ADVANCED PRONUNCIATION ONE (AP1) WORKSHEET A

Book Focus on Pronunciation 3

Units 1-10
Learning outcome I can recognize and produce vowel sounds appropriately.

RECOGNITION PRACTICE

Activity 1
Can you match the minimal pairs*? See example below.
* Remember, minimal pairs are words that are pronounced the same, except for one sound.

Column A Column B Difference

1 wrist (___) beg

2 hate (___) tape

3 bag (___) heat

4 fun (___) tell

5 rock (___) feet

6 nut ( 1 ) rest /ɪ/-/ɛ/

7 fit (___) net

8 tap (___) fan

9 lack (___) wreck

10 tail (___) luck

Look at the minimal pairs again. What are the contrasting sounds? Write them down on the
column on the right. There’s an example for you.

To check your answers, go to toPhonetics by clicking here. When you get there, type in the word
in the box. The set up should look like this:

Important: The sounds /ə/ and /ʌ/ are considered the same, according to this author.

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Activity 2
One word in each group does not have the same vowel sound as the other words. Cross the odd
one out.

Coil Noise Foil Full Boil

1. Decided Licked Liked Timed Hiked

2. Could Wood Good Country Hoof

3. Cut Money Cute Blood Government

4. Coat Frozen Ago Long Lonely

5. House South Southern Down Thousand

If you are not sure, look the words up and check the phonetic symbols. You can visit the Oxford
Learner’s Dictionaries website here.

If you want to hear examples for every sound, click here.

Activity 3

Click here and take the quiz! Can you identify all the vowel sounds?

PRODUCTION PRACTICE

Activity 4
Look at the words in the Recognition activities. Choose ten (10) words and combine them to make
five (5) sentences in total. For example:

 My brother hates nuts. [maɪ ˈbrʌðər heɪts nʌts]

When you have your five sentences, record yourself reading them out loud. How do they sound?

Activity 5
Go to toPhonetics by clicking here. Type in the sentences you created in Activity 1. The set up
should look like this:

Compare your recording to the website’s transcript and audio. Which words need more work?

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