Using this section
Reading & Pronunciation
When working with students, I like to try and help them improve their pronunciation. In order to do this, we often read together and work on improving the target sounds that either give them problems or make their English hard to understand.
This section aims to teach few things: how to identify and read letter combinations which are commonly used to create certain sounds (phonics); and provide lists of words to practice with with corresponding audio so you can work on your pronunciation.
Note about my accent: I'm Canadian and our accent is similar to an American accent, and as you already know, the American accent is a bit different from the British accent. Now, not everything is completely different - you can still use a lot of these resources and exercises to help you! However, if you need to improve words with -R, for example, and want to speak with a British accent because you're moving to the UK, then you may want to refer to a British resource in order to learn this sound.
Note about your accent: Your accent is fine! Feel proud of your accent - it means you've learned a second language! On your exams and in the real world you do not need to speak with either an American or British accent - your natural accent is fine! However, you do need to speak clearly, and the information and exercises here are intended to help you do this.
Drilling Target Sounds
Here's an exercise you can use to practice drilling sounds you have trouble with.
Note: it's possible that you have several sounds which need improving. Only work on fixing one or two sounds at a time. Focus on saying those sounds correctly before trying to fix more sounds.
Identify which sound(s) you have trouble saying. This could either be a vowel sound, a cluster of consonants, or even a verb conjugation (in the example, we're going to focus on saying the -ED in past tense verbs and adjectives correctly after a -TCH sound.) Then, refer to the list of words for that sound.
watched
matched
switched
If you really struggle to say the sound or sound cluster, start by practicing only the sound first. In this case, it's the -tched sound: /ʧt/. In this example, you'll want to make sure you can say both sounds /ʧ/ and /t/ and then gradually say them closer and closer together, until you are saying them both correctly together.
Refer to the word list on Memrise to hear this sound. You may need to work with someone who can listen to you and tell you when the sound is correct.
Repeat this until you feel comfortable and it's correct.
-tched = /ʧt/
Once you get it correct and know what it feels like when saying the word, start to practice saying it as part of a sentence. Aim for using short sentences, if you can.
You can refer to the word lists I have here. Each list is linked to a Memrise course where you can heard me saying these words to make sure you're saying the targeted sound correctly.
watched
matched
switched
Repeat the word list slowly at first to get the sounds, and gradually speed up. Listen to make sure you are saying the sound correctly.
watched
matched
switched
When you feel comfortable, write a simple sentence that uses each word.
Practice saying your sentences, first slowly, and gradually faster until you reach a reasonable speed. Make sure you are saying the words correctly.
I watched a movie last night.
I matched my purse to my shoes.
I switched off the lights.
When you feel comfortable saying the words correctly as part of shorter phrases, write longer phrases that use the same words and sounds. Practice saying them, first slowly checking for pronunciation, and gradually speed up.
At this stage, you might want to ask ChatGPT to create very short sentences with these words.
When I got home from work last night, I watched a movie with my family.
I wanted to look good so I matched my purse to my shoes.
Before I left the room, I switched off the lights in order to save electricity.
You may need to repeat this exercise daily for a few weeks until you finally are able to say the targeted sound accurately when speaking.
In addition to these drills, make sure you are saying the targeted word accurately while reading out loud. I recommend my students read out loud for 15 to 20 minutes every day.
Using Memrise
Memrise is a flashcard app that uses spaced repetition to help you remember words and phrases more effectively. It's designed to help you remember vocabulary; however, if you have a computer, you can create your own courses and use it to improve your grammar or, in this case, pronunciation.
English Pronunciation - by AxlT - Memrise
A few notes:
This Memrise course is not really designed to help you learn vocabulary. However, it's a convenient way to upload lists of words with their pronunciation so students can hear them and learn to say them.
While I've tried to add only common words to these lists, sometimes there are not many words which contain a sound. So, some of the words might be a little strange. You can use them for these exercises, or skip them entirely. Remember: never learn vocabulary from lists; always learn vocabulary in context.
Some of the levels on Memrise are several years old and need updating (there are a few errors and they need better audio). I'll probably fix them as I add more sections about pronunciation on this site.
There's a few different ways you can use this pronunciation course:
Using the previews
When you go to the level which corresponds with the sound you want to improve, you'll find a drop-down button called "options". There, there is "preview" option.
The preview will simply take you through the list of words. From there, you'll be able to listen to the words and practice saying them. You can press the little speaker icon to listen to the word as many times as you need.
Practice only saying the word or put them into sentences (this will depend on what kind of drills you are doing).
You can also simply go into the level and listen to each word by hovering your cursor over the speaker icon in order to hear. It doesn't work for me while clicking.
Actually doing the course
If you choose to sign up on Memrise and actually "do" the pronunciation course, you can choose the level you want to do. Go in it and select "learn these words".
From there, Memrise will go through its standard program to teach vocabulary - it's often a mix of "listen and match what you hear to the words" or listening and typing the word into the computer to proceed through the course.
As there is no time limit on how long you can respond, you can listen to the word and practice repeating. If you're more comfortable with saying the sound, you can also add that word into a sentence to practice saying the target sound in the middle of longer phrases.
Doing the courses is somewhat nice because at some point, after you've studied the sounds in isolation, you can then "review" all the sounds you've struggled with in a random order. Remember, always focus on saying the targeted sound correctly.
Note: I have a computer. Some of these functions might work slightly differently on a phone or tablet.
IMPORTANT: Even though Memrise has an app, my students and I agree it works much better through the browser. So, I highly recommend bookmarking the site (even if you're on a phone or a tablet) and doing the courses from there.
Do you struggle to pronounce something?
This website contains some of the material I've made for students who struggled to say or read certain sounds or letter combinations. However, a) I don't have everything uploaded; b) there are sound clusters I haven't created word lists for yet simply due to time.
However, I think this can be a great resource for our community, so if you have a sound you'd like to suggest (such as a vowel sound, diphthong, consonant cluster, or even a common sound that's tricky to pronounce, like the -tle in words like little) send me an email and suggest it: axl@getspeakingenglish.com