Session 1 - Consonant R & W

This session covers:

• Consonant ‘R’
• Consonant ‘W’

Consonant R

Two things to remember when making an American ‘R’ sound...

• Your mouth and lips come forward, like you are going to kiss.
• Your tongue moves back in your mouth, NOT forward. 

‘R’ at the beginning of words

• Rock
• Rip
• Reach
• Road
• Rain
• Rich
• Rome
• Raise
• Robe
• Rice

‘R’ at the end of words or after a vowel

• Car
• Far
• Star
• Door
• Bear
• Four
• Air
• Year
• Turn
• Poor

‘R’ in the middle of words

• Very
• Direction
• Arrange
• Erase
• Correct
• Marry
• Garage
• Original
• Hurry
• Zero
• Marine
• Berry
• Operation
• Caring
• Arrive
• Everyone

‘R’ Sentence 

The round rooster rushed into the wrong road. 

R’ Blends

Remember...

‘R’ is the strongest sound of the blend.

When the blend is at the beginning of a word, your mouth prepares for the ‘R’, by coming forward before you even say the word.

‘R’ blends at the beginning of words

• Training
• Trust
• Trip
• Great
• Tropical
• Bring
• Print
• President
• Product
• Cracker
• Crawl
• Break

‘R’ blends in the middle of words

• Subtract
• Waitress
• Nutrition
• Australia
• Introduce
• Compress
• Oppression
• Betray

‘R’ practice sentences

• The story he read on the radio was incorrect.
• Her career in the law firm is permanent.
• Richard and Brooke took a ride in their brand new Range Rover truck.
• Everyone will respect the Royal Family when they arrive at the airport.
• The trip to the Rocky Mountains will be rescheduled on Friday.

Consonant ‘W’

Practice first with --»  ‘OO’

then go into  -- » ‘OOOOOWAWAWA’

Remember, A “W” is always makes a “W” sound.

It NEVER makes a “V” sound.

‘W’ Sentence

What will we do?

Comparing ‘R’ and ‘W’

• Rick – Wick
• Right – White

Remember, the ‘W’ sound is also at the

beginning of the words One and Once.

‘W’ at the beginning of words

• Why
• Which
• When
• What
• Wipe
• Wish
• Weight
• Wing

‘W’ in the middle of words

• Always
• Away
• Beware
• Rewind
• Awake
• Someone
• Halloween
• Hollywood

‘W’ practice sentences

• The wind from the west was very wet.(Notice very has a /v/ sound) .
• We woke up and washed the white washcloth.
• We waited for the waitress to give us water.
• We had a wonderful time in Washington and Wisconsin.

‘Q’ words (produced as a KW sound)

• Question
• Quiet
• Queen
• Qualify
• Quit
• Quebec
• Quilt
• Choir

Paragraph Practice

Word Review -

• Ray
• Russia
• Dreamed
• Roller Coaster
• Grand Canyon
• Arizona
• Friend
• Fred
• Norway
• Railroad
• Traveling
• Creative
• Perfect
• Construct
• Everyone

Ray was born in Russia. He dreamed of building the perfect roller coaster at the 

Grand Canyon in Arizona. He had a friend named Fred who lived in Norway. Fred’s 

profession was designing railroad tracks and his career involved traveling around the world. Ray thought it would be perfect if Fred designed his roller coaster ride. Fred was creative, brilliant and worked well with railroad tracks. He would be the perfect engineer for the project. The ride took two years to construct and was painted red and white. Everyone really wanted to ride the brand-new roller coaster.

Session 2 - Voicing S and Z

This session covers:

Voicing

Consonant pairs

• Consonant ‘S’
• Consonant ‘Z’

Voicing...

Is when your vocal cords are vibrating in your throat, creating a “buzzing sound”.

Say “Ahhhh”

Can you feel the vibrations in your neck?

• all vowels are voiced
• some consonants are voiced, some are not

Paired Consonants:

Unvoiced Voiced  >>  Voiced

• P                     >>         B
• T                    >>          D
• F                    >>           V
• SH                 >>        ZSH
• K                    >>           G
• S                     >>          Z

Three rules for S/Z endings 

This is easier than it looks! 

