DELILAH- SIMPLE PAST

PLOSIVE STORY /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/

A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract.

• Use the consonant chart on the right to hear and repeat each one of these plosive consonant phonemes /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/ in isolation as many times as you need to. To help you produce the sounds correctly, place a sheet of paper in front of you, you will probably notice that the paper moves (if you do it properly) as the air streem is released in the manner of a mini-explosion. Keep trying until the paper moves, it should move more with the voiceless consonants /p/ /t/ /k/ than with the voiced equivalents /b/ /d/ /g/.
  

• You can now listen to the song The story composed by Brandi Carlile.Pay special attention to the pronunciation of plosive consonants. Once you have finished listening, you can do the matching activity just underneath the video. If you want to see the lyrics as you listen, click on this link: version with the lyrics superimposed on the video.

• Do this matching puzzle activity for more practice of -ed form.
• For more listening practice on pronunciation of -ed  regular past verbs, click here.

VIVA LA VI DA. VOWELS /iː/ /ɪ/ /ʊ/ /uː/ /e/ /ɜː/ /ɔː/ /æ/ /ʌ/ /ɑː/ /ɒ/

This post has been designed principally for Spanish speakers, but it can also be useful for other nationalities by skipping the first activity and doing the rest.

 There are 46 sounds in the English sound system, 22 of which are vowel sounds. Compare this with Spanish, which has 5 vowel sounds, none of which are equivalent to any vowel sound in English. English vowels are difficult to identify and produce in most latin based languages.

• First of all, note where the vowel chart is placed in the mouth cavity (Fig B) and then observe where each vowel is produced (Fig A) . Click on the chart on the right to hear and repeat the following vowel sounds /iː/ /ɪ/ /ʊ/ /uː/ /e/ /ɜː/ /ɔː/ /æ/ /ʌ/ /ɑː/ /ɒ/ as many times as you need to.

The British band Cold Play will help to introduce some of the most confusing vowels /iː/ /ɪ/ /ʊ/ /uː/ /e/ /ɜː/ /ɔː/ /æ/ /ʌ/ /ɑː/ /ɒ/ with their song Viva la vida.

• Listen to the song and do the matching exercise by dragging the words taken from the song on the right to the corresponding vowel sound they contain, on the left. Only one answer can be correct.

• For more practice with vowel sounds.

IF YOU WERE A SAILBOAT. CONDITIONAL SONG. Vowels and diphthongs

The song If you were a sailboat composed and interpreted by the  Georgian-British singer, songwriter and musician  Katie Melua, will help us this time to sail through vowels /ɪ/  /ɪː/  /ʌ/  /ɑː/  /ɒ/  /ɔ:/  /ʊ/  /uː/, diphthongs  /aɪ/  /eɪ/  /aʊ/ and conditional sentences.

This post has been inspired by the work of the English teacher  José Álvaro Álvaro, who participated in the course  Phonetics Through Songs and the programme PhoTransEdit, used for the transcriptions in the matching activity.

 

There are two activities. Elementary and intermediate students should only do the first one, the gap-fill activity.  Upper-intermediate and advanced students can do both activities:

• A gap-fill activity designed for elementary and intermediate students. Listen to the song and fill in the gaps using the "Clue" button, where the missing word is transcribed.  

• A matching activity directed at upper-intermediate and advanced students. Once you've listened to the song and completed the gap-fill activity, try to remember the lyrics and  match the transcribed main clauses on the left with the conditional clauses on the right.

• Listen now to the official version of he same song and an alternative version with different lyrics. Can you spot the differences?
• For practice on conditional sentences, click here. 

SING A SONG

DECEMBER /ɪ/ /iː/ /ʌ/ /əʊ/

Inspiring month for a rainy song, December by Norah Jones. The front vowels /ɪ/ /iː/and central vowel and diphthong /ʌ/ /əʊ/ mix harmonically in this almost syllabic song sung with nearly every syllable distinctly pronounced.

