In many cases, the final syllable becomes a neutral sound, and is often weak. For example, in "Oxford", the "ford" part is pronounced as "fd". Some extreme cases of this neutralization are the standard pronunciations of Greenwich, Southwark and Worcestershire (ie. Grennitch, Suthuk and Wooshtashuh).

Yes, you can teach them that most often, as in your examples, the stress is on the first syllable.