Rule #1 

If a word ends in a sound that is unvoiced (such as P,T,K,F), you add an unvoiced /S/ 

Examples:

• 1 cup,
• 2 cups

(the ‘p’ in cup is unvoiced, so you just add an unvoiced ‘s’)

1 cat,

2 cats

(the ‘t’ in cat is unvoiced, so just add an unvoiced ‘s’)

I break, he breaks

I stop, he stops 

Rule #2 

If a word ends in any of these sounds: ‘s,z,sh,ch,or dg (j)’

when adding an ‘S’ ending, add... IZZZZZZ 

Examples:

• 1 Page
• 1 Bus
• 1 Lunch
• I Raise,
• I Brush,
• I Push,
• 2 Pages
• 2 Buses
• 2 Lunches
• He Raises
• He Brushes
• He Pushes

Rule #3 

If a word ends in a vowel sound (like the word Tree) or a voiced consonant (like the word Game), then when you add an ‘S’, continue the voicing throughout the entire word, and it should become a voiced ZZZZ. 

Examples:

• 1 Tree,
• 1 Day,
• 1 Shoe,
• I Fly,
• 1 Game,
• 1 Head,
• 1 Train,
• 1 Song,
• 2 Treezzzz (correctly spelled Trees)
• 2 Days
• 2 Shoes
• He Flies
• 2 Games
• 2 Heads
• 2 Trains
• 2 Songs

Some common words where S’s are pronounced as Z’s

• IS
• HIS
• AS
• WAS
• THESE
• THOSE
• EASY
• BECAUSE

Paragraph Practice 

If you have a color printer, notice that all voiced S/Z sounds are in the color Red to

help you remember to add voicing. 

Another zippy, zappy, crazy day comes to a close. As we zoom up to Joe’s

snooze zone, Zoe Jones of Zodiac Zoo plays with her zipper. 

Last week, Jim’s brothers were picked to represent their country in the Olympic

Games. Two of the brothers were swimmers, while the other two were long

distance runners. All of the brothers wore glasses. These athletes worked hard

at qualifying for the games and were hoping to come home with prizes. Since

the brothers go to the same university, they often take the same courses. This

makes studying easier and gives them more time to do other things. 

On Thursday, I had a very lazy day. I woke up early and first squeezed oranges

into juice. I then got dressed and watched the sunrise come up over the

mountains. It was so beautiful that I took many pictures with my camera and I

used three rolls of film. After drinking two cups of coffee, I got dressed, left the

house, and walked three miles home.

Session 3 - TH, Voiced T

This session covers:

1. The Unvoiced ‘TH’ Sound
2. The Voiced ‘TH’ Sound
3. ‘THR’ Blends
4. Voicing the ‘T’ Sound

The ‘Unvoiced TH’ Sound 

Flat tongue protruding through your teeth. Maintain a steady air stream.Stretch out the ‘TH’ sound. 

Example: 

Think of the word ‘Thumb” as having two beats

Th >> umb 

‘TH’ practice words 

Beginning Middle End 

• Thanks Anything Bath
• Thick Bathmat North
• Thunder Toothpick Beneath
• Thursday Athletic Fourth
• Think Mouthwash South
• The ‘Voiced TH’ Sound

Voiced ‘TH’ at the beginning of words

• The (The book)
• That (That house)
• They (They came over)
• Them (Give them water)
• There (There it is)
• This (This is my nose)
• Those (Those boys are good)
• These (These are my parents)

Voiced ‘TH’ in the middle of words 

• Clothing
• Leather
• Mother
• Another
• Weather
• Northern

Voiced ‘TH’ at the end of words 

• Smooth
• Bathe
• Breathe
• Practice Phrases
• This and that
• A tablecloth
• Winter clothing
• Athens, Greece
• That’s the one
• Her skin is smooth
• Thirty Day’s notice
• A famous author
• Here and there
• False teeth
• Thread the needle
• A thoughtful gift
• Thunder and lightening
• Thumbs up

Practice Sentences 

• Thelma arrived in town last Thursday.
• I’m having trouble threading this needle.
• I need 33 thick thermometers.
• The thing they like best about Athens is the weather.
• This thrilling novel was written by a famous author.
• He will be through with his work at three-thirty.
• Now and then, she likes to buy new clothing.
• They thought they were going to Northern Spain.
• Which tablecloth shall we use for the party?
• That was the thirty-third theatre to open. 

