Hi Tara, If you haven't tried it before, one trick I always teach my students when it comes to tone practice is to bob their heads in the direction of the tones as they say them. The extra head movement helps remind them which way their voices are supposed to move. You can try this: When saying 元、园、员, move your head from the lower left to the upper right corner. When saying 远, start your head at the upper left corner and drop it down slowly toward the lower right before hooking it back up ever so slightly. It may seem silly, but it can help. Once you've started to pronounce the tones more naturally, the head movements will gradually disappear =)

元、园 and 员 are the second tone;远 is the third tone. Hi Tara, i am also an English learner who comes from China. Would you like to be a language exchange partner with me? We can learn from each other.

元，园(園),员(員) all read yuan2,远(遠)read yuan3

员外是官职，员 mean 人员。员 relate to people. go to see the picture：http://image.baidu.com/search/detail?ct=503316480&z=0&ipn=d&word=陈员外%20梦幻西游&step_word=&hs=0&pn=11&spn=0&di=16683597150&pi=0&rn=1&tn=baiduimagedetail&is=0%2C0&istype=2&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&in=&cl=2&lm=-1&st=-1&cs=1451118266%2C3330334514&os=2020232361%2C870270775&simid=0%2C0&adpicid=0&lpn=0&ln=40&fr=&fmq=1486630335940_R&fm=result&ic=0&s=undefined&se=&sme=&tab=0&width=&height=&face=undefined&ist=&jit=&cg=&bdtype=0&oriquery=&objurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.img.969g.com%2F15666my%2Fimgx2015%2F07%2F02%2F377_121434_9ff8f_lit.jpg&fromurl=ippr_z2C%24qAzdH3FAzdH3F4y_z%26e3B8cmmm_z%26e3Bv54AzdH3FgjofAzdH3FAvpAzdH3Fda8ca0-ldnn89_d_z%26e3Bfip4s&gsm=0&rpstart=0&rpnum=0 园：go to see 偏旁。这是包围结构。 元 is inclued by city wall（□）. so, that can mean some place in the wall. 元：go to see the RMB picture 远：go to see 偏旁。 辶 mean 走

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