White Western teacher showing his class the phonemic chart

Sound discrimination

My students often claim that they can't hear the difference.

Procedure

To help students hear the difference I explain that I am going to say a word with the / I / sound several times then change to a word with the / i: / sound. The students should raise their hands when they hear the word change. I then say "ship, ship, ship, ship, ship, sheep, sheep,…". This procedure can be repeated with other words ("hit"/"heat", "it"/"eat" etc.)
To help students differentiate these sounds in the context of longer utterances, I then do the same with a sentence: "I saw a big ship, I saw a big ship, I saw a big ship, I saw a big ship, I saw a big sheep, I saw a big sheep…" until the students can hear the change.
I then write, in phonemic script, the words 'Steve' and 'Jill' on the board above a picture of a man and woman. I ask the students "Who is this?" When it has been established that the two characters are Steve and Jill I ask "Who is Jill's partner?" (and point to the / I / sound). An acceptable answer would be 'Chris', 'Phil', 'Kim', 'Tim', 'Jim' or any other name containing the / I / sound. If you want to make it easier, you could ask "Who's her partner, Chris or Pete?" Students should understand the idea of this game quite quickly.
I then ask "What's Jill's favourite food / drink?" Answers could be 'milk', 'fish', 'chips', 'gin' etc. I write this information on the board and continue asking questions about Jill and Steve until there are two columns with information about Jill and Steve's lives (where they live, favourite colours, animals etc.)
I then drill sentences such as "Jill likes fish and chips", "Jill likes Brad Pitt" or "Steve lives with Pete Reid".
In subsequent lessons, when a student makes a / I /or / i: / pronunciation error such as saying 'deeficult' instead of 'difficult', I write the word 'difficult' on the board and ask "Is this a Steve word or a Jill word?". Students can answer then be asked to pronounce the word correctly.

I like the great ideas here! Auditory discrimination is always my first step when working on pronunciation. It is good to get students thinking, and talking about talk. This way, they can give feedback to their conversation partners too (" I heard Jeel") and this gives the partner a chance to self correct. I feel this is especially important in the use of English as a lingua franca where communication and comprehension is the key.

Its important identify the sounds in the words.

agree

This is a Good way to introduce students to the sound discrimination and phonetic symbol recognize. They´ll be able to get used their ear as well as their tonged position in different sounds.

I love this idea!!! I`m going to apply in my classes.

I will too.

It's very important to understand all sounds

it's a good information

Im learning

This is really awesome! Now I can do more with this knowledge.

Great suggestion.

Wow am learning

For example; steak, meal?

Hi Magdalena,

Thanks for your comment. Here are some other ideas for integrating pronunciation activities in your classes: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/integrating-pronunciation-classroom-activities. Under the section "vowel sounds" you'll see some activities with "ea" spellings.

Philippa

TeachingEnglish team

Thank you for sharing. this is really abig of help for Japanese students.

Wow! This really help..

Sounds great

His ideas are so nice. I’ll apply in my lessons.

As sounds form meaningful units and often become the only sense distinctive instrument it is quite important to teach students to hear this difference and be able to pronounce words correctly.

Effective method

i like the idea . it looks benifical .

This one a bit helpful initiative in classroom as well as understand.

This is a great idea I will tray it in my class

I imagined myself giving my pronunciation lesson in this way. I love it!

I think ,this method makes learning pronunciation interesting for students

I like the way of sound discrimination by repeating the word with sound / I / and / ee /to differentiate between both. It helps to understand slow and quick utterance of words while listening and speaking. GREAT IDEA!

it is a great idea! I have never thought in that way.

Nice to know that. This article clarified my ideas in this case.

It's a good way to help student to differentiate sounds

Nice technique to follow

Nice explanation and very helpful in differentiating sounds.

It an interesting way to teach students and attract their intonation by games.

Now one can be able to do similar examples to differentiate between words of similar spelling.

Great

This is a good method for teaching pronunciation and an interesting way that help the students to differentiate sounds

I have a new technique for teaching pronunciation, it is beneficial, and I reflect this to my learners.
Thank you.

I think it great means of teaching hoping to use it effectively in my career.

An amazing technique that enables students to practically differentiate between long and short vowel phonemes and making minimal pairs at the same time.

Sound discrimination is the ability to recognise the differences and similarities between sounds e,g "bit" and "beat"

teaching ss the differences between long and short vowels is important in learning pronunciation.

Wow! That helps a lot

it is new and enjoyable method we have a new technique for teaching pronunciation, it is beneficial, and I assure this to my learners. discrimination is a strong step

I think that a very interactive and unique way for sound discrimination . I hope that I do it with my class

Amazing technique to diffrenciate between long towels and short vowels in the sound and how about to say a word and let them think about different to words with the same sound