PRONUNCIATION EXERCISES Ester Mora Blanco MAGAZINE ULACIT
Consonants
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B BAD, LAB……………………………………………….P3 D DID, LADY ……………………………………….……..P4 F FIND, IF ….……………………………………………….P5 G GIVE, FLAG ……………………………………………..P6 H HOW, HELLO …………………………………………..P7
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J YES, YELLOW ……………………………………………P8 K CAT, BACK ………………………………………………P9 L LEG, LITTLE …………………………………………….P10 M MAN, LEMON ………………………………………….P11 N NO, TEN ……………………………………………......P12 ŋ SING, FINGER ………………………………………….P13
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P PET, MAP ………………………………………………..P14 R RED, TRY ………………………………………………..P15 S SUN, MISS ………………………………………………P16 ʃ SHE, CRASH ……………………………………………..P17 T TEA, GETTING …………………………………………..P18
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tʃ CHECK, CHURCH ……………………………………….P19 θ THINK, BOTH …………………………………………….P20 ð THIS, MOTHER …………………………………………..P21 V VOICE, FIVE ………………………………………………P22 W WET, WINDOW …………………………………………P23
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Z ZOO, LAZY ……………………………………………….P24 ʒ PLEASURE, VISION …………………………………….P25 dʒ JUST, LARGE ……………………………………………P26
B Object Grab Level: Intermediate Materials: one object to grab per couple. Time: 5-7 mins Each pair of students needs an object on the table between them (e.g. an eraser) - they compete against their partner. Then tell the class which sound they are listening for (e.g. /b/). You call out a list of words ("vet, vote, big") and as soon as they hear that sound, they grab the object - if they are right they get a point. You can use words other than minimal pairs for this.
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tie ton too touch train try
die done do Dutch drain dry
D Number dictation Level Intermediate Materials Board, paper, pencil Time: 10-15 minutes Write the minimal pairs on the board in a table, as in the example opposite. Drill the pronunciation around the class. Then, dictate four of the words, but tell the students they only need to write the number, not the word. So, if you say "cut, but, ankle, fun" the students should write "1,1,2,1". Then the students work in pairs one dictates the words, the other says which number.
F Shouting Dictation Level Intermediate Materials: music device. Time 2o minutes A bit noisy, but great to get students exaggerating the mouth shapes. Students work in pairs. Each student has a different set of words which they must dictate to their partner. But, get them to stand on opposite sides of the room, so they must shout. Play background music to make it even more challenging. Level intermediate. Examples •
Fail, pale, fair, pair, fat, pat, felt, pelt, fen, pen, fence pence.
G Vocab-Grab Game Level: Beginners Materials: paper. Time: 10 minutes Students work in groups of 3-4. Put a few minimal pairs on slips of paper (one word per paper) and give a set to each group. Then call out a word. The students race to grab the correct word. Keep calling until there's none left. Then get the students working within their groups. One student calls out the words, the others grab the word he/she said. Encourage lots of competition to keep them motivated.
H Stand-up, sit down Level Materials: table, board, marker, paper. Time: You put the table with your minimal pairs on the board. Assign each sound an action. For example, the sound /H/ could be "stand up", and the sound /F/ could be "sit down". Then you call out the words, and the students should perform the action. The last student to do the correct action becomes 'caller' and calls out the next word. Level advanced •
fop hop
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fore haw
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fowl howl
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funky hunky
J Minimal Pair Exploration •
Level: Intermediate
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Time 10 mins
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Materials: Sheet of paper with minimal pairs
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Students take the left or right branch depending on whether they two words they hear have the same or different pronunciation, e.g. turning left if they hear “J”.”J” or “J”. Yay! .” and turning right if they hear “yay “Yay” . “Yay” or “Hey!” .“Yay!”.
K Minimal Pair Stations
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Level: Beginners, kids.
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Materials: minimal pairs list, or flashcards,
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Depending on which of the sounds they think they hear, students run and touch one of two walls in the classroom, e.g. the right wall for “Key” the left wall for “Tea” .
L Pronunciation Same Or Different Pair work
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Level: Intermediate
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Materials: sheets of paper with sentences.
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Time: 15 minutes
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Students are given Student A and Student B sheets which have pairs of words that are pronounced the same (e.g. “lout ” on Student A’s sheet and “rout” on Student B’s sheet, Without showing their worksheets to each other or spelling them out, they have to decide whether their words are pronounced the same or not. They can then read out any phrases or sentences that are given to help them check. When they get to the end of the sheet the teacher tells them how many words pronounced the same they should have found. When they have found that number or given up, they can look at each other’s worksheets to check their answers. The whole class can then discuss how to pronounce the ones that are different.
M Spelling Code Game Letter A B C D E
points 1 2 3 4 5
Level: Intermediate-Advanced. Materials: paper, pen, Time: 20 minutes This is a general spelling game that can be very useful with minimal pairs. Students are given a list of the alphabet with a number next to each letter. The teacher says a word and students have to write it down on their scrap paper, convert each letter into a number, add up all the numbers, and then shout out the total. The first person to get the right total number is the winner. For example, the teacher shouts out “Shin” and the students convert it to S = 4 + H = 9 + I = 21 + N = 17 and race to shout out “Fifty one!”, with other students no doubt shouting out the different totals that they got by starting with the minimal pairs “chin” and “sheen”. Examples of minimal pairs with M could be my, buy, moo, boo, mow, bow.