THR Blends 

• Thread “thread the needle”
• Throw “throw the ball”
• Throat “my throat is sore”
• Thrill “a thrilling ride”
• Three “three more days”
• Threw “he threw the ball”
• Throne “the king sits on a throne” 

Paragraph Practice

Nurse Thatcher was thankful it was Thursday. She knew that on Thursday she had to deliver 33 boxes of thermometers to the North American Athletic Club. They thought that thermometers were necessary for testing the hydrotherapy baths. This was thought to benefit the athletes with arthritis. The athletic trainers required authorization to provide hydrotherapy to the youthful athletes on the three bulletin boards with thumbtacks throughout the athletic club. Rather than risk the health of the athletes, they thoroughly checked the thousands of thermometers to insure their worthiness; otherwise they needed to be thrown away.

“TH” Exceptions 

Although the following words are spelled with a ‘TH’, they are pronounced as

a ‘T’:

• Thomas
• Thompson
• Theresa
• Thailand
• Thames
• Esther
• Thyme

Voicing the ‘T’ Sound 

If a ‘T’ falls within two voiced sounds (usually vowels), the ‘T’ becomes voiced like a ‘D’. 

Examples:

• Water » Wader (the whole word is voiced)
• Better » Bedder
• Butter » Budder

Voiced ‘T’ Practice

• Betty bought a bit of better butter.
• But, said she,
• This butter’s bitter.
• If I put it in my batter,
• It’ll make my batter bitter.

Session 4 - F and V, Sh and Voiced SH

This session covers:

• Consonant ‘F’
• Consonant ‘V’
• The Unvoiced ‘SH’Sound
• The Voiced ‘ZSH’Sound

Consonants ‘F’ and ‘V’

Consonants ‘F’ and ‘V’ are produced with contact of your upper teeth and lower lip. Think of it as “biting your lower lip”. Maintain a steady air stream. 

They are both identical, except the ‘F’ is unvoiced, and the ‘V’ is voiced.

Correct voicing will make your speech clearer and more intelligible.

Practice Words with ‘F’

• Foot
• Find
• Finally
• Family
• Freedom
• Laugh
• Telephone
• Symphony
• Rough

Practice Sentences

Do you feel like a physical wreck? Are you fed up with your feeling of fatigue?

Have you had enough of feeling rough? Why don’t you fight fever with

Pharaoh’s Friend. A medicine that is tough on Flu.

Practice Words with ‘V’

• Vote
• Vine
• Oven
• Evaluate
• Voice
• Travel
• River
• Every
• Glove
• Alive
• Leave

Comparing ‘F’ and ‘V’

• Feel – Veal
• Safe – Save
• Fat – Vat
• Fine – Vine
• Face – Vase
• Fan – Van
• Foul – Vowel
• Proof – Prove

Practice Phrases

• A famous athlete
• A food vendor
• The Foreign Service
• Summer vacation
• Vocabulary test
• Over the rainbow
• Our first victory
• Harvard University
• Husband and wife
• Very well done

Practice Sentences

• Her promotion in the firm was well deserved.
• There was only one survivor on the island.
• Steve noticed that the olive juice must have stained his sleeve.
• The street vendor was selling souvenirs to tourists.
• Dave gave me his car so that I could drive on New Year’s Eve.
• There were several dents in the rear fender.
• Tom placed several tomatoes from the vine into a basket.

The Unvoiced ‘SH’ Sound

To make the Unvoiced ‘SH’ sound, bring your mouth and lips forward, teeth should be slightly apart. Produce air stream. Words beginning with ‘SH” begin with this sound. (So are the words “Sugar”, “Sure”, “Chef”and  “Chicago”.)

