English Pronunciation/Listening

Unit One: TH, as in THINK, BATHROOM, and TEETH.

Watch this QuickTime movie on the word 'Thought' to see how to correctly make the 'TH' sound (894k).
Minimal Pairs (178k) In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, TH is being compared to other similar sounds. Listen and compare.
Try this Dictation to practice the differences between TH and other sounds.
Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3 audio , as well as the PDF version.
Here's a video of Brian explaining the differences between the voiceless and voiced TH. (7.8mb)
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).
Practice these tongue twisters to improve your TH (microphone required).

Unit Two: TH, as in THOSE, MOTHER and SOOTHE.

Watch this QuickTime movie on the word 'Thy' to see how to correctly make the 'TH' sound (725k).
Minimal Pairs (219k) In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, TH is being compared to other similar sounds. Listen and compare.
Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.
Try this Dictation to practice the differences between TH and other sounds.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).
Practice these 5 tongue twisters to improve your TH (microphone required).

Unit Three: L and R, as in COLLECT, CORRECT, LAMB, and RAM.

Minimal Pairs (228k) In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, l and r are being compared to each other. Listen and compare.
Try this Dictation to practice the differences between L and R.
Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).
Practice these 10 tongue twisters to improve your TH (microphone required).

Unit FOUR :i and I, as in SEEN and SIN.

Minimal Pairs (228k) In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, i and I are being compared to each other. Listen and compare. .
Try this Dictation to practice the differences between i and I.
Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).

Unit FIVE: s, sh, and ch.

Minimal Pairs In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, S, CH, and SH are being compared to each other. Listen and compare.
Try this Dictation to practice the differences between i and I.
Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).

Unit SIX: V and W, as in Vine and Wine

Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.
Minimal Pairs (114k) In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words that are the same except for one sound. In this case, V and W are being compared to each other. Listen and compare.
Try this Dictation to practice the differences between v and w. (42k)
Are you having trouble saying WOOL, WOOD, and WOLVES? Watch this video.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).

z-dz Unit SEVEN

Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.
Here's a video of Brian explaining how to make the sound that you can find in words like Zsa-Zsa and OCCASION.
Minimal pair exercise for words like LEGION and REGION.
Try this dictation to distinguish the two sounds.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).

UNIT EIGHT: E and A, as in BET and BAT

Minimal Pairs In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words such as BET and BAT.
Try this Dictation to practice the differences between the two sounds.
Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).

UNIT NINE

Minimal Pairs In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words which either contain the schwa or not.
Try this Dictation to practice your listening and spelling.
Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).

UNIT TEN

Minimal Pairs In this exercise, you will hear pairs of words such as ROAR and ROWER.
Try this Dictation to practice your listening and spelling.
Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).

UNIT ELEVEN

Minimal Pairs (114k) In this exercise, you will listen and compare the sounds P and F.
Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3, as well as the PDF version.
Try this Dictation to practice the differences between P and F.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).

UNIT TWELVE

Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3 audio , as well as the PDF version.
Minimal Pairs (114k) In this exercise, you will listen and compare the differences in the words bought, bat, but, bet.
Try this Dictation to practice your listening and spelling.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).

UNIT THIRTEEN

Here is the complete lesson from our workbook in MP3 audio , as well as the PDF version.
Minimal Pairs (114k) In this exercise, you will listen and compare the difference in sounds like in whether and weather.
Listen, practice, and record your voice to have a conversation with a native speaker (microphone required).
Try this Dictation to practice your listening and spelling.

Here's a poem being read to illustrate the crazy spelling of English and how it relates to the pronunciation. It's read in a standard Canadian-English accent.

Other ESL Pronunciation Pages on the World Wide Web:

Pronunciation Power, a CD-ROM for ESL pronunciation students
For Pronunciation teachers, try the TESOL Speech and Pronunciation Interest Section.
For more online phonetics, try the University of Iowa's excellent website.

Comments and Suggestions to Brian Rhodes