plz correct this sentence.

[je2ks2]

I am teaching children English in my country. (I am not a native English speaker.) I am teaching English through English. Since their levels which I am teaching are the beginner, I should keep the language very simple...

One of my students has been struggling with sound "the". He always sounds "the" in the same way even though "the" is placed in front of words such as earth, evening which have vowel initial sound.

In the class, I just explained in my native tongue, but I want to explain in English in further case.
so,,, I made this sentence below.

"When 'the' is in front of the words which begin with the sound a,e,i,o,u , 'the' sounds as the(di). you should sound differently.

Does this sentence sound OK to you? I tried to make it simple as possible.
(but still looks long and unclear) Anyway, I am not sure if this sentence is correct. or is there any other simpler expressions? could you give me tips? T_T Plz help me............ Thank you in advance.

[Casiopea]

Welcome, je2ks2.

Maybe your sentence is just too long? What about a shorter one?

Different pronunciations for the letter e in the word the:
"Say ee before A,E,I,O,U and uh elsewhere."

Note, ee as in see, and uh as in up.

Hope that helps.

All the best.

[RonBee]

My apologies if this causes confusion, but I almost invariably pronounce it "thuh" regardless. Examples:

the apple
the egg
the invitation
the onion
the umbrella

On the ("thee") other hand, I would probably say "the (thee") opera". (Go figure!)

(I am originally from the Midwest (St. Louis).)

~R

[curmudgeon]

And I pronounce it Thi... although I sometimes use thee when I am stressing . 'That is thee most important point'

I wouldn't trouble too much about it...Keep it simple.