Tag Archives: Pronunciation

Class management, Listening, Pronunciation

INSTRUCTIONS AND CLASSROOM PHRASES

28.1.2026 Raimo J Leave a comment

Giving clear instructions is a vital skill for every teacher.
Secondly, the use of instructions in English should be maximized in English lessons.

The articles in this unit consists of classroom phrases that the students will quickly learn and understand.

The phrases are recorded with pauses. So you just press the button and make your students say the phrases after the recording with pauses.

Instructions and classroom phrases	Very basic phrases for beginners
	Phrases for intermediate beginners to use in a lesson
	Phrases for pair and group work as well as station work and co-operative work
	Class phrases with rising intonation and positive feedback phrases

Some ideas on teacher talking time (TTT) versus student talking time (STT)

In CLT we teachers need to observe ‘teacher talking time’ (TTT) in the sense that we do not talk too much and unnecessarily steal talking and practice time from our students (STT). The TTT-STT ratio depends on what we are doing in the class and the proficiency level of the students.

Maximize the use of English in your class and and organize the lessons so that the students talk a lot in pairs and groups!

The younger and weaker the students are the more they need the teacher’s assistance. In my opinion the ideal in a good class in the senior high is aroung 10 % for TTT and in the junior high about 20 %. In elementary level classes the percentage is much bigger.

However, there are lots of situations when the teacher has to talk and with a little bit of training the students can be taught the basic phrases used during lessons. As a result the teacher can avoid using the mother tongue in these situations. Especially teachers who are beginning their career might find these phrases useful.

The phrases in the unit cover some of the basic situations in an English lesson:

Giving short or detailed instructions and feedback
Asking questions or explaining about the goals for the lesson
Asking for clarifications, praising the students
Starting or wrapping up pair, group or any other kind of work in class
Introducing rising and falling intonation patterns

Some very basic instructions and phrases during a lesson

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/000101_5116-2.mp3

Hello, everybody. / Hi, everyone! Please come in now. Stand up, please! Good morning, everyone! Good morning, boys and girls! Good afternoon everybody! My name is Mike Jones. I’m your new teacher in English.

Good morning, Mr Jones / Good afternoon, Miss Johnson / Good evening, Mrs Jacksonl!

Sit down, please! / Please take out your textbooks, workbooks and pencil cases./ It is so nice to see you again. / How are you today?

Fine, thanks. / Very well, thank you.
Is everybody here today? / Is anyone absent? / Where’s Henry this morning? /Sorry, we don’t know. / He’s ill, down with the flu. Oh, I’m sorry to hear that./ It’s time to start. / Are you ready?

Now, say these words after me./ Well done! / Very good, thank you! / Open your books at page 5. / Unit 1. / Look at me, a page like this. / Please, what was the page again? / Is it this page?/

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/000101_5117-2.mp3

Let’s listen to the text. / Sarah, can you translate the first sentence, please. / Yes sure, it’s an easy sentence. Err, Susan/Sammy, the next sentence, please. / Any questions? / Not really, this is an easy sentence too.

Let’s read the text aloud. / Read after me, please. / Read after the CD. / Can we read in pairs this time?/ I think it would be nice./ That’s a good idea! Let’s try it. / Read with your partner./ Raise your hands if you like the idea./ OK, let’s do it./Then look at my questions and answer them in pairs. / We are ready. / What do we do next?

Class management, Listening, Pronunciation

Phrases for pair and group work as well as station work and co-operative work

28.1.2026 Raimo J Leave a comment

Giving clear instructions is one of the skills we CLT language teachers should master. To avoid repeating the instructions many times I have started to have the very same instructions on the screen. In my experience one student out of ten always asks for clarifications.

The phrases below are divided into four groups: Pair work, group work, station work and co-operative work.

Please make your students understand the instructions below and then make them repeat the phrases. They serve as examples of pair and various group work phrases. The recordings already have pauses in them so there is usually no need to stop in between. The actual techniques for pair and group work are explained under heading ‘Modern pair and group work methods’.

PAIR WORK INSTRUCTIONS

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Pair-work-5121-2.mp3

Today we are going to work in pairs. Find yourself a partner. Who’s my partner? Well, it’s up to you. / You can decide. / It’s all the same. Has everybody got a partner? Ah, OK Mike is without a pair. The three of you can work as a group. Mike, please join this group.

Today you will get a pair at random: I have numbers in this box. Pick up one paper and find your pair. They have the same number as you. Numbers ones sit here, numbers two sit here, threes over there, fours at the back and fives over here.

One of you is A and the other one is B. One of you will read the question and the other one will find the answer in the text. Take turns in answering. Then do the same and change roles, you are A and you B, alright? Understood? Got it?

GROUP WORK INSTRUCTIONS

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Group-work-5122-2.mp3

Today we are going to work in groups. Pick up a number from this box and go to the right table. Number ones here, twos there, threes there and finally fours here. Here is a handout for each group. / Here is a copy with the task for you.

