How to Improve Your English Pronunciation to Talk Like a Native “What?” “Can you say that again?” How many times do you hear this when you’re speaking? Learning to pronounce English words correctly can be one of the hardest parts of learning English. The English language has some sounds that your native language might not, so you will have to learn how to make completely new sounds. Plus, English vowels make it really tricky to know how to say a word. Ah! So that’s why we have eight tips for you, to help you pronounce English words better. 1. Before you learn how to speak, you’ll need to learn how to listen. There are many guides to get you started in learning to listen. The pronunciation practice at Many Things is really slick, especially its huge selection of lessons on minimal pairs. When you want to listen to authentic English instead of pronunciation exercises, you can watch videos on FluentU. Every word comes with an in-context definition, image, audio and example sentences, so you have enough support to make native English accessible to you. 2.
Home - PronounceItRight 33 ways to speak better English If you’re reading this, I imagine you want to speak better English and communicate in a more confident and competent way. When we communicate effectively we are able to express our ideas and opinions, share experiences, and build relationships with others. When we struggle to express ourselves, we feel unvalued and insecure. In the modern world, we communicate across borders. By speaking better English, people all over the world can hear our voice. Well, English teachers and English classes definitely help. What you need is to become a self-directed learner, somebody who takes responsibility for their own learning and creates their own learning programme to develop their English. Now, it’s certainly true that speaking is a social activity and is best done with other people. You can do the same with your English. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. I want to go for a drink tonight. How do native speakers pronounce to / for / a in the sentence? I wanna go ferra drink tenigh. 8. 9. 10. to be honest 11. 12.
BusyTeacher.org Mobile If you are looking for a way to shake things up a bit in pronunciation class, try one of these simple games that focus on accurate pronunciation and listening closely. 8 Fun Games for Teaching English Pronunciation 1Odd Word OutHow well do your students listen for accurate pronunciation? Try this game and find out. While pronunciation is often technical, it can be fun, too. What are your favorite games for pronunciation class? Like it? Want more tips like this?
IDEA International Dialects of English Archive | free dialect and accent recordings for the performing arts SECRET STORIES® :: Phonics SECRETS™ have a huge crush on each other, and whenever they have to stand ‘side-by-side’ in a word, they get so embarrassed, they always look down and say- “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…” Examples: August, awful, awesome, autumn These letters are very “prim and proper” little girls who are deathly afraid of mice! If they ever see one, they will jump up-high, in complete disgust, screaming — “eeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!” and that’s the sound they make! Examples: few, chew, neutral, neuron They LOVE to go driving in cars, but they are terrible, awful, horrible, ‘no-good’ drivers- so they always have to slam on the brakes! Examples: bird, turn, corner These two letters should never be together- EVER! And whenever they are together in a word, They always do exactly the same thing-They ‘stick their tongues out at each other’ and say- “Thhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Examples: this, that, those, them, they Whenever three friends play together,one always seems to get ‘left-out.’ That’s why, when ‘o, u & s’ get together…
12 songs to practice the pronunciation of -ED endings - Luiz Otávio Barros As you know, the “-ed” endings of regular past tense verbs can be pronounced in three different ways: /t/, /d/ and /ɪd/, which is the one most students tend to overuse. Click here for an overview of the rules. Over the years, I have found that /t/ and /d/ are easier to notice and to produce if the verb comes immediately before a word beginning with a vowel sound: liked it – /laɪktɪt/dreamed of – /driːmdəv/ To help students get their tongues around the two sounds, I usually ask them to move /t/ and /d/ to the front of the vowel sound. liked it – /laɪk tɪt/dreamed of – /driːm dəv/ Out of all the ideas and techniques I’ve used in class, this has probably been the most effective. So I decided to put together a 7-minute video containing 12 song excerpts you can use to help your students notice how /t/ and /d/ are linked to the vowel sounds that follow. You will notice that the activities do not test whether students can choose between /t/ and /d/. Thanks for reading – and watching.
BBC Learning English | Pronunciation Tips 18 English words that mean very different things in Britain and America As the old adage famously goes: you say tom-MAY-toes, and I say tom-MAH-toes. We should probably call the whole thing off, right? Ever since the might of the British Empire was expelled from the United States, ordinary folk from both sides of the pond have chuckled at each other's use of the English language and pronunciation. Here are several important examples you need to remember - simply to make sure no one gives you a weird look when you're off on your holidays. 1. UK: A woollen pullover worn in the winter US: Someone who commits suicide by leaping from a building or bridge 2. UK: An eraser for a pencil US: A condom 3. UK: Something a baby wears (noun) US: Frizzy or hairy (adjective) 4. UK: The floor above the ground floor US: The ground floor of a building UK: Flaps attached to a race horse's face to restrict its vision US: Indicators on a car 6. UK: Another word for jewellery box US: Another word for coffin 7. UK: Informal party wear, dressing up as a well-known character 8. 9. US: An old man
ESL Pronunciation Exercises Online ESL Pronunciation Exercises Online Practice English pronunciation through IPA phonetics. We offer free ESL Pronunciation Quizzes, Video Lessons. Intonation Exercises.Hit Back to Return Pronunciation TV - IPA Video Lessons Teach Kids to Read with Phonics - Materials for Teaching Phonics Vowel Sounds Self-Grading Pronunciation Exercises Phonetic Sounds Video Lessons - IPA Homonyms Self-Test Exercise Homonyms Interactive Crossword puzzle - Ex. Phonetic Teaching : Printable Worksheets Phonetic Videos , Mp3, Intonation & Ebooks Other Phonetics Materials Kids& Beginner Course Lessons - Lessons by courses Course 1 Lessons Unit intro – Alphabet & Phonics Resources. Aim: Teach letters of the alphabet Unit 1 – Greetings - Hello Aim: Teach basic greetings – Hello, Hi, Goodbye. Unit 2 – What’s your name? Aim: To teach kids how to say their names. Unit 3 – How old are you? Aim: Teach kids how to say their age and learn numbers 1 to 5. Unit 4 – Numbers – How many? Aim: Teach kids how to count from 1 to 10. Exercises Hide
Pronunciation skills: What accent should I teach? By Adrian Underhill ELT Pronunciation expert Adrian Underhill addresses your practical concerns on accents, RP and student identity. Practical concerns What accent should I teach? What about Received Pronunciation (RP)? So, what is the best pronunciation target for my students? This means two separate pronunciation targets: a speaking/productive one and a listening/receptive one. Should students keep their own accent? Won’t changing my students’ accents change their identity? Practical ideas for the classroom 1. 2. Invite them to notice and play with the differences between accents. Twenty one accents One woman, 17 British accents Fun tour of American accents 3. 4. 5. For more practical ideas see my blog www.adrianpronchart.wordpress.com Accents and the L1 grip The interactive phonemic chart