Fun With Sounds - Learning English 1 by Liberal Party

FT]NWITHSOT]NDS by Nirmali Hettiarachchi BA,F|CL (Speechand Drama) U|CL(SpokenEnglish)

and

Raiiva Wiiesinha MA!DphI (oxoN ) with

William Richardse.\ Advanced DiplomdLin Voice Studies (Central School of Speechand Drama,London)

Illustrated by

Bandula Peiris

Published by McCallurn Books for the gngltsh Association of Sri l^anlâ&#x201A;Ź Junior Readers Project

EnglishAssociationof Sri Ianka Junior Readersproiect 1gg1

ChiefEditor: Nirmdi Hettiarachchi EditorialAssistant: Mafathi Thalgodapitiya GraphicsDesign: Mrinali Thalgodapitiya EditorialBoard: Nihal Cooray Nirmali Hettiarachchi Rajiva Wijesinha

-rsBN955913602x Funwith Soundsis at thefirstlevelof the kaming English projectortni nnlgtistr seriesprepared by theJuniorReaders . Association of SriIanka,with theassistance of a gant fro"mthe Canadian Intemational Development Agincy.

GENERAL PREFACE The first three Readersjn the Learnjng[ngljsh Serjes haveproved very successful. Following on thjs, the tngl ish Assocjatjonhas beenable, with financial ass'istance from the Canadian International produce Development Agency,to several more readersin the serjes and makethem widely avajlable at reaclilyaffordableprices. The LearnjngEnglishSerjes has beendes'igned especially for Lanl<an pi students with words and ctures that arc f amil 'iar to them. The j al I y rneantas guj del'ines for l_ankan notes are al so ' â&#x201A;ŹSpec teachers js and learners of Inglish. This is becauselearning marleeasrer when confidenceis built up ancl th'is is best cleveloperl t.hrougn materjal that 'is not strange on totally aljen to ilre learner's culture. Accordingly, the greater numberof books a student j s given the opportunityof readj ng the less al jenatedhe 0r she r,,ri II feel , For thi s reason b/e hope al l stucientsr.'ri l l nave accessto a number of booksat eachlevel. 1l/orkbooks j gned. l\t each I evel for each I evel are aI so being cJes the correspondi ng workbookshould be userlas soonas studentsliave becomefam'iliar with someof the material. Studentsr,rill also benefi t f rom Oo'ingthrough the exerc'isesand uords ancjsenT,e nces for pract'ice that appear i n almost every book. Great f un can be had by constnucfingother exercj ses, questions and gafiteshaseci on or similar to those in the book. Aboveall, the Readersare meantto be used in as manywaysas rvill cjevelorlfarijljarity l+jth and confidencein the abil'ity to hancletheir contents. As pl annedat the outset,, f i ve I evels of Reaclers have no!,/heen made ava'iI able. They are carefulI y gracledand adopt cl.ifferent approaches,It js not essentjal that stucJentsgo through all of them in orcler.Studentsat varyjngdegreesof profjciencyrnaybeg.in at the level which suits them best. 0uick studentsrvill be able to progresson to the next level after readingjust a single Reader at one level. However,as the bookshave been producedppimarjly to educate through enjoyment,lve hope that students wjI I . take pleasure'in readingthroughas manybooksas poss'ibleat eachlevel. Nirmali Hettiarachchi

Raji va ltlijesi nha

Sound( 1) A can soundlike qt There is no sound exactly like this in Tamil. However, the sound is not a difflEult one, and the words on this and the next few pagesare simple to pronounce.

Newletters a (A)

r (T)

n (N)

d (D)

Heusethe samesound(1) in

Mat

Rat Man Ran

Ram Dam l4acl

Neyletters r (R )

m (tl)

l{ore wordswith sound( 1)

At Hat MaP

Pan .

Rap Nap

Newletters p (P )

h (H)

Still morewordswith sound(1)

sap Spat Trap Tram

Sand Sat Sad Stand Dram Snap

Neyletters

Span

s (S )

Sprat

Sound e) i cansoundlike glg

Lid Sin Pit Tip

Din

Tin

Dim

sir

Rid

Lir

Nil

Did

sip

Newletters

r (r)

r (L)

l,{int

Heusethe samesound(2) in

Pitt SiII Dil1 skill StiII Spill Ti lt

Titt

sti lt

KiII

Ki lt

Mitk

Irt Miss

M iII

s it k Kiss Lips Kid

Newletters

Kit

k (K )

