A Handwriting

Picture Workbook
of English Phonetics
Preparatory work for A Picture Workbook of English Spellings and Phonetics
MS-HS Multilingual Classroom

Discover proper pronunciation while learning to

Cheri Montgomery

S.T.M. Publishers
Nashville, TN
 ii
Copyright © 2023 Cheri A. Montgomery
RIGHTS GRANTED. Permission to reproduce hard copy prints of this workbook is granted
by S.T.M. Publishers.
RIGHTS RESERVED. This book, or parts thereof, may not be distributed digitally without
the written permission of the publisher. The sale of this book via the Internet or by any other
means is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
S.T.M. Publishers
P.O. Box 111485
Nashville, TN 37222
Tel: (615) 831-9859
Fax: (615) 831-7148
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.stmpublishers.com/ell
Facebook: Lyric Diction Workbook Series
Resources from S.T.M. Publishers:
ISBN 979-8-9878102-7-9 (spiral bound) A Picture Workbook of English Spellings and Student Manual
ISBN 979-8-9878102-6-2 (spiral bound) Phonetics, Level I Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 979-8-9878102-9-3 (spiral bound) A Picture Workbook of English Spellings and Student Manual
ISBN 979-8-9878102-8-6 (spiral bound) Phonetics, Level II Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 978-0-9916559-5-3 (spiral bound) Student Manual
Advanced French Lyric Diction Workbook
ISBN 978-0-9916559-6-0 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 978-1-7338631-5-5 (spiral bound) Student Manual
English Lyric Diction Workbook, 4th edition
ISBN 978-1-7338631-3-1 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 978-0-9916559-1-5 (spiral bound) Student Manual
French Lyric Diction Workbook, 4th edition
ISBN 978-0-9916559-3-9 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 978-0-9818829-6-3 (spiral bound) Student Manual
German Lyric Diction Workbook, 5th edition
ISBN 978-0-9916559-9-1 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 978-0-9818829-8-7 (spiral bound) Student Manual
Italian Lyric Diction Workbook, 3rd edition
ISBN 978-0-9818829-7-0 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 978-0-9916559-2-2 (spiral bound) Student Manual
Latin Lyric Diction Workbook
ISBN 978-0-9916559-0-8 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 978-1-7352114-4-2 (spiral bound) Student Manual
Russian Lyric Diction Workbook
ISBN 978-1-7352114-3-5 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 978-1-7352114-9-7 (spiral bound) Student Manual
Spanish Lyric Diction Workbook
ISBN 978-1-7352114-7-3 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 979-8-9878102-0-0 (spiral bound) Visual Version
Phonics, Reading, and Braille
979-8-9878102-1-7/979-8-9878102-2-4 Tactile Versions
ISBN 978-1-7352114-6-6 (spiral bound) A Sketchbook Atlas of the Vocal Tract Student/Instructor’s
ISBN 978-1-7338631-2-4 (spiral bound) IPA Handbook for Singers, 2nd edition Student/Instructor’s
ISBN 978-0-9975578-3-1 (spiral bound) Student Manual
Phonetic Readings for Lyric Diction, 3rd edition
ISBN 978-0-9894385-7-5 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 978-0-9975578-0-0 (spiral bound) Student Manual
Phonetic Transcription for Lyric Diction
ISBN 978-0-9975578-1-7 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 978-0-9975578-5-5 (spiral bound) Student Manual
Phonetic Transcription for Lyric Diction, expanded
ISBN 978-0-9975578-4-8 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
ISBN 978-1-7338631-0-0 (spiral bound) Student Manual
Singer’s Diction
ISBN 978-1-7338631-1-7 (spiral bound) Instructor’s Manual
978-1-7352114-0-4/978-1-7352114-1-1 The Singer’s Daily Practice Journal, volume I Student/Instructor’s
978-0-9975578-7-9/978-1-7352114-2-8 The Singer’s Daily Practice Journal, volume II Student/Instructor’s
978-1-7338631-6-2/978-1-7338631-7-9 The Singer’s Daily Practice Journal, volume III Student/Instructor’s
Technical Support: Verlan Kliewer
 iii