Every group has the same task. / Every group has a different task. Please start working. You have 20 minutes to finish the job. In the end everyone has to say something in front of the class.

OK, your 20 minutes is gone now. Group 1, please come over here to present your findings. Excellent work. Does anyone have any questions for Group 1 or something to add? OK, let’s move on to Group 2.

STATION WORK INSTRUCTIONS

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Station-work-5123-2.mp3

OK, today we will have work stations. The groups are selected randomly, so pick up a number from this box and go to your table.

As you can see we have five sets of tables together and each of them is a ‘station’ with a different task. You will have 10 minutes to finish the task and there are also extra tasks if you are very quick. Even a super task for the super quick ones on the whiteboard.

The correct answers are in the envelope on the table and after 8 minutes I will ask you to check the task. Don’t worry if you did not finish the task. You can do it at home. Look at the instructions on the table and start working.

CO-OPERATIVE GROUPS

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Co-operative-work-5124-2.mp3

Today we are going to work in number and letter groups. First, pick up a numbered paper from this box and go to the right table. Number ones here, twos there, threes there and finally fours here. The topic is ‘What to show a tourist in our home town/village/region’. The same topic in all groups.

Never mind the letter on the paper (A, B, C and D). We’ll use them later on. Everybody, take notes on the things you talk about in your group. Look at the task on the screen and start working. 20 minutes to go.

Time to stop working in numbered groups. Get to your Letter Groups, please. As here, Bs here, Cs here and Ds over here. Take your notes with you and tell the others what your group was talking about. In 15 minutes you will go back to your Number Groups to hear what the others thought about your ideas and what they had to say.

Assessment, Communicative teaching (CLT), Pronunciation, Speaking

TESTING SPEAKING SKILLS

16.1.2026 Raimo J Leave a comment

Every lesson means rehearsing for the real-life ‘test’ far in the future. Eliminate FEAR in talking!

How to get started in testing

It is wise to practice speaking a lot in pairs and groups before you even think about testing.
Practise pronunciation and reading aloud in every lesson so that the students feel confident about their pronunciation.
Never correct the pupils/students when they are speaking in pairs or groups unless they ask you to. If you do, they will stop talking due to fear of making mistakes and, even worse, may feel humiliated.
Give general feedback and comments to the whole class after the practice sessions. Use assessment for learning to find the strengths and weaknesses of the class.
Make progress with students with small, enjoyable, even humorous and relaxing steps. Rely on results emerging after a few months.
Make the students come in front of the class: in pairs or groups – each one saying something for 5 seconds at least, later on 10 – 30 seconds, a minute, five minutes – just to use English and allow them to have a note with key words or ideas. Make it always a positive experience!
Remember that coming in front of the whole class may be scary and it needs to be a positive experience from the very beginning.
Practice listening skills too since the pupils are supposed to respond to what the others say. Teach appropriate phrases of response, too.

VITAL: Eliminate fear from practice and test situations – first evaluate the pupils/students in lessons and in other situations. Then give them individual feedback to encourage them to improve in speaking. Speaking skills should be part of the evaluation and noted in giving grades.

Agree on the criteria to be used in assessment. In elementary classes it has to be very simple but in senior high/sixth form you can you the official final exam criteria. Each country has its own criteria but the European Framework is widely accepted. It has skill levels from A1, A2 B1, B2, C1 to the highest native level C2. Many employers use this scaling.

Start with self and peer evaluation in class and encourage the students to use their phones for recording at home too. Allow them to listen to themselves while evaluating themselves. The same if they are assessing other students. Evaluating oneself and others is highly motivating.

Personal teacher–pupil feedback sessions before or after a test are most valuable: ask for the student’s self-evaluation first and then give positive feedback. Encourage, look at the criteria and have gentle reference to challenges. Learning to speak a foreign language is a long process and everybody wants to improve their skills in speaking.

The time for official oral tests/evaluation comes later on. When that time comes, use good and bad examples to give the students an idea of what is required of them. The evaluation criteria has to be explained and opened up at the same time.

The real test in speaking takes place abroad. In Venice, Italy, for example.

Testing individuals

Depending on the age of the pupils (6 – 15), they

can send me a 30-second or a minute-long phone-recorded speech or
I can have a two-to-five minute face to face discussion with them (I ask them one of the 5 – 10 questions given in advance and they can practise their answers at home and finally I ask them a ‘surprise’ question on a topic we had earlier in class)
for senior high students I use modified final exams

Testing groups

Groups can easily be evaluated while they are discussing in class. It makes sense to tell the groups in advance that they will be evaluated in order to encourage them to practise at home to get the best possible result. However, the students need to be given some advice.

