Spot the contrast
Say price and prize. Which final phoneme distinguishes the two words? Give both symbols.
Price ends in /s/; prize ends in /z/. /s/ is voiceless, whereas /z/ is voiced.
What can pupils feel by lightly placing their fingers on their own throat while alternating sustained /s/ and /z/?
They can feel vocal-fold vibration during /z/, but not during /s/. Model the consonants without adding a vowel, since a voiced vowel could confuse the comparison.
Your pupil pronounces pens like pence. Give one practical cue and one short exercise to help them produce the intended final consonant.
Model /s–z/ and ask the pupil to feel the vibration of /z/ with fingers lightly on their own throat. Practise pence–pens, then 'two pens'. The target final consonant is /z/.
You say either price or prize, and a pupil points to the word they hear. Does this mainly check perception or production? What extra task would check the other ability?
It mainly checks perception. To check production, ask the pupil to say one of the words without revealing their choice, and have a listener identify it.
Complete the phrases: ___ university, ___ European city, ___ hour, ___ honest woman. Explain the pronunciation rule.
A university; a European city; an hour; an honest woman. Choose a or an according to the following sound. University and European begin with consonant /j/; hour and honest begin with vowel sounds because h is silent.
Identify the initial phonemes in thin and then. What is the main articulatory difference between them?
Thin begins with /θ/; then begins with /ð/. Both are dental fricatives. /θ/ is voiceless and /ð/ is voiced.
Explain what the lips and teeth do differently for /v/ in vest and /w/ in west.
For /v/, the upper front teeth lightly touch the lower lip and air produces friction. For /w/, the lips round and then move into the vowel, without teeth touching the lower lip. Both sounds are voiced.
Your pupil says free when they mean three. Give a clear mouth-position cue and a word pair for practice.
For /θ/, bring the tongue tip to the upper teeth or slightly between the teeth and blow gently through the gap. Keep the lower lip away from the upper teeth: that contact would produce /f/. Practise free–three, first listening and then saying the words.
A pupil cannot reliably hear the difference between vest and west. Suggest a brief listening activity before asking them to say the words.
Place vest and west on separate cards or use pictures. Model the contrast, then say the words several times in an unpredictable order while the pupil points to the matching card. Give feedback and repeat with varied examples.
Which consonant phoneme occurs in all three words: busy, music and please? Explain why looking only for the letter z would miss it.
All three contain /z/. In these words, the letter s represents /z/. Spelling does not provide a one-to-one guide to English phonemes.
A pupil makes chip sound like ship. Identify the two initial phonemes and the difference in manner of articulation.
The target is /tʃ/ in chip; the pupil uses /ʃ/ as in ship. /tʃ/ is an affricate, beginning with a closure and releasing into friction. /ʃ/ is a fricative without that initial closure.
Why is 'just add voice' unsuitable advice for a pupil who says den when they mean then? State the change the pupil needs.
/d/ and /ð/ are both voiced. The pupil needs to replace a stop with a dental fricative: bring the tongue tip to the upper teeth or slightly between the teeth and let air flow through a narrow gap, without a complete closure.
Your pupil uses /ʃ/ in the middle of vision. How could you help them produce /ʒ/? Include a physical cue and a practice word.
Keep the tongue position for /ʃ/ and add voicing to produce /ʒ/. Alternate sustained /ʃ–ʒ/ while feeling throat vibration. Then practise /ʒ/ in vision, measure or pleasure.
A pupil can produce send and sand after your model but merges them in their own sentences. Suggest a next activity and explain how you would check progress.
Move to short phrases, then a task where the pupil chooses a word and makes a sentence without immediate imitation. A partner identifies the intended word. Listen or record a short sample to check whether /e–æ/ remains distinct beyond isolated repetition.
Say 'We were very worried'. Which word begins with /v/, and which words begin with /w/? Give one visible cue for the contrast.
Very begins with /v/. We, were and worried begin with /w/. For /v/, upper teeth lightly touch the lower lip; for /w/, the lips round without that teeth–lip contact. A mirror can help pupils notice the difference.
Say yam and jam. Identify their initial phonemes and explain why adding voicing to the first sound in yam will not produce jam.
Yam begins with /j/; jam begins with /dʒ/. Both are voiced. /j/ is a palatal approximant, whereas /dʒ/ is a postalveolar affricate with a closure followed by friction.
A pupil makes send sound like sand. Which vowel contrast is involved, and how should the tongue position change to produce send?
The contrast is /e/ in send and /æ/ in sand. Raise the tongue slightly and use a less open mouth for /e/. Model both vowels so the pupil can compare their quality. /ɛ/ is an accepted alternative symbol for the vowel in send.
Your pupil makes chip sound like ship. Give an articulatory cue and a short progression from sounds to a phrase.
Model a brief complete closure followed immediately by a /ʃ/-like release, forming the single affricate /tʃ/. Keep the parts together without an extra vowel. Practise /ʃ–tʃ/, ship–chip, then 'a bag of chips'.
In the same class, one pupil says free for three and another says tree for three. How should your corrective cues differ?
For free, move the constriction from the lower lip and upper teeth to the tongue tip and teeth. For tree, replace the complete stop closure with a narrow gap that allows continuous airflow. Model /θ/ for both, then practise free–three or tree–three according to the observed difficulty.
Focus on /ʒ/ and /dʒ/. Which word is the odd one out: vision, measure, beige or judge? Explain the difference in manner.
Judge is the odd one out: its initial and final consonants are /dʒ/, voiced affricates. Vision, measure and beige contain /ʒ/, a voiced fricative. /dʒ/ includes an initial closure, whereas /ʒ/ has continuous friction.
Compare the initial sounds in sherry, cherry and Jerry. Identify each phoneme, then explain what changes from sherry to cherry and from cherry to Jerry.
Sherry: /ʃ/. Cherry: /tʃ/. Jerry: /dʒ/. Sherry to cherry changes a fricative to an affricate by adding an initial closure. Cherry to Jerry changes a voiceless affricate to its voiced counterpart.
Classify /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ by voicing and manner. Which two contrasts could you teach using these four sounds?
/ʃ/: voiceless fricative. /ʒ/: voiced fricative. /tʃ/: voiceless affricate. /dʒ/: voiced affricate. Teach voicing with /ʃ–ʒ/ or /tʃ–dʒ/, and fricative versus affricate with /ʃ–tʃ/ or /ʒ–dʒ/.
Your pupil begins just with /j/. Give a correction that targets manner, then describe how you would check whether it worked.
Model /dʒ/: a brief closure released into voiced /ʒ/-like friction, with no intervening vowel. If /tʃ/ is secure, use it as a starting point and add voicing. Practise yam–jam, then ask the pupil to use jam or just in a new sentence and listen for the affricate.
Plan a short check of both hearing and producing /v–w/ in a class with varied language backgrounds. How would you choose who needs further practice?
First, say vest/west or vet/wet in an unpredictable order and let pupils identify the word. Next, have pupils produce words and new sentences for a partner to identify while you listen. Use the observed listening and speaking results to select further practice; do not infer an individual pupil's needs from their first language alone.
A pupil says three with /θ/ correctly but also uses /θ/ at the start of then. What has the pupil learned, what remains to be learned, and what exercise would you use next?
The pupil can produce a dental fricative but still needs the voicing contrast /θ–ð/ and the correct sound for then. Alternate /θ–ð/ with a throat-vibration cue, then sort and practise thin/three with /θ/ and then/these with /ð/. Check the sounds again in short sentences.