• Listen to the song and complete the gap fill activity using the words in the box and the clues given in the ? buttons.

• Here's a version with lyrics and a live version. Can you spot any differences between the lyrics of the two versions?

THINK OF ME /θɪŋkˈəvˌmi:/

• A long awaited post for those who asked for a song rich in the contrasting front-close vowels /i:/ and /ɪ/ and the diphthong /aɪ/. Andrew LLoyd Webber's Think of me can serve as an example.

• Listen to the song and complete the gap fill activity using the clues given in the '?' buttons.

• Here's an amateur version and a version with lyrics.
• For more practice with minimal pairs /i:/ and /ɪ/.

SING A NASAL SONG /n/ /m/ /ŋ/

Nasal consonants /n/ /m/ /ŋ/ are produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. A nasal consonant is also called nasal stop or nasal continuant.

• It is advisable to click on the phonemes /n/ /m/ /ŋ/ in the consonant chart on the right before you listen to the song. To produce /ŋ/ you obstruct the air stream through your mouth by bringing the back of your tongue into contact with the soft palate. The spellings for /ŋ/ are:
  
  • 'ng' as in sing, crying, long
  • 'nk' as in rank, thanks, think
• Paying special attention to these sounds, listen and sing along with Sing, a song composed by the Scottish band Travis

• Do the gap- fill activity as you listen again. Use the clues (the nasal consonants /n/ /m/ /ŋ/ the words contain) as you need them, but remember you will lose points. You can repeat the activity as many times as you need to. Use the scroller on the right to move up or down.

• For more activities with nasal consonants click here
• Do you like seafood? List all the food you can see in the video.

TOMATO /təˈmeɪtəʊ/ OR /təˈmɑtəʊ/ ?

He elegido estos dos videos con la misma canción interpretada por diferentes artistas para mostrar la flexibilidad del Inglés en cuanto a pronunciación. El segundo video muestra la transcripción fonética de las palabras que se prestan a esa dualidad fonética.

• 1. Listen to the song let's call the whole thing off interpreted by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire from the film SHALL WE DANCE? and notice the two different ways the following words are pronounced: either, neither, potatoe, tomatoe, pyjamas, laughter, after, vanilla, bananas and oysters

• 2. Listen to this other version of the same song interpreted by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald and check the phonetic transcriptions of the words from activity 1

THE SOUND OF FRUIT

Match the phonetic transcriptions to the fruit. Send your answers in your comment and say which fruit tastes and sounds best in your opinion.

A /ˈɒrɪndʒ/
B /ˈæpəl/
C /ˈwɔ:ʈəˌmelən/

PHONETIC ALPHABET /fəʊˈnetɪkˈælfəbɪt/

The outstanding existing differences between the English phonological system and the Spanish one, among other problems, make Spanish learners find it really difficult to pronounce properly. I'm convinced that phonetics can help overcome those difficulties as well as provide more autonomy in the learning of a language. So... let's get started!

Las notables diferencias existentes entre el sistema fonológico de la lengua inglesa y el de la lengua española , entre otros problemas, hacen que nuestros alumnos encuentren especial dificultad en pronunciar correctamente. Estoy convencida que la fonética puede ayudar a superar esas dificultades además de proporcionar más autonomía en el aprendizaje del idioma. Así que... manos a la obra!

How about starting from the beginning?

¿Qué tal si empezamos desde el principio?

Here's a link to a very simple test activity consisting of identifying some vowel phonemes in the English alphabet. The vowel chart, figure A, can help you identify where each vowel is produce in the vocal tract. Click here to start and ENJOY YOURSELF!

Aquí tenemos un enlace a una actividad en forma de test muy simple que consiste en identificar algunos fonemas vocálicos en el alfabeto inglés. El recuadro de las vocales, figure A, te puede ayudar a identificar el lugar donde se realizan cada una de las vocales . Pincha aquí para empezar y DIVIERTETE!