Kin Mist

6 j"-n

Sound( 3) g can soundlike

o/*

Pen Net l4et Let Den Ken

Pet Men Set Led Red

Pep

Newletters e (E )

Uile use the samesoundin

MeIt Belt Sent

Newletters

Tent

b (B )

Send Mess Best Rest Dress

Dent Rent

Nest Tett Sett Mend Less Tesi Ten

Lent' Rend Press Tress Lest Pest 8

Sound( 4) E can also makea clifferent sound. It is a very basic sound in sinhala and Tamil. In sinhala or Tamil it has no separate letter becauseit is the soundusedulhenwe pronounceletter:s Iike a/, by themselvesat the end of words. Thus the word'the'is soundedlike .q/5 . Note that the sound of this Tamil letter is not alwaysthe sameas !! as used here, but the difference is not very important.lper'sounds /

f lKe e/ u. ( T he I i n w o r d s e n d i n g jn not pronounced. )

Both E sounds are used in the fol I owing worcts . The f i rst t sound is sound (3). The secondt sound is sound(4).

Rested Tested Helper Dresses Dented

Renter Tresses

Rentecl

Tether

Pelted

Better

Mender

Setter

Belted Melted

Sender

Setter

The samesound(q can also be formedwith an A. This can be heardmostclearl!' in the ulord'a' So both different A soundscan be heard in th e fo llo win g words. a

So both rlifferent A sounds can be heard in th e fo llo wing vlords. Sound(4) comesfirst, and then so u n d ( 1 ) , e xcept whereindicatedotherwise.

A can

[al+4t ta m a P a n

A nap Madam r4 A bat A pad A cad

Aclam l4

Mammal r+

Newletters c (C)

A dam A lamp A cramp

A A A A A

tap rnap rat cat stamp

A cfab

Sentences

practice

Eggs

men

catarnafan.

Moresentencesfor practice

Thepig restedin the tent,

Miss in her dresssits at her desk. The rats and a cat dig a big pit. The fat bat naps.

/Y55

Sound(5) ooo/a

Nine

I usually soundsdifferent when there is an E at the enclof a vord. That E is not sounded.

Ti Ie l'lile Pi1e Mine Dine Ride Slde

NiIe RiIe Ticle Mime Dime Ripe Bide

Pl ke

Line Lime Like

tt{euse the samesoundin the words here. The C sound here is clifferent and is soundedlike an S. This almost always happenswhen it is used between two vowels. The letters t.le knowalready that makevowel soundsare a, e and i. Theother letters for vowelsare o andu.

-a

Rice

Tri ce

Dice

Mice Nice Ice

Splice Sl ice

Spice

Price

Morewordswith sound(5)

Sl icle Slime Pride

Tri te Tri pe Prime Bride

14 r,.ii*i.,,

Lice

Stri pe Bri be Gripe

Sound(5) 8/ot Theletter A has anotherdifferent sound. This soundis usedoften in wordsthat endwith an E. ThatE is also not sounded.

APe

Hate Date ;;

Tale

,l f,.

Male Lake Bake

Cake

Pate

Newletters

Cave Rate

v (V )

Rave Sate Save Mate Pave

Same [ ame Late Name Game M ad e Make Take

Mane Gave Cane Grave Lane Gate Tame Gape Lame Gale Rake Sake 15

Here too the A betweenA and E is usually soft like an

I t

{ I

t I

Lace llace Space i

Ace

t I

{

Trace Grace

Race Ptace

A ls often used together vlth K. The soundck makesls Just like ! by ltself. Thls does not happenafter long soundslike (5) a nd (6 ) but only after short soundsllke (1) and( 2 ).

Brick

Peck Crack Pack Sick

Sack Stick Back

Plck Deck

Sentencesfor practlce

The ice melts in the milk.

Adamacts as a fat baker and sells cake,

Themiceand the hen sit in the samecage as thepig

The ant drank lnk and sank.

Moresentencesfor Practice

\ t

Thestripedtiger hides in the cave. The madape ran in the sack race'

The sameape bit the snake. Nine big rats bite the rattan mat.

Sound(7 ) This soundis madewith the letter O . There is no sound like this in Sinhala or Tamil. So it needsto be practised a lot.

