THE PRONUNCIATION MINI UNIT 2025

1
Pronunciation
A. Introduction
1. Read the following poem out loud to your neighbour – which pronunciations are unclear?
Hints on pronunciation for foreigners – by T.S.W.

I take it you already know
11
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead; it’s said like bed, not bead;
For goodness sake, don’t call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt)
A moth is not a moth in mother
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there.
And dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there’s dose and close and lose –
Just look them up – and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword.
And to and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start.
A dreadful language? Why, man alive,
I’d learned to talk it when I was five,
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn’t learned it at fifty-five!
2
2. Find the odd one out in the following lists:
corpse – horse – worse – stores wind – mind – mankind – unwind
break – steak – streak – make wallet – chalet – ballet – okay
speak – beak – leek – heard mould – should – would – could
Suzy – dizzy – busy – Lizzy aisles – reviles – exiles – similes
war – far – more – your tear – prayer – hair – lawyer
3
B. The international phonetic alphabet (IPA)
Causes and consequences of the spelling/pronunciation gap
As everyone who has ever had to look up vocabulary for an English speaking exercise or presentation knows,
English pronunciation can be tricky. Often, the written version of a word barely resembles the pronunciation
of said word – as you probably still remember from the poem!
At its core, language consists of sounds. As such, it is meant to be spoken. In some cases, however, it can be
very practical or appealing to write down the sounds that make up language. Because we use the Latin
alphabet and it is very difficult to find a symbol or a combination of symbols for every sound, the logic behind
spelling can be a bit opaque in even the best circumstances. In English, the difficulties are exacerbated by a
number of complications that are explained in the video clip below. Watching it will provide you with a very
solid overview of why English spelling can be so difficult and seem so illogical at times.
The IPA
An example on how to pronounce each phoneme can be found here:

https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/phonemic-chart-ia.htm
4
Exercise!
Idiomatic expressions!
/hɪt ðə neɪl ɒn ðə hɛd/
/dʒʌmp ɒn ðə ˈbændˌwæɡən/
/ðə kæts aʊt əv ðə bæɡ/
/ˈbɝnɪŋ ðə ˈmɪdˌnaɪt ɔɪl/
/ðə bɑ:l ɪz ɪn jɔ:r kɔ:rt/
/kɔ:t bɪˈtwi:n ə rɒk ænd ə hɑrd pleɪs/
/ˈɡɛtɪŋ ə teɪst əv jɔ:r oʊn ˈmɛdəsən/
/nɒt ðə ˈʃɑrpəst tu:l ɪn ðə ʃɛd/
/ðəˈɜ:li bɜ:d ˈkætʃɪz ðə wɜ:m/
/kʌt tu: ðə tʃeɪs/
5
4. Conclusion
A very justified question at this point would be: “Alright, so how does this help me during my ILT preparation?”
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english
Being able to properly pronounce words you were not familiar with before looking them up, will make your
English sound much more authentic and pleasant to listen to. A clear advantage when it comes to speaking
exercises or public speaking of any kind!
6
Speaking Assignment: This Year’s Theme
Introduction
New Year's Eve has always been a time of reflection and recalibration. People think about the year
that has passed and they look forward to the future. For this speaking assignment, you will be
doing the same. You have already looked at the most commonly made New Year’s resolutions and
decided on your personal theme for this year.
Instructions
1. You have written a well-structured short, short text about “your theme” for the coming year.
This text should be between 125-175 words.
2. After you have written your text, you will record yourself reciting it out loud and upload this
audio/video clip to SmartSchool.
Evaluation
Pronunciation (Lexical)
7 Pronunciation is impeccable, clear, and easily understood; enhances overall communication.
5.3 Level expected at the end of the fifth year.
Pronunciation is (very) good, with minor pronunciation errors that do not hinder
comprehension.
3.8 Pronunciation is fair, with noticeable pronunciation errors that occasionally affect
comprehension.
2.5 1 Pronunciation is poor, with frequent errors that hinder comprehension or making it difficult to
understand the speaker.
Pronunciation (Phonemic)
3 All English phonemes are consistently pronounced correctly.
θ ð tʃ dʒ r x + vowel sounds
1.5 Problems with only one English phoneme, being:
0 Problems with several English phonemes.

Pronunciation (Vocabulary)
5 You start with 5 points.
-1 -1 point per mispronounced word

THE PRONUNCIATION MINI UNIT 2025

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

THE PRONUNCIATION MINI UNIT 2025

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

THE PRONUNCIATION MINI UNIT 2025

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

1

Hints on pronunciation for foreigners – by T.S.W.

Of tough and bough and cough and dough?

Others may stumble, but not you

On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through.

Well done! And now you wish, perhaps

To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word

That looks like beard and sounds like bird.

And dead; it’s said like bed, not bead;

For goodness sake, don’t call it deed!

Watch out for meat and great and threat,

(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt)

A moth is not a moth in mother

Nor both in bother, broth in brother.

And here is not a match for there.

And dear and fear for bear and pear.

And then there’s dose and close and lose –

Just look them up – and goose and choose.

And cork and work and card and ward,

And font and front and word and sword.

And to and go, then thwart and cart.

Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start.

A dreadful language? Why, man alive,

I’d learned to talk it when I was five,

And yet to write it, the more I tried,

I hadn’t learned it at fifty-five!

break – steak – streak – make wallet – chalet – ballet – okay

speak – beak – leek – heard mould – should – would – could

Suzy – dizzy – busy – Lizzy aisles – reviles – exiles – similes

war – far – more – your tear – prayer – hair – lawyer

An example on how to pronounce each phoneme can be found here:

/hɪt ðə neɪl ɒn ðə hɛd/

/ðə kæts aʊt əv ðə bæɡ/

/ˈbɝnɪŋ ðə ˈmɪdˌnaɪt ɔɪl/

/ðə bɑ:l ɪz ɪn jɔ:r kɔ:rt/

/kɔ:t bɪˈtwi:n ə rɒk ænd ə hɑrd pleɪs/

/ˈɡɛtɪŋ ə teɪst əv jɔ:r oʊn ˈmɛdəsən/

/nɒt ðə ˈʃɑrpəst tu:l ɪn ðə ʃɛd/

/ðəˈɜ:li bɜ:d ˈkætʃɪz ðə wɜ:m/

/kʌt tu: ðə tʃeɪs/

0 Problems with several English phonemes.

-1 -1 point per mispronounced word

You might also like