[bosco]

how do you stop kids pronouncing the word 'pig' as 'ping' (with a hard G)?

this is along the same lines as how to stop kids saying "oran-ja" for orange, but a lot of my kids are saying 'ping' instead of 'pig' and it's driving me crazy.

[mesmark]

I'd say let it go for now. Sometimes words kids are familiar with that have been taken over by the L1 are the hardest to fix.

In Japan, people say 'Hallo.' for 'Hello.' They write it in Japanese this way and people just think that's how they're supposed to say it. they've said it that way for so long that they can't stop even when you tell them it's wrong.

Once they get into reading and writing it should iron itself out. Hopefully they'll see there's no 'n' in pig.

[Eric]

i think you should correct this early. the earlier you correct it the easier it will be for that student to drop their bad habit.

that being said, make sure correction comes at the appropriate time. if it's just free talking time where the goal is just to get students comfortable speaking, let it go. but when it's time to focus on pronunciation, drill them over and over until they get it right.

Here's a game to use to make pronunciation practice fun.

eric