TeachingEnglish
      Past tense pronunciation

      Here is an idea that has been successful for me when teaching regular past tenses/participles.

      • Prepare 15 separate pieces of paper containing one regular verb (infinitive) written on them, as well as 3 separate pieces of paper with the phonemic symbols of the –ed suffix: /d/, /Id/ and /t/. See below for examples to use. 
      • Put all of the verbs on the blackboard in mixed order, then put up the phonemic symbols as starters of 3 columns. Tell the students to make the correct past simple tense forms of all the verbs, emphasizing that they shouldn’t write anything down at this stage.
      • Ask the students if they can sense a difference in pronunciation in terms of the –ed ending. Then tell them to put the 15 verbs into 3 columns (5 verbs in each column) depending on the pronunciation of the final past simple (–ed) suffix added to regular verbs.


      Example verbs

      /d/: satisfy, whisper, bathe, imagine, advise

      /Id/: disappoint, interpret, decide, adjust, doubt

      /t/: blink, develop, stuff, watch, notice 

       

      Average: 3.6 (61 votes)

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      mlvecuador's picture
      mlvecuador
      Submitted on 15 January, 2009 - 20:50
      Thank you Aneta for sharing with us this tip. It really succeeded with my intermediate class. My students realized how it works. It was quite useful.