Do not try to dominate the discussion. Show your excellence in drawing the quiet ones into the discussion by asking them questions or comments.
Use phrases that indicate you agree, disagree with the speaker. Or maybe you did not get the point or want to have justifications for an argument. So: ‘I disagree with you because …’. I fully agree with you but …’ ‘I’m sorry I missed your point.’ ‘Sorry, I did not get that’ ‘I’m not sure what you mean. Can you give us an example.’ etc.
Fight for your space and indicate you want to say your opinion.
Be ready to take the group feedback constructively and the feedback your teacher gives to you personally.

Modelling a group oral for an advanced class

In this activity we model the assessment of different types of speaking activities.

The class is divided into groups of four. Preparation time (10 min).
Each group is given a task of their own.
Each group member will receive a number (1-4).
One group at a time will discuss fro 10 min (total time 40 min all groups)
The others will observe and assess the performance of the given number using the given criteria. Write the number of the student you observe on the handout.
Feedback is given in groups (1s, 2s, 3s, 4s).

In brief, each group carries out a different speaking activity.The other groups observe and assess the activities.

Choose your topic. The order of presentations is random.

Group 1 Problem solving: You work for the Ministry of Tourism planning a holiday resort. You need to decide which facilities to have there. You can choose the place for the resort yourselves.

Group 2 Debate on the effect of tourism in your country. The argument: Tourism is good for our economy. Two of you are for the idea and two against (no matter what you really think about the matter).

Group 3 One of you is the tourist guide with his/her tourist group in a place of your choice. The guide describes the place and the tourists are making questions and comments. They also compare the place and habits to their own country/region.

Group 4 A magazine reporter is interviewing participants of the ‘Tour of Central Europe’ and their experiences in different countries. Each one of you has to say their opinion about the countries in question.

Group 5 A group of teachers are deciding where to go on a class trip with a class that all of them teach. They are also discussing what things need to be taken account of in the planning.

The criteria for group discussions are similar to the criteria we had for writing but now we have also interaction and pronunciation to be assessed.

Class management, Listening, Pronunciation

Phrases for intermediate beginners to use during a lesson

11.12.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

One of the things mentioned under ‘Pronunciation’ heading was intonation. It is something we should also bear in mind when we use classroom phrases or in general when we speak to the class.

Pronunciation is mostly based on models and so is intonation. Make it a natural thing in class, something not to be ashamed of, even if it is very different from the mother tongue.

By intonation we mean the changes in speaking melody produced by the rise and fall of the voice. The wrong kind of intonation may change the meaning completely.

Having made your students repeat the phrases below after the recording, let them improvise an oral dialogue with their pair where they have a teacher – student role play using the phrases below with an appropriate intonation. They can, of course, use other phrases too.

The idea is, of course, that when picking up the phrases the students will think hard what the phrases mean and remember them better. Learning by doing!

Classroom phrases for beginners

Stand up, please!. Good morning, everyone! / Good morning, boys and girls! / Good afternoon, everybody! My name is Mike Jones. I am your new teacher in English.

Good morning, Mr Jones! / Good afternoon, Miss Johnson! / Good evening, Mrs Jackson!

Sit down, please! Please take out your textbooks, workbooks and pencil cases. It is so nice to see you again. How are you today?

Fine, thanks. / Very well, thank you.

Is everybody here today? / Is anyone absent? / Where’s Henry this morning?

Sorry, we don’t know. / He is ill. Down with a flu.

Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. It’s time to start. Are you ready? Now, say these words after me. Well done! / Very good, thank you! Open your books at page 5. Unit 1. Look at me, a page like this.

Please, what was the page again? Is it this page?

Let’s listen to the text. Sara, can you translate the first sentence, please.

Yes, sure. It is an easy sentence.

Err, Susan/Sammy, the next sentence, please. Any questions?

Not really. This is an easy sentence, too.

Let’s read the text aloud. Read after me, please. / Read after the CD.

Can we read in pairs this time? I think it would be nice.

That’s a good idea. Let’s try it. Read with your partner. Raise your hands if you like the idea. OK, let’s do it. Then look at my questions and answer them in pairs.

We are ready. What do we do next?

Let’s do an exercise. Workbook page 7, Exercise A Write the two sentences in English, please! OK, everyone. Err, two minutes more. / A couple of minutes more and then we stop for today.

Thank you. This was an interesting lesson.

You’re welcome. Your homework is on the blackboard / on the screen. / Goodbye, everyone. / Have a nice weekend!

The same to you.

Finishing a lesson with more advanced students

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/l2-useful-english-classroom-phrases-for-more-advanced-students.mp3

Do you have the right time on you? Hold your horses, we are not done yet. This lesson is supposed to finish at a quarter to two. We have five minutes to spare.

One more exercise and we can call it a day. There’s no use starting exercise 4 today. Your homework for the next lesson is on the board. Revise the text and the vocabulary. The deadline for the essay is next Tuesday. Make sure you hand it in then.

Hold on a minute! I have one more thing to say to you. We’ll have no lesson next Monday. Put everything back in its right place. Take all your things with you.