S and Ęƒ Contrast Sentences Level: Intermediate Materials: sheet of paper time: 10 minutes Students will individually read one sentence each in front of the class.
T and tʃ domino •
Domino Final T and t
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Level: Beginners,
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Materials: Domino with Minimal Pairs
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Time: 30 mins.
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It can be in pairs or groups of 3. Students play domino by putting together the same Word.
Ęƒ and tĘƒ domino
Preparation Create a text that contains the minimal pairs Face, faith, force, fourth, Sick, thick, sink, think, sort, thought tense and tenth. Print enough copies for your teams and for yourself.. Step 6: Follow the task with a feedback session on the pronunciation. Highlight any words that gave students a lot of trouble, and comment on the overall quality of the pronunciation.
Step 5: Record the order in which teams finish. As some teams will complete the task faster than others, you can ask questions to check comprehension, so using an interesting story or topic for the text is a good idea.
Step 4: The groups repeat step 3 until they have copied the whole text. They ask the teacher to check their text. The teacher tells them how many mistakes have been made. Teams must repeat step 3 until all the mistakes have been corrected.
Step 1:Divide the class into groups of 4 students
Step 2:Students will have to copy a text that will be placed at the back of the classroom (or outside the class if possible). They must correct any mistakes before they can finish. There will be one runner, one writer, and one or more observers at any one time ,but they will change roles often. Only the runner can go to read They should try to remember about five words and then the writer has to copy the word. If the runner forgets their words they may go back and read them again.
Step 3: The writer now becomes the runner, the observer becomes the writer, and the runner becomes the observer.
θ Running dictation for pronunciation practice Learner English level: Beginner and above Time 20 mins Materials printer copies dictation
V: Ask Siri • Level: Intermediate or advanced •
Materials Cellphone
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Time 10 minutes.
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Depending on the demographics of your class, many of your students might have smartphones. You can utilize them to practice minimal pairs.
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Most smartphones have a “voice-controlled personal digital assistant“. Siri is the most famous. Cortana, Google Now, and Amazon Echo are some others. Basically, they listen to what you tell them and follow your command. Although, of course, your command has to be pronounced correctly to get the right action from them.
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Here’s a fun activity to try. Hold down the button on your smartphone (if you have an iPhone) and tell Siri, “Show me a picture of a vat.” For instance.
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Exemples of words areban van, berry very, boat vote, beer veer, bury very,
ð Pronunciation maze •
LeThis game also allows them to use a little bit of logical problem solving to help with a pronunciation task. In a grid, write a string of words with a common sound, e.g. all words with ð between the top left corner and the bottom right corner. In all the other squares, write in words that people might think have the same sound but don’t words with θ and ð. Students then have to get from the starting point to the end by the right route. After they have finished, drill the words on the right route, and then all the surrounding ones with different sounds.
W and R minimal pair game: Rock, Paper, Scissor, shoot! This card game is based on the classic hand game that kids already know and love. Print a deck of 30 cards (10 rock, 10 paper, 10 scissor), shuffle and divide between two players. Players simultaneously place the top card from their deck face up in the center of play. Each card has a target/position specific word to say. The winner of the hand (follows the traditional game), collects the cards. Play continues until one player has all the cards. This game is particularly good for elementary and middle school clients. Cards are black and white.Â
Z sound. Tic tac Toe
Materials: Photocopiable – “Tic Tac Toe” (one to two copies per pair) Pens – one per student •
1. Give each pair of students one or more copies of “Tic Tac Toe”.
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2. Rather than using traditional Tic Tac Toe markers, X and O, one student is assigned the S sound the Z sound.
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3. The first student should choose a square and write a word containing their sound. For example, if the S sound is being used, the student could write “his"
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4. Once the first student has written their word, the second student should choose a square and write a word containing their long sound. For example, if theZ sound is being used, the student could write “Hiss”. Note: If the student writes an incorrect word on the board, the space belongs to the other student and the word cannot be changed. For example, if the student with the S sound writes the word “hiss”, they cannot change it and the student with the Z sound can use that square to get three words in a row.
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5. Students alternate turns writing words until one student has three in a row. Because there are multiple game boards on one paper, the winning student should write their name next to their winning game.
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6. When time is finished, the student with the most wins in the pair is the winner.
[ʤ]Story Reading •
Materials: • Photocopiable – “Story”
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Procedure: 1. Give each student a copy of the “Story” to read through and ask questions if there are words they do not understand. You can use the photocopiable provided here or any other story that contains an abundance of similar sounds can be used or created.
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2. Depending on the level, give students a different action for different sounds. For example you can include words with ʒ sounds and their minimal pairs. When students hear a word with the [ʤ] sound, they should clap. When students hear a word with the long [ ʧ] sound, they should stomp their feet. Words that can be included are char, jar, chump, jump.
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3. As the teacher reads the story aloud, students should perform the action assigned to the sound when they hear a word with the sound. Students could also repeat the word as they perform the action.
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4. Repeat the story with students reading along aloud, still performing the actions assigned to the sounds.
Minimal Pairs Pelmanism dʒ /j/ vs. /ʤ/ •
It is also known as “memory game”. Students spread a pack of cards face down across the table and take turns turning two cards over to find a matching pair. This game can be used for minimal pairs practice by making the cards words that vary by just a single sound, e.g. “Yay” with “J” and “Yet” and “Jet”. Students must find pairs of cards that vary by only a single sound, pronounce them differently, and explain the difference.