PREFACE

A Handwriting Picture Workbook of English 2. Posture and grip: Sit up straight with your feet flat
Phonetics is designed to give students practice in on the ground and your arm relaxed. Hold the pen or
writing uppercase and lowercase letters while pencil in a way that feels natural and comfortable for
introducing them to the corresponding phonetic you. Avoid gripping too tightly, as it can lead to
symbols. It is a preparatory workbook to be followed tension and fatigue.
by the series: A Picture Workbook of English
Spellings and Phonetics. 3. Start with basic strokes: Practice basic strokes and
lines to develop control and consistency. This
Level I in the series covers the sounds of English includes vertical lines, horizontal lines, diagonal
using single syllable words. Level II covers words lines, and curves. You can find handwriting practice
with diphthongs, triphthongs, and multiple syllables. sheets online or create your own by ruling lines on a
With these resources, teachers have all the lecture blank paper.
notes, activities, and homework assignments needed
to help students read, write, spell, and pronounce 4. Letter formation: Learn how to form each letter
English words and sentences. Images are used to correctly. Pay attention to the proportion, spacing,
define concepts and vocabulary making it ideal for and shape of each letter. Start with uppercase letters
the multilingual middle school through adult and then move on to lowercase letters. Practice
audience. Links to audio give independent learners writing each letter multiple times until you feel
the ability to study English without an instructor. comfortable with the formation.

The textbook/workbook format of the series gives 5. Slow and steady: Focus on writing slowly and
teachers the ability to offer a concise approach to deliberately at first. This allows you to pay attention
proper penmanship, pronunciation, and spelling. to the details of each letter and helps in developing
Supplemental material is easily accessible via QR muscle memory. As you gain more confidence, you
codes that lead to spoken examples of each word and can gradually increase your speed.
sound. Additional free resources are available on the
ELL page at www.stmpublishers.com/ell. 6. Consistency and rhythm: Aim for consistency in
your letter size, slant, and spacing. Consistent
The resources needed to establish rules and create letterforms make your handwriting more readable.
exercises originated from research developed for the Practice maintaining a steady rhythm as you write,
publication of the Lyric Diction Workbook Series and which can improve the flow and legibility of your
the IPA Scramble game app by Cheri Montgomery. writing.
Computer search functions and her database of more
than 87,000 English words were used to organize the 7. Writing words: Once you are comfortable with
spellings of the English language. Words from the individual letters, practice writing words. Pay
database were arranged in order of frequency of attention to the distance between the letters and work
occurrence. The words were placed in a graded order to distribute space evenly. Space is doubled between
and categorized according to the sounds of the words.
English language as defined by the International
Phonetic Alphabet. 8. Practice regularly: Like any skill, handwriting
improves with practice. Set aside dedicated time for
The following tips are provided to help teachers handwriting practice each day. Consistency is key to
model optimal practice habits for their students: seeing progress.

1. Choose the right tools: Start with a pencil that feels 9. Copying and tracing: The pages in this book are
comfortable in your hand. Experiment with different printable. Print as many pages as needed to master
types of writing instruments to find one that suits you the skill. An additional phonetic symbol worksheet is
best. available at www.stmpublishers.com/ell.
 iv

Handwriting is a personal expression: Focus on With the printable worksheets, students improve
developing your own unique style that feels handwriting while forming associations between
comfortable and reflects your personality. With time, phonetic symbols and corresponding English letters.
patience, and practice, handwriting can improve With the series, students discover proper
significantly. pronunciation while learning the spellings of English
– numerous lists of sight words are not necessary.
INTRODUCTION TO PHONETIC SYMBOLS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was
created by phoneticians for language study. Each Cheri Montgomery is an author and lecturer on the
symbol stands for one unit of sound. Brackets topics of voice and diction. She teaches English,
enclose the symbols and distinguish phonetic content Italian, German, French, Latin, Spanish, and Russian
from the spellings of words. Studying phonetic lyric diction at the Blair School of Music at
transcription is an efficient way to learn a language. Vanderbilt University. Her series of workbooks with
book reviews and published articles are available at
www.stmpublishers.com
BIBLIOGRAPHY

IPA Type it. www.ipatypeit.org. Accessed 3 May 2023.

Marshall, Madeleine. The Singer’s Manual of English Diction. G. Schirmer, Inc., New York 1953.

Ross, WM. T. Voice Culture and Elocution. The Baker & Taylor Co., New York 1890.

The Noun Project. www.thenounproject.com. Accessed 3 May 2023.