Central Park, New York

Communicative teaching (CLT)

SPEAKING

31.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

I never learnt to speak English at school. I swore to myself early in my teaching career I would never allow this to happen to my students.

Basically learning to speak a foreign language boils down to four things: There has to be a lot of INPUT, ORAL PRACTICE, REPETITION and TIME.

There is no excuse for teachers, if their students dare not speak English when they leave school.

If the use of the target language is not activated orally with quality materials and methods, if it is not done over and over again and if there is not enough time for it, learning is not possible or it is desperately slow. And still, it seems everybody wants to learn to speak English.

Three possible ways to learn to speak a foreign language

It is taught and learnt in a systematic manner, like we do it in CLT lessons at school.
It is learnt intuitively in an authentic environment over a long period of time, very much like we learn our mother tongue.
It is partially learnt at school and activated in free time by talking to English-speaking people or playing interactive games headsets on, for example.

If we have a look at these three ways, we realize that Option 2 is not possible for many of us and the success of Option 3 is too random and dependent on the efforts of the individual.

The only option left is Option 1 and if the majority of students are not given a chance to learn to speak English, for example, at school, they will not learn it properly at all. Unfortunately this is exactly what happened to me and this is why I am writing these articles.

The only language I learnt to speak at school was German even if we never had any speaking tests and studied the language only for 2,5 years. We had six lessons a week, spent two lof them in a language laboratory working on a variety of exercises. And I can still speak German even if I have not studied it since 1973.

The vital lesson I learnt from my German teacher was simple: allow the students to talk between themselves with the language they master and have faith in them learning the spoken language.

Use it or lose it! How can the students learn to speak English if the teacher talks most of the time or makes them work silently on written tasks? NO WAY, spoken language is learnt by speaking a lot.

In this article i will answer the following three questions:

How does one learn to speak a foreign language?
What is the best method in teaching the students to speak a foreign language?
What modern techniques enhancing speaking skills are there to bring variation to foreign language lessons?

Many of the ideas related to teaching speaking have already been discussed under heading ‘The structure of a textbook-based lesson’, ‘Pronunciation’ and ‘Modern CLT group work methods’. Still, Latin ‘Repetition est mater studiorum’ = ‘Repetition is the mother of studies’.

The students start learning to speak English when the teacher stops talking – and gets them working in pairs or groups in English.

How does one learn to speak a foreign language?

by being exposed to the language not only at school but elsewhere too
by taking the trouble of learning words, phrases and expressions
by listening to others speak the language trying to understand the messages
by learning pronunciation by imitating native level speakers
by gradually internalizing grammar and social functions of the language

In short, by listening, practising and speaking a lot.

There is no one-way street in language learning. We are different and learn languages in different ways using our senses in our own style.

What all effective language learning methods share is the idea of doing a lot of things with the language. What really goes on in our brains in that process is still a bit of a mystery. Still, practice does it!

We learn to speak ...

by being brave and by enjoying speaking the target language with other students
by not being afraid that we are laughed at even if we do not always get our message through or if our pronunciation is not perfect
by not being afraid of making mistakes
by challenging ourselves and taking linguistic risks in new situations
by making utterances of our own and learning from others

The Tower of London, a must among London tourist attractions.

What is the best method in teaching the students to speak a foreign language?

The answer depends on the proficiency level of the students and the teacher is the best judge in choosing the method. Provided the teacher is aware of all the possibilities and can apply them well.

Any method that maximizes the time the students use the language and speak in class is good. The most popular approach these days is ‘Communicative Language Learning’ (= CLT) and most of the ideas presented in my articles are based on CLT principles. Speaking can be part of just about anything we do in class, even in learning vocabulary and cultural matters.

In CLT lessons we favour student-centred methods, principles and activities. In practice it means pair and group work in English and the teacher’s job is to organize and facilitate the tasks and assignments so that the teacher remains in the background and it is the students who talk.

If the students speak English 70 – 80 % of the time in lessons, things start happening. I have explained in detail how to do it in my articles under the horizontal main menu heading ‘THE STRUCTURE OF A TEXTBOOK-BASED LESSON’. The articles demonstrate how a teacher can easily turn teacher-oriented lessons to student-oriented ones.

What modern techniques enhancing speaking skills are there to bring variation to foreign language lessons?

First of all, it is vital in language lessons that the students do not always stay with the same people. In addition to regular changing of the composition or pairs and groups, there are methods such as station work, co-operative learning, task- based learning (TBL) and inquiry-based learning (IBL) which bring a lot of variation to the lessons.

All of the techniques have been explained in more detail with examples under heading ‘Modern CLT group methods’. In these lessons English often becomes a tool that is used to find information or solve problems. Learning to speak English becomes an enjoyable BYPRODUCT!

