Set of exercises in order to improve the students pronunciation in English
Introduction
"(…)
the learner"s ear can be made more sensitive by training"
David
Jones.
The following exercises may help you to get a better
pronunciation, in addition to learning different aspects about
English as a second language, also, some tips such as: stress, rhythm
which is very important in a Foreign Language; moreover,
intonation, liaisons and thought groups. You could also have the
chance to appreciate vowel and consonant sounds and the way they
take when are transcribed. I hope you will find on this project a
very interesting instrument for you to study and practice.
Here you will get the opportunity to see the description of
each sound and the position of the mouth when it is pronounced.
Remember that if we all work together, we can win this battle
too, and with the help of your teacher you are going to learn how
to obtain an accurate utterance always thinking that we are here
to help you speak English more clearly.
This work has been done due to the necessity of our students
to strike up a conversation with a foreigner or Cuban person in
the classroom or out of it, and the hard work done for the
country on building our future generations and the real problems
with English pronunciation at school. This is all I have to say,
so the magic phrase is "listen and repeat", that is going to be
my advice.
The
author
Vowel Contrasts
In this chapter the English vowel sounds are presented for
practice, but the sounds which are confused or have been found
"difficult" for Spanish speakers have been given greater
attention.
Exercise 1
/i/
and /І/
- Listen while the teacher pronounces the following sentences
and select the correct one.
The sheep is old.
The ship is old.
The sound /i/ is a high front vowel, that is, the tongue is
high in the front of the mouth. The muscles of the tongue and
throat are tense. If the lips are drawn back the vowel sound will
be pronounced more accurately. This sound is long.
The sound /І/ is also a high front vowel, but it is
pronounced with the tongue in a slightly lower position than for
/i/. The muscles of the tongue, throat, and lips are relaxed.
This sound is short.
- Practice pronouncing the words in the column below. You may
use as many of the exercises as you think you need.
(1) Pronounce all of the words in column 1, then,
all of the words in column
2.
1
2
/i/
/І/
sheep
ship
beet
bit
leek
lick
heat
hit
(2) Pronounce pairs of words from the above
columns. Be sure that you make a difference in the vowel
sounds.
(3) Listen while the teacher pronounces a word from
either column. Tell which column each word is from by giving the
number of the column or by holding up either one or two
fingers.
(4) Pronounce a word from one of the columns and
have the teacher tell which column it is from.
(5) Pronounce a word from one of the columns and
have another student tell which column it is from.
(6) Pronounce a word from one of the columns and
ask another student to give the contrasting word in the opposite
column.
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