. When asked "What is the weapon of Prophets". He stated: "supplication!".

(USOOL KAFI, Vol 1, P 468)

Teaching the "Th" Sound to Young EFL Learners

Camran Shirvani
camran.shirvani{at}gmail.com
Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr (Qaemshahr, Iran)

EFL learners often mispronounce the "th" sound. What follows is an effective technique (a tongue exercise) for in-class practice. This is especially effective in case of young EFL learners since it is entertaining and produces near-immediate results.

Introduction

Mispronouncing the "th" sound by making a simple "s" or "t" sound is very common among English language learners, and the case has been discussed for several decades. Carr (1967) in her article "Teaching the "th" sounds of English" in the first number of the first volume of TESOL journal begins as follow:

"There is nothing boring about teaching the ancient and honorable the sounds of English – the phonemes which are so characteristic a part of the stream of the speech in English but so rare among other languages of the world. If instructor and learners keep even a few bit of information about the structure of English in mind, these lessons can be the most successful effort of a semester."