How can the students learn to speak English if the teacher talks most of the time or makes them work silently on written tasks? NO WAY, MOST TASKS HAVE TO BE ORAL!

My next articles in this unit deal with the following questions:

Speaking	Speaking, teaching beginners
	Testing speaking skills
	How to use speaking criteria in evaluation
	N.B. The topic is touched upon in most articles

Luckily the importance of speaking skills has been recognized in most countries and official speaking tests or exams with clear criteria are becoming part of the final examinations.

Class management, Listening, Pronunciation

CLASS PHRASES with rising intonation and positive feedback phrases

31.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

Listen to the recording and repeat the phrases. Pay attention to the intonation!

Using the correct intonation in class

By intonation we mean the changes in speaking melody produced by the rise and fall of the voice.

Now we will practise rising intonation in yes/no-questions, requests and encouragements.

The wrong kind of intonation may change the meaning completely. The point is that the intonation carries the final meaning through.

Compare: ‘The film was interesting.’ with a falling and rising intonation. If you don’t sound interested, the film was actually boring in your opinion.

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/using-the-correct-intonation-in-class.mp3

Classroom phrases with rising intonation

Some basic yes-no questions with rising intonation

Are you ready now? Let’s go in the class, shall we? Are you feeling cold? Is anybody absent today? Are you all here now? Does anyone know where Ali is? Is he often late? Does anyone have his phone number?

Is everybody ready to start? Any problems? Anything to ask? All clear? Have you finished? Is that clear? Any questions? Did you do your homework?

Can you hear me better now? Is the volume loud enough? Is the text font big enough? Has anyone got scissors? Is it my turn? Err, any volunteers?

Some basic requests with rising intonation

Open the door, please. Stand up, please. Please sit down. Take out your textbooks. Look at this photo, please.

Encouraging the pupils and students with positive feedback

Good. Very good. Fine. Well done. Right. Quite right. That’s right. That’s it. I like that.

Fantastic! Marvelous! Brilliant! Awesome! Outstanding! Wonderful! Magnificent! Superb!

Yes, you’ve got it. Yes, you seem to have got the hang of the idea. You did a good job there. Well done, all of you. That sounded very good to me. Wow!

That was a great presentation. Congratulations! Take your time. We are not in a hurry. Better luck next time! Never mind, you did just fine.

What did you put in number 7? ‘come’ Well, not exactly. Sorry but you can’t use that word here. Not quite right but you almost got it. You’re almost there. Could be, it depends. You’re on the right track. You’re very close. Try again!

There’s no hurry. This is a nasty point. Have another try. Are you sure? Look at the word order. Have a guess if you don’t know.

That’s better. That’s more like it. You’re getting better and better every week. Keep up the good work! You’ve made a lot of progress this year.

Yleinen

TEACHING reading aloud and PRONUNCIATION

31.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

Up till now … during the text-based lesson

The students have studied the chapter at home in advance
We have checked homework exercises
We have worked orally on the new words of the next chapter
We have listened to the chapter and checked understanding of the text
NOW we have to read the text aloud
Deepening the understanding of the text
Doing oral activities, written exercises or underlining text in class

The teacher or a good recording is the best model for pronunciation. Believe in the power of imitation, students repeating after the model.

Why reading at this point? Simply because now we understand the text properly and there is no point in reading something you do not understand.

Why reading aloud? Simply because we have to practise pronunciation and we remember things better if we say them aloud. And because at the same time we develop our listening skills too.

Teaching beginners is exciting and rewarding because if you work your way through systematically you can quickly see and hear the progress in the students pronunciation and speaking.

I love teaching pronunciation and I am very ambitious in doing that. See my articles on English under vertical heading ‘Pronunciation’.

Who is going to teach pronunciation if it is not done at the school? Rehearse it in every lesson.

The following points will help you to improve the quality of your students’ pronunciation.

The teacher him/herself is the best and most flexible model in pronouncing a new language because he/she can adjust the speed of reading aloud to the level of the students.
Remember that beginners need a model they can imitate and a lot of repetition. Believe in the power of repeating/imitating after you or the recording. Students shadow what they hear while looking at the text.
Start a new textbook chapter by reading aloud the words in isolation with your students, preferrably having a list with the English words and their translations in mother tongue. Why? See vocabulary section! LINK
When reading the words aloud make sure the sounds and stress are correct. If not, have them repeated altogether.
Beginners cannot repeat very long utterances so when reading texts divide every sentence into smaller bits (breath groups) in a natural way. Even intermediate students benefit from this kind of reading.
Finally read the whole sentence. However, remember that if the sentences are too long, students easily get frustrated and give up reading altogether.
Young children in particular and some adults are amazing in how quickly they learn to pronounce English beautifully.
These days it does not matter if you speak British, American or some other accent as long as it is clear and understandable.
Little by little you can give up the breath group reading, cutting the sentences to smaller units, and let the students repeat whole sentences.
Having listened to the chapter of the textbook senior high students should be able to read on their own or in pairs or groups.
Try not to correct the pronunciation of individual students, especially when they are talking freely in pairs of groups. Otherwise they may get scared of talking and stop talking.
Finally, at an appropriate stage you can reveal the secrets of the use of weak forms and basic intonation patterns in English. By now your students master most of these things thanks to reading aloud and imitating the models.

