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Pronunciation

Good clear pronunciation is fundamental to communication and yet so often neglected in schools. It's not essential to have a 'perfect' English accent (whatever that means!) but it will be much easier for others to understand you if you can speak clearly and with good English rhythm and intonation. Good pronunciation can also give you more confidence when speaking

Teaching pronunciation is something I particularly enjoy. I teach phonetics (individual sounds), word stress, sentence stress and intonation - which includes the rhythm of English, but also its melody. I also help my students to speak more slowly - which is a surprisingly simple and effective way to improve your pronunciation.

If you are interested in private pronunciation lessons, please phone or text me on +44 (0)7968 849008 or email me at the address at the top of this page. Alternatively you can contact me through my Norwich English Facebook page

Pronunciation Courses

My 6-week pronuncation courses are popular. Classes are limited to 6 students. For more details, please phone or text me on +44 (0)7968 849008 or email me at the address at the top of this page. Alternatively you can contact me through my Norwich English Facebook page

Below are some free pronunciation worksheets and mp3s to help you practise the sounds of the English language.

Free Pronunciation Exercises with mp3

Southern British English accent

To download right click and choose "save target as..." or "save link as"

VOWELS (monophthongs)
/iː/ and /ɪ/ (ee and i)
seat/sit, eat/it, bean/bin		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
/a:/
are, heart, can't, aren't		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
/ɜː/
her, were, word, third, worst		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
/ɔː/
more, four, saw, war, talk, walk		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
/ʌ/
up, run, under, other ,does, mother		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
/Ə/ (schwa)
a, the, about, written, mother, bigger, doctor		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ 1st mp3 ↓

↓ 2nd mp3 ↓
/ʊ/ and /uː/ (full and fool)
look/Luke, pull/pool, soot/suit		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓

VOWELS (diphthongs)

ɪə ʊə eə
ear, pure, air		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
eɪ ɔɪ aɪ
bay, boy, buy		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
əʊ aʊ
no, now		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓

CONSONANTS

th (θ and ð)
the, this, that, the theatre		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
/h/
happy, hello, hi		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
/s/, /sh/ and /ch/
sip, ship, chip		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
/s/ and /z/
(says, sizzle)		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
/v/ and /b/
above, everybody		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
/p/ and /b/
pop, Bob, pub, public		 ↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
/ɪŋ/ ing
doing, singing, thinking 		↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓

OTHER
/d/ and /ɪd/ -ed endings
walked, wanted, liked, decided 		↓ pdf ↓ ↓ mp3 ↓
To open the pdf files you must have Adobe Reader or Foxit Reader installed on your computer.

Try some tongue twisters!

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