Newletters o (0)

Con Don cop l,lop Pop

Top

Dog

Dot

Cod

Nocl

sop

Cot

Porl

Rot

Rod

Sot

Log 20

Dross

}{eusethe samesound(T) in

Cross GIoss' Newletters

slop

L l

i (J)

Jog Jot Blob

Plot Blot Crop Drop Trot spot Toss Clot Slot

Stop Loss Job

slos Moss

Sound( S l o - @e e q also makesa tllfferent soundvlhenthere ls an E at t'he end of the word. ThatE is not sounded. and Tamll. This 0 soundis like the 0 soundin sinhala It is somethingin betweenthe long 0 and the short

0 as can be seen from the double letter used to describejt at the toP of thls Page. \

Home Cone Stole

Bone

Drove

Grove

Pole

Stove

Dote

Clove

Mope Lope

Tone

Cocle

SIope

Drone

Strove

Scope

Hone

Grope

Grone

Not e Lone S pok e B rok e H ot e e l-lop

The samesoundis madeevenwhenthere is no consonant between the two vowels. Consonants are the letters of the alphabetuhich are not vowels. The ones bre have learnt so far are in alphabeticalorder! g d g ! j ! I U ! p I s t v.

\ t

Toe

i i

I I I

-\ \ \

',i.\

}\ :\ !,\

* 't

Hoe

/ ,) .t I I

Roe

]

Sl oe

the letter o makesthe samesoundby Sometimes itself. These words need to be learnt. The of these words is'Nol Wealso use most conrnon this soundwhenthe o is followeclby -l-d.

0rd totd Totd Hotd Sotd

Bolcl Gold

In the sametray sound(5) is usedwhenI and E are together without....a consonantin between. Die Pie Vie

When c and h come together they usually makethe sound O Thereis no separateletter in TamiI for this sound.The consonant sound

T ie

ls heardin the letter &' chat c hit chap c hip

As with oi i too can makeits long sound by itself. This is most clear in the yord'I'and also cofrps in wordsin which_l_is followed by ld or nd.

Chimp

Check Mitd

third i

Chime

Mind

chop

Blnd

Chest

Grind

Chln 24

C hic k en

II i

Sound(9 ) U can soundI i ke g /et

Net,lletters u (U)

tup Bu n Bu t Cut Hut Gum

Gut Hub

Pun

Rub

Sum

Cud

Cub

Rum

Pup

Jut

Bu9

Bum

Bud

Rut

Nut

Dud

Rusk

l{e use the samesound( 9) jn

Crust Trust Grunt Drug Plus Plum BIunt

Drum

Pump Dusk Husk Dul1

Lust

Ju m p M ust

Grub

Dust Thrust

stump Plump Lump Rump Runt

HUII

slug P IU g

Thesamesound(9 ) cansometimes be madewith an q. Sometimes whenthe consonant th'is happens afterit is followed by an g w h i c h is n ot sounded,or whenthere is an er ending (s ound( 4 ) ) .

Ton Love Dove Lover

Iover Done I ome

Glover

That samesound(9) can also be madewith an A. This is most often seenin wordsand namestaken from SinhalaandTam il.

Appa

l'lala Saman Rama Mama

for practlce Sentences

The spgtted dog hops over the pots.

Theold molerolled in the hole'

Th epup jump so n th e b u g o n th e r u g .

get on the bus. Annaand Saman

Moresentencesfor practlce

Akkaand Malti Pick uP the rocks on the sand.

In the duskthe plumpcub grunts.

The mic e f ind nicerice

th e s a c k .

The cock cracked the egg and the hen crled.

30 :-

NOTEFORTEACHERS tnglish pronunciatjonjs notorjously complicated.Gjven the very varierj soundsmadeby most letters, â&#x201A;ŹSDeciaily vowels,it becomes particurarry difficurt for students whosemothertongueis sinhara 0r Tamj l, where letters .in general make only a sjngle sound. Thls book i s i ntendedto assist such students by i ndic ating sirnjlarjtjes where they exjst, and encouraging practice F through famiI iarity. The book begjns rv'ith 3 very basic vowel sounds whjch represent the most common usages of the first 3 tnglish vowels.After that the neutral vor,lel,whjch has no specifjc jvalent jn equ Sinhala or Tamjl thoughjt js often userJjn those languages, .introduced, js The fact that it is formed jn [ngljsh by vowels that are used t0 niakeother soundstoo makesjt especjally djffjcult. Hoh/ever, 'it i s necessary get to to [<now the neutrar vowel early because the two articles 'ra't and " the" are nracle ruith jt.0nce these are knownit'is p'ssibre to introclucestudents to compretesentences constructed'in varied v1ays.The'ir confidence r^l.ir r be buirt up as the'ir abir i ty to procucethese grovJs throughpractice. Thesesjnple sentencesare follolerl by the two long soundsof the Volversrrj " (as in nine) and ,,a" (as in make)both of urhich have equivarentsin sinhara and Tamir, these the range of sentencesthat can he formeciincreasesconsiderably, 'oith and at this stage a great deal r:f practice shouldhreencouraged, throughusage of as ftanyas possi[rleof the r,lordsthat have beenlearnt earlier,