Finally let me remind you of five different ways of reading a text aloud with the students.

Read after the teacher (recommended for beginners, read in short sections, not whole sentences).
Read after a pre-recorded model (CD etc., maybe the most widely used style).
Read in pairs or groups without a CD or model (for advanced students).
Read out aloud alone at your own pace (hilarious to listen to).
Read the sentence and the teacher or CD will repeat after you (great fun if the model reading has been listened to earlier).

I remember the very first lesson in 1978 when I started doing my teacher training: To my surprise, after listening to the tape the teacher asked the senior high students to read the text aloud at their own pace. First it sounded cacophonic but suddenly the freedom given to the students was all music to my ears. The teacher warned the students ‘One minute left,’ and of course everyone did not finish at the same time but it was ok because, as the teacher later told me, the matter had been agreed upon at the beginning of the course. Nobody’s feelings were hurt: the time given was used effectively and it is only natural that some read faster than others.

Yleinen

ENGLISH SOUNDS – f, v, w, l, j, h, n, m, ŋ, r

29.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

Let’s aim high with the pronunciation of our consonant sounds. Sky is the limit!

Finally we will practise the rest of the consonant sounds: f, v, w, l, j, h, n, m, ŋ, r. As a teacher you can either use the recording below or make your own desicion how to use the lists. It would be better if the students knew the meanings of the words before pronouncing.

Most of these sounds are relatively widely used in many languages but I have added some comments after some lists to guide the pronunciation. The tongue twister below is pretty useless but still …

Tongue-twister: How high can a horsefly fly, if a horsefly can fly high!

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Horse-fly.mp3

Practice the sounds by repeating the words.

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/english-consonant-sounds-f-v-w-l-j-h-m-n-r.mp3

/f/ four, friend, family, front, fine, fellow, first, fat, before, difficult, office, half, safe, after, afraid, awful, wife, selfie, different Time 0:09-0:57

/v/ voice, van, clever, vast, value, very, five, every, seven, love, save, live, travel, over, visit, river, fever, violent, violin (Place the lower lip against the upper teeth to pronounce /v/) Time 0:58-2:00

/w/ win, want, warm, wet, walk, wait, wish, woman, word, week, well, what, why, when, where, quite, twenty, away, watch, way, twice, we, one (Start with rounded lips like in ‘one’ ) Time 2:01-3:03

The difference between ‘light’ and ‘dark’ L-sound might need to be explained before you practise pronouncing the words.

/ l / land, learn, late, lost, like, love, listen, live, lock, low, allow, yellow, eleven, help, early, long Time 3:04-3:44 This is ‘light’ L-sound at the beginning of words. The other version is the ‘dark’ L-sound pronounced deep in your throat mostly at the end of words. all, little, meal, real, tell, sell, shall, school, people, possible, full, fall, feel, – little Time 3:45-4:21 So, there are 2 versions of L-sounds depending on the position of the L-sound in the word but also heavily on the regional accents. Many American accents use only the dark-L.

/ j / year, yard, yes, young, you, your, yesterday, Europe, amuse, new, suit, music Time 4:25-4:54

/h/ hat, house, how, home, heavy, high, hope, horse, happy, however, hand, head, here, heart, hit, history, hear, husband, hundred, half, anyhow, behind Time 4:55-5:44 (new sound for Spaniards and often left out in Cockney, in reality it is just air coming out of your mouth)

/n/ no, number, name, noisy, never, nice, north, now, notice, nine, nineteen, nose, run, sun, can, green, begin, down, join, learn, know, knee, knock ( ‘know’ is pronounced just like ‘no’ , so in /kn/ /k/ is left out, ) Time 5:45-6:42

/m/ must, money, man, make, more, many, mouth, my, him, home, some, swim, time, woman, remember, summer, farm Time 6:43-7:23

/ŋ / sing, ring, finger, song, spring, thing, wrong, young, hang, drink, bring, hungry, angry, language, during, long, singer, among Time 7:24-8:04

/ r / red, rich, rose, ring, rain, radio, room, run, raw, read, rat, river, recommend, religion, repeat, restaurant, road, railway, star, car, far (the trembling element in / r/ is rather weak, except in Scottish English) Time 8:05-8:59

Yleinen

ENGLISH CONSONANT SOUNDS, s-sounds, vowel comment

29.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

Yes, S-sounds (if pronounced well) sound good. Rely on the power of imitation!

