Unit 1A: English Sounds

English Pronunciation
English Sounds

English Pronunciation

Why Learn Pronunciation?

1. It helps you to become aware of the
differences in sounds between English and
your mother tongue.

2. There is a great difference between
pronunciation and spelling in English.

3. Good pronunciation will improve your
listening ability and confidence in speaking.

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English Pronunciation

Why Learn Pronunciation?

4. Poor pronunciation of speakers makes it
hard for listeners.

5. If pronunciation isn’t taught, you won’t
get any help with improving it.

6. It’s one of the 21 indicators required by the
Basic Education Core Curriculum A.D. 2008

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English versus Thai

English Thai

1. Stress 1. No stress

2. Intonation 2. Intonation

3. Sound “S” appearing 3. Sound “S” not

in English appearing in Thai

4. Final sound 4. No final sound

5. Verb change 5. Verb NOT change

(according to Tense (according to Tense

& 3rd person singular) & 3rd person singular)

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Warm up Activity

Listen to the clip
and discuss what happened.

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Answer the Questions!

Clip 1

1. How many speakers are there in this
conversation? Who are they?

2. What happened in the story?
3. Do you think what caused the problems?

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English Sounds

English Alphabets

How many alphabets are there in
English?

- 26

How many kinds are there?

-2

What are they?

Vowels - a, e, i, o, u

Consonants - b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m,
n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z

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English Sounds

How many sounds are there in
English?

- 44

How many kinds are there?

-2

What are they?

- 20 Vowel Sounds
- 24 Consonant Sounds

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Vowel Sounds

International Phonetic Alphabets (IPA)

• 12 Single Vowels

/I/ /i:/ /æ/ /ɑ:/ /ɒ/ /ɔ:/
/ʊ/ /u:/ /Ə/ /з:/ /e/ /⋀/

• 8 Diphthongs LOGO

/eI/ /Əʊ/ /аI/ /aʊ/
/ɔI/ /IƏ/ /eƏ/ /ʊƏ/

Single Vowels

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Diphthongs

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Single Vowel or Diphthong?

go /Əʊ/ pen /e/
hair /eƏ/ care /eƏ/
spend /e/ loud /aʊ/
sad paper /eI/ /Ə/
snack /æ/ zebra /e//Ə/
snake Laos
Spain /æ/ mum /aʊ/
fine /eI/ late
/eI/ /⋀/

/аI/ /eI/

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Consonant Sounds

15 Voiced Sounds 9 Voiceless Sounds

/b/ /d/ /g/ /p/ /t/
/v/ /z/ /r/ /k/ /f / /s/
/l/ /ð/ /Ʒ/ /θ/ /ʃ/
/ʤ/ /m/ /n/ /tʃ/ /h/
/ŋ/ /j/ /w/

/ð/ = than /θ/= thank /Ʒ / = visual /ŋ/ = sing
/j/ = yawn /ʤ/ = jazz /ʃ/ = show /tʃ/ = chLeOsGsO

Consonant Sounds

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Consonant Sounds

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Consonant Sounds

15 Voiced Sounds 9 Voiceless Sounds

robbed /bd/ laughed /ft/
played /jd/ stopped /pt/
closed /zd/ walked /kt/
studied /jd/ washed /ʃt/

wanted /tId/ needed /dId/ decided /dId/

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Practice

Phonetics Game

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Let’s play KAHOOT about Phonetics

Make a group of 7 and select three of you;
1. a group leader (to lead the competition)
2. a secretary (to take a not of each item)
3. an IT person (to operate the phone)

You will be shown the words/ pictures/ blank/ or
songs and you have to find the correct phonetic
transcription for them by pressing the color taps.

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Read the words from the phonetic transcriptions

/fIʃ/ /flaʊƏ/

/nƏʊz/ Ə

/ ŋ I/ / Ə/

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klƏʊzd / ISi:t/
/bl I / mæŋgƏ /

// eI

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/ ærƏt/ /dIfrƏnt/
/wɔ:kt/
Ə
/ I/
//

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Words Commonly Mispronounced

1. /det/ debt LOGO
2. /praʊd/ proud
3. /θʌm/ thumb
4. /rʌf/ rough
5. /kɒf/ cough
6. /sɔ:d/ sword
7. /'dɪfrənt/ different
8. /'mʌsəl/ muscle
9. /rɪ'si:t/ receipt
10./'ɑːmənd/ almond

11. /'mesɪdʒ/ message
12. /dɪ'zɜːt/ desert
13. /'kʌbəd/ cupboard
14. /'beri:/ bury
15. /'ɪntrəstɪŋ/ interesting
16. /'resɪpi:/ recipe
17. /'kemɪkəl/ chemical
18. ./'hæŋkətʃɪf/ handkerchief
19. /'temprətʃə/ temperature
20. /'vedʒtəbəl/ vegetable

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Silent Sounds in English

Silent Silent Silent Silent Silent Silent Silent
b c d e g gh h

bomb fascinate bridge different campaign fight ghost
climb muscle design high heir
comb scene edge evening foreign right honest
debt science reign sigh hour
thumb scissors handsome interesting sign thought white

sandwich vegetable
Wednesday temperature

Silent Silent Silent Silent Silent Silent Silent Silent
k l n p s t u w

knee calm autumn corps aisle ballet build answer
knife could column coup debris sword
knight half condemn cupboard island castle circuit wrap
knock salmon damn receipt isle wrist
know almond solemn psychic islet Christmas guess wrong

listen guitar
soften tongue

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Homonyms

 Homographs- words which are
written in the same way but have
different meanings

 Homophones- words which are
pronounced in the same way but are
spelt differently.

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Homographs

I live in the north of Thailand. /lɪv/

My favorite pop star is singing live now. /laɪv/

I read in bed every night. /ri:d/

I read War and Peace last night. /red/

The lead singer in the group is great. /li:d/

Lead pipes are dangerous. /led/

I wound my watch last night. /waʊnd/

He suffered a terrible wound in the war. /wuːnd/

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Homophones

air – heir /eə/
aloud – allowed /əlaʊd/
doe – dough /dəʊ/
pray – prey /preɪ/
sail – sale /seɪl/
their – there /ðeə/
waist – waste
weather – whether /weɪst/
/weðə/

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