Theseexercjses are fol loueclby ,lords made r^ljth the vowel ,0,, (as in top) Tltis is particularly diff icult for our studentss.ince ' no eQuivarentat ail exists in sinhara or in Tamir. riepetition at thi s stage 'is therefore essent'ial . si nce i t i s importantto Cist'ingu'i shbetr,leen this souncl and the longer rro,,soundas jn bone (as l <novrledge of the dist'inct"ionmay help.in makingeach of the sounds ) that I onger sound i s i ntrocrucecl imniedi ately afterwards.Uothsoundsshouldbe practjsedtogether. Finailv the f irst soundin the sinhara and Tami r arphabet,which

is most cornmonly madein English with the letter 'u' as in cup, is introduced.The fact that it can also be madewith ror, 0r ,,a,, is noted, after which a great manysentencesfor practjce are presented,usjng a varjety of the njne vottlelsounds that have beenpresented. The book uses a total 0f.15 consonants,introducedat intervals. Eachof themin the wordsusedhere representsonly a single sound, except in the case of ''c" wherethe soft soundbetweentwo vowels is introduced,as in race, and also its 'silent' use with the letter 'k" as in sack. Combinations of consonants are otherwise used only whenevery consonantis pronounced as it usually is whenby itself. A word of explanatjonjs perhapsrequjred too as to the manner in which individual letters are'introduced and used, inasmuch as in Englishthere is the complicated factor of s'impleand capital letters whichwe do not find in Sinhalaor Tamil. rdhen a nerlrletter is jntroducedon a page, it appearsat the bottom of the page as a specifjcally denotednetc/ letter. Thesimpleform of the letter is given, followed by the capital form in brackets.0n the same principle, it is the simple form of a vovrelthat appearsin the text' whenit 'is int roducedfor the f irst time together vrith a soundit makes. Whenletters are referred to subsequenily,the capjtal form .is used if attentjon js being drawnto a letter in jtself, whjle the simple fo[m appearswhenthe important factor to be learnr, is the soundmadeby a combjnatjonof letters. All vrordsthat appearon their own havetheir first letters in capitals, in the style adoptedthroughoutthis series in order further to encourage familiarity from the begjnning wjth capjtal letters too. In sentenceswherean awareness of rvhatis usual shouldbe introduced from the start, on'lv those words f or which thi s -is normal , includingthe first wordof the sentence,are capitalized. hlith regard to pronunciatjon,the generalisatjonsmadejn thjs book maybe criticized in that they are basedmost emphatically on Lankanpronuniiationof English, and jgnore subile varjatjons such as wereat an earljer time thoughtto be an essentjal aspect

of standard Engli Sh. I t i s our bel'ief however,dS the ready clevel opmentsi n Engl'ish usageal l over the world i ndicate ( si nce elsewherethe extremesensit'ivity and shynessthat we sadly seem to encouragehere do not exist ) , that such subtleti es are j rrelevant j n comparj son with the task of making Engli sh pronunciation easier to understand. By simpl'ification here therefore \,/e hope to encourageconstant uninhibited practice that will in time breedconfidence.

[ach page has oneor turovery basic i l l ustrations that wil l helP students to understandthe wordsthat are depicted. In addition each page conta'insa felv more words, enclosedi n a box, vlhich ir{ostpageshavelists studentsshouldalso be able to understancl' of words outside these boxes too. Theseare jncluded only for that studentsshoulcl pronunc jatjonpractice anrlit is not necessary d, hOvlever,help ngS Of al I theSe wOrdS.I t tltoUl knOvlthe meAni themto progress1f they got to knowsomeof these wordsas lvelI and useclthem'in sentences. i s to encouragepractice The prinrary aim of thi s book hor,rever in pronunciationrather than knolleclgeof uords. The sentences for practice too are accorc!ingly constructed nainly uith pronunc'iat'ion i n niind and thus they rilay not be such as are houlever shouldattract interest of wh'imsy orcl'inarilyused. Touches and makeregular practice moreenjoyable.ThuslJe hopethat what will is often considereda problem,nailrelytnglish prOnunciation, be seenrather as fun. t.t rJ il.

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