BACKGROUND ON SOUNDS

The sounds used in every language and even in dialects vary but the main thing for teachers is to realize that the best way to learn the sounds of any language is to have a good model speaker, listen carefully and then repeat the sounds and words that include these sounds over and over again. The students simply imitate the way the teacher says words.

If you feel it is necessary you can check the meanings of the 150 words in the lists.

There is usually no need to explain the systems of every language in detail. Still, in some cases the sounds may be completely new to the students and if imitating is not the solution, the teacher may have to explain how the sound should be produced.

For example, the English th-sound: place the tip of your tongue under your upper teeth and blow the air out, at the same time place your hand in front of your mouth and feel the air coming out: that is the th-sound. The th-sound can be voiceless or voiced. In words ‘thin’ ‘thick’ ‘through‘ /th/ is voiceless. Now place you hand on your throat and produce the same sound so that there is vibration on your throat. Like in ‘this’ ‘that’ ‘those’.

COMMENT ON VOWELS

So far we have pointed out that we need to work systematically in teaching English pronunciation. The order of doing things was introduced and suggested in the previous article.

You may be wondering why we do not talk about the pronunciation of vowels. The reason is simple: vowels are used in all languages and the differences in pronouncing vowels are easily learnt by imitating a good model.

Besides the following exercises include a great number of vowels that are practised simultaneously. All we need to do is to emphasize the difference between short and long vowels as well as those in diphtongs (combinations of two different vowels) since the difference sometimes changes the meaning of the words. The time for each s-sound is indicated after the list in case you decide to practise the sounds little by little.

Let’s practice the English s-sounds by repeating the words in the audio file below. PRESS the button and ask your students to repeat the words!

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/english-consonant-s-sounds-s-z-etc.mp3

English s-sounds, oral practice

Time: 0:00- 0:36 N.B. Voiceless /s/, meaning no vibration on your throat and voiced /z/, meaning you can feel vibration on your throat. Otherwise the sounds /s, z/ are pronounced exactly the same. And the same goes with the other s-sound pairs below.

/ s / see, say, sing, song, seem, stay, still, some, same, slow, summer, sin, sleep, small, save, son, side, sentence, Sunday, second, six, Saturday, sad, saddle, less, lost, almost, case, face, perhaps, peace, pass, last, hats, rats (voiceless, no vibration on throat) Time on the recording 0:37-2:01

/ z / is, zoo, rose, his, hers, zero, has, easy, zebra, lazy, crazy, as, does, dogs, busy, noise, noisy, zoom, zone (voiced, feel the vibration on throat) Time 2:02-2:50

We often use this sound when we ask someone or our kids to be quiet, shh / ʃ / ship, she, shop, short, sure, shut, shoe, shore, shoot, shine, should, push, finish, wash, rubbish, station, ocean, fish, punish, wish, mention, machine, condition, relation (voiceless, no vibration on throat) Time 2:51-3:45

/ ʒ / garage, vision, treasure, explosion, invasion, measure, usual, pleasure, decision, occasion (voiced, feel the vibration on throat) Time 3:36-4:15

/ θ / and / ð / sounds are both always written with th. Place the TIP of your TONGUE UNDER your UPPER TEETH and produce the sound by blowing air between your tongue and upper teeth. This sound is actually easy: just air coming out of your mouth.

/ θ / thin, thing, think, thought, tooth, three, thirty, thank, earth, both, path, cloth, bath, faith, something, Thursday, thief, health, wealth, death, month (voiceless, no vibration on throat) Time 4:16-5:04

/ ð / this, that, there, those, they, them, these, than, father, together though, brother, further (voiced, feel the vibration on throat) Time 5:05-5:38

We often use this sound when we make the sound of a noisy steam engine train. / t ʃ / cheap, chair, church, change, chance, rich, picture, future, catch, much, watch, kitchen, chief, each, beach, reach, question, fortune, teach, change, touch, March (voiceless, no vibration on throat) Time 5:39-6:29

/ dʒ / jump, page, joke, strange, imagine, danger, journey, soldier, June, July, January, village, language, manage, cage, large, age, just (voiced, feel the vibration on throat) Time 6:30-7:12

Yleinen

The weak forms – how to use them

29.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

One more trick to sound like native speakers: Learn how to use the ‘weak forms’ of some basic words!

There are about 30 weak forms in English. They are very common words that are pronounced differently from what people are usually taught. are > /ə/ must > /məs/ etc. Let’s learn to pronounce them like natives do and you will be much closer to native rhythm and flow of speech.

Why should we bother to teach weak forms to our students?

The most important reason is that it will improve the rhythm and flow of our students’ speech. It is one of the keys to native level speaking.
Secondly, having done this exercise you will most likely realize that you need this information in listening exercises too.
Thirdly, once you are aware of the existence of the weak forms you will understand why you sometimes miss even simple messages.
Fouthly, it only takes less than one lesson of your time and then the students can practise the system on their own.
N.B. First practise slowly and then after a while like native. You will find the pronunciation weird in the beginning.
Once the sounds of English have been learnt and practising breath group reading is on its way, our next aim towards native speaker pronunciation is to use ‘the weak forms’ of some 30 basic words. Most of them are auxiliary verbs, pronouns or prepositions.

