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Lesson 1: Phonics Review and Practice: Vowels and Consonants

The document provides guidance on phonics, pronunciation, and speaking skills for native English speakers. It discusses how native speakers unconsciously modify pronunciation to be more efficient by deleting or transforming consonant sounds in consonant clusters. Examples are given such as pronouncing "one-fifth" as "one-fth" by deleting the "f" sound. Further tips are provided on elision, minimal pairs practice, answering preference questions, using comparatives, and common speaking test topics.

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113 views7 pages

Lesson 1: Phonics Review and Practice: Vowels and Consonants

The document provides guidance on phonics, pronunciation, and speaking skills for native English speakers. It discusses how native speakers unconsciously modify pronunciation to be more efficient by deleting or transforming consonant sounds in consonant clusters. Examples are given such as pronouncing "one-fifth" as "one-fth" by deleting the "f" sound. Further tips are provided on elision, minimal pairs practice, answering preference questions, using comparatives, and common speaking test topics.

Uploaded by

yen
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lesson 1:

Phonics Review and Practice:


Vowels and consonants:
Native English speakers speak with the goals of:

efficiency (meaning they say the most they can in


the shortest amount of time); and

using flow and music in their speech.


Something that may interfere with these goals
of efficiency and music in English is the appearance of
consonant clusters.
Example
When consonants clusters appear at the end of a word in
English, they can be difficult to say, even for native English
speakers. In order to make the pronunciation of these words
with consonant clusters easier, and more efficient, native
English speakers unconsciously:
delete the middle consonant sound; or
transform a sound to use less movement of the tongue.
Example
If I were to say the fraction number as it is spelled,

one-ffth [ff] as in 1/5 of a pizza pie.


That would require me to say two consonant sounds
together, which are difficult and inefficient to say as a
group:

ffth [ff]
This requires just too much uncomfortable movement from
my tongue.
Therefore, to speak more efficiently and with more
rhythm, the native English speaker unconsciously
deletes the f[f] sound and says simply:
one-fth [f]

Listen and Repeat:


asked [skt] = ast [st] (Notice that the -ed ending
is pronounced as a [t]).

I asked him a question. (Notice how I deleted the


h in him for connected speech).

Clothes [klowz] > clodz [klowdz]


Put some clothes on.

breakfasts [brkfsts] = breakfas [brkfs]


Your breakfasts are getting cold.

gifts [gfts] > gifs [gfs]


We got so many Christmas gifts this year!

acts [kts] > acs [ks]


He acts like a fool around her. (Notice how I deleted
the h in her for connected speech).

months [mns] > monts [mnts]


Its been months since weve seen each other.

rests [rsts] > ress [rs]


I hope she rests after her exams.

Elision:
Not every syllable in a word is properly pronounced. This
gives way to an effect in pronunciation called: elision.
Elision occurs when one (or two) sounds of a syllable is
removed from a word, reducing the number of syllables (at a
word level) or blending words together (at a sentence level).
See if you can write the form of the word that is articulated
in speech in row c. The frst word interesting has been
provided as an example.
Interesting

ntrst'

Tomato
Chocolate

tmet
tmet

Vegetable
Memory
Texts
The Last Post

vedtbl'
mem'
teksts(t will
silent)
ls pst

Facts

fkts

in tres - ting

be

Practice sentences:
The most interesting part of the talk was when he spoke
about the differences between the Vietnamese and English
languages.
If theres no tomato left, were not cooking tofu.
The most exciting part of Easter, is all the chocolate eggs
you receive as gifts.
I hit him on the head with a vegetable.
After the car crash, his memory was never the same.
A series of texts were sent between those involved.

Its a tradition for the band to play the last post over a
soldiers grave.
Its often the case that facts are presented in a variety of
ways.

Minimal Pairs Practice:

sheep/ship

tin/ten

bet/bat

bet/bait

bat/bad

cat/cut

cat/cart

cart/cut

cut/curt

10

look/loop

11

cart/caught

12

caught/cot

13

caught/coat

14

caught/curt

15

coat/cot

16

coat/coot

17

darling/dialling

18

air/"A"

19

tail/toil

20

tail/tell

21

tail/tile

22

tile/toil

23

hour/are

24

rot/lot

25

pull/bull

26

heart/art

/ -

27

worse/verse

28

worse/worth

29

ass/as/ash

30

Tips from the book:


Do you prefer X or Y type questions, are usually asked with
the expectation that the students will provide the following:
State which one of the two you prefer.
Compare the two things the examiner mentions.
Give reasons and examples to explain why.
Form:
I prefer walking.
I prefer to walk.
In any questions that are asked, there should always
be three parts to the answer: You should answer the
question, expand the answer and provide an
explanation:
Using comparatives are an essential part of answering this
kind of question.
We use er for short syllable words: cheaper, larger,
faster, stronger, thinner.
We use ier for longer syllable words that end in y:
Luckier, easier, earlier, prettier.
We use more for longer syllable words that dont end in y:
More serious, more often, more expensive, more
comfortable, more slowly, more serious, more quietly
and more easily
You can use er or more with some two syllable words, these
include clever, narrow, quiet, shallow, simple.

Example: Its too noisy here, can we go somewhere more


quite/quieter

After you use a comparative, the speaker will usually use the
word than after.
Example: Its cheaper to cycle than go by train.
Going by train is more expensive than driving.
Example: Do you prefer to travel by bike or bus?
I prefer cycling to traveling by bus. Cycling is so much more
convenient than taking the bus if your not traveling to far.
Actually, its often faster to go by bike because you dont get
stuck in traffic jams! Cycling is also better for my health than
all other means of transport.
Topis: We will practice these topics in class
Do you prefer tea or coffee?
Do you prefer cooking your own food or eating out?
Do you prefer reading the news in a news paper, or
watching it on the t.v

Speaking test:
We will then carry out

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