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Vowels

All vowels are voiced, but they are voiced differently depending on the letters that surround them. The vowel /a/ is pronounced differently in "cat," "bake," "call," and "car," for example, depending on where you learned English in the United States.

The quick and simple way to play with vowel sounds is to teach students to hear the differences between the long and short sounds of each letter, and then to teach them to hear the difference between one vowel and another. It helps to know what difficulties each nationality is likely to have. For example, Spanish speakers have great difficulty hearing and pronouncing the difference between "cat" and "cut," or "bit" and "beet." You'll have to spend more time on those drills if you have Spanish or Portuguese speakers.

Very Simple Minimal Pairs Chart

For practice and fun, cover the right-hand column and guess the minimal pair for the sound. Then switch and see if you can do it the other way.

MINIMAL CHART OF MINIMAL PAIRS

The sounds of /m/ and /n/ are very nasal. Stop up your nose and try to say them.

The sound of /l/ has you touching the tip of the tongue somewhere behind your teeth. The sound of /r/ has you touching the sides of your tongue to the inside face of your molars, assuming you have them and they won't come out if you say /r/ for very long. We don't want accidents with our students or our teachers.

As with vowel sounds, different nationalities have difficulty with particular sounds. For example, Spanish speakers have great difficult hearing and pronouncing the difference in "very" and "berry," or "ship" and "chip," depending on where they learned Spanish.