The words to be weakened are: am, are, is, was, were, be, do, does, has, have, had, can, will, shall, would, must, and, as, but, he, his, her, us, them, that, than, some, at, for, to, from

The ‘weakening’ process basically takes place by changing the quality of vowels or leaving out sounds. Here we go …

The original vowel sound in these words is pronounced as / ə / or / i / : were > wə, are > ə
Sometimes the / ə / sound is so short that you can barely hear it: can > k(ə)n, some > s(ə)m
The initial /h/ sound is left out altogether; he > / i: /, her > / ə: /
One or many sounds are not pronounced at all: would > /d/, and > /n/
The weak forms below have little meaning and therefore they can be pronounced ‘carelessly’.

I had personally never noticed the system until it was taught us at the university. For instance, are > /ə/ must > /məs/ he > /i:/ etc.

Learn more about the weak forms in the audio file below. Using the weak forms is the natural way to pronounce these words in most cases.

And now move on to the Oral Practice of the weak forms. Press the button and hit the road.

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2_english-weak-forms-oral-practice.mp3

It is good to be aware of the existence of the weak forms. Having done this exercise you will most likely realize that you need this information in listening exercises as well and you can skip these little words that carry very little meaning and focus on the key word of each sentence.

However, it is important to use to use at least some of these weak forms while speaking in English. It will improve the rhythm and flow of your speech.

Before we start practising we need to point out that any of these words may be in a (stressed) position where they MUST be pronounced in their strong form.

For example:

I saw that boy yesterday. Tom has two sisters and I have one. Are you tired? Yes, I am.

A: You weren’t there in time. B: Yes, I was. Five minutes early, in fact.

Let’s now read the strong form and the weak form and then the examples in bits and finally the complete utterances

	Examples
am əm ‘m	When am I to come? Why am I the first one? Am I the last one? I’m over here. I’m very happy now.
are ə, ər	They’re late. When are you coming? Are you quite sure? II (before a vowel >) We’re all very tired. They’re always happy to see you.
is s / z / iz	My cat’s sleeping. Jim’s very hungry. Jane’s not at home. The bus is coming. The change is bothering me.
was wəz	I was in London. He was ill yesterday. She was angry with the boy.
were wə(r)	We were in the park. They were cheerful. You were in a disco?
be bi	Don’t be so sad! I’ll be right back. You might be right.
do də	Why do you often come late? Why do you like her so much?
does dəz	Why does he write like this? When does the train leave?
can k(ə)n	I can do that. She can play golf well. They can come any time.
will ‘l	I’ll be back soon. We’ll show you the way. They’ll be starting the show soon.
shall ʃəl	I shall be there in a minute. We shall overcome the problem. Don’t worry!
must məs	I must go now. We must phone her at once. We must not forget the date.
and (ə)n	you and I / the girls and the boys / Go and find the kids at once.
us əz	Tell us what happened. He told us a straight lie. Show us the way, please!
he i:	Does he play tennis? Did he win the match? I know he’s not at home.
his iz	I met his brother yesterday. Tom and his sister are waiting for you.
her ə	We met Jane and her parents last night. We saw her at a party.
has s / z / əz	She’s got two cats. Jim has seen the film. He has found the key. / (after s-sound> əz ) The place has changed a lot. / The bus has arrived.
have v əv	They’ve learnt the lesson. We’ve got two minutes more. The kids’ve got to come with me. The boys’ve known it all along.
had d əd	They had taken the test. We had forgotten it. (after a consonant > əv) The men had eaten at eleven. The kids had gone swimming..
would ‘d	He’d like to come with us. We’d like to show it to you
as əz	as good as new / as soon as possible / Do as he says.
but bət	But I knew it. He said it but I didn’t believe him. But why not?
that ðət	He admits that he did it. She claimed that we had often been late.
than ðən	better than anyone / Your car is much faster than mine.
some səm	some butter /some milk /some of us / I’ll meet her some other day
at ət	at school / at the station / at home / We met her at the railway station.
for fə fər	for me / for me and you / Save some of the cake for the children, too fər (before a vowel) for all of us / for everyone / She bought the shirt for Evelyn.
to tə	to London / to me / Give it to me. He’s coming to Leeds soon.
from frəm	from London / From me with love to you. He’s coming from Leeds.

TO SUM UP, here are my recommendations to improve your students pronunciation

practise the sounds of English little by little
make the pupils pronounce textbook words separately in lessons
make them read the texts in smaller units / in breath groups
practise the use the weak forms to get to the right rhythm in English
introduce the concept of ‘intonation’ and encourage the students to imitate the models (See more about intonation in ‘Classroom phrases’)