‘SH’ practice words 

Beginning

• She
• Sugar
• Sure
• Shadow
• Sheep
• Shirt
• Shoe
• Shape
• Chicago
• Chef

Middle

• Nation
• Motion
• Mission
• Special
• Reputation
• Official
• Machine
• Fishing
• Insurance
• Sunshine
• Ocean
• Tissue
• Addition
• Subtraction

End

• Rush
• Dish
• Establish
• Splash
• Irish
• Fresh
• Finish

‘SH’ Sentences

• The fishing trip was planned and we left to go to the ocean.
• Was the chef ashamed to use the precious sugar?
• Sharon gave a special performance.
• He will be stationed in Washington, D.C, the nation’s capital.
• She went to a fashion show after taking a shower.
• She sells seashells by the seashore.
• The social club was praised for their cooperation.

‘SH’ Practice

Joe's weather machine shows a sharp drop in air pressure, especially offshore.Ships in motion on the ocean should be sure to use caution.

The Voiced ‘ZSH’ Sound

The Voiced ‘ZSH’ sound is exactly like the ‘SH’ except voicing is added. This is an important sound in American English.

‘ZSH’ practice words

Middle

• Usual
• Unusual
• Usually
• Vision
• Visual
• Conclusion
• Asia
• Version
• Division
• Casual
• Television

End

• Beige
• Massage
• Prestige

Practice Sentences

• It’s not unusual for people to study division in Asia.
• I usually use a measuring cup to measure erosion.
• The beige walls were the usual color in the treasury building.

List things that are appropriate for each column. Then say them out loud in full sentences for practice.

Example: 

•  “It’s usually hot in the summer.”   
•  “It’s unusual for me to be late for an appointment.”
  

Session 6 - Word Endings

This session covers:

• Word Endings

Make sure that the final sounds in your words come through

clearly and fully. Don’t drop off or shorten the endings!

‘P’ endings

• I hope the group will sleep on the ship.
• The soda pop spilled out of the cup, over the map and onto her lap.
• Was the Egg Drop Soup cheap?

‘B’ endings

• We cleaned the cobweb from the doorknob in the bathtub.
• Rob broke his golf club when he slipped on the ice cube.
• The crab was under the cement slab at the yacht club.
• The ticket stub was found in the taxicab.

‘T’ endings

• Kate left her cat on the mat as she flew a kite.
• The sailboat came into the port to join the fleet.
• What bait will make the fish bite? A cricket or a piece of meat?

‘D’ endings

• Fred will decide which sled should be painted red.
• David tried to send a refund back to England.
• He could not hide his report card behind the chalk board.

Three rules for ‘–ed’ endings

Many verbs that are in the past tense, end in ‘–ed’.

(Example:“Today I walk, yesterday I walked”)

Rule #1

If a word ends in an unvoiced consonant, when adding ‘-ed’, just add an

Unvoiced ‘T’

Example:

• Today I jump, yesterday I jumped. (pronounced jump-T)
• Today I walk, yesterday I walked. (pronounced walk-T)

Rule #2

If a word ends in a voiced consonant, add a Voiced ‘D’

Example:

• Today I rub, yesterday I rubbed. (pronounced rub-D)
• I cleaned the kitchen.
• I poured the milk.
• I scrubbed the floor.
• I tagged the clothing.
• I spilled some juice.
• I trimmed the tree.
• I moved to California. The clock buzzed all night.

Rule #3

If a word ends in a ‘T’ or a ‘D’ sound, we add a Voiced ‘ED’

Example:

• Today, I lift the ball. Yesterday, I lifted the ball.
• I heated up my dinner.
• He voted this morning.
• He handed me his report.
• I traded in my old car.
• She added some information. 

If you have a color printer, notice that all voiced ‘D’ endings are in the color 

Red to help you remember to add voicing.

Bob raked the leaves and then started to wash his car. He then loaded up the dishwasher and finished washing his dishes.

Susan spilled her drink on the spotte drug. She cleaned it up with a napkin,

which wasted a lot of time.

He thanked me and offered me money, if I picked up the used equipment. 

3 Nasal Sounds

• ‘M’
• ‘N’
• ‘NG’

practice –ng endings

Ring      Sing      Thing      Bring

practice sentences

• I have a feeling that she is working too much.
• She has been wearing a hearing aid so that she could sing.
• He is looking forward to speaking at the Thanksgiving celebration.

Session 5 - L

This session covers:

• Consonant ‘ L’

Things to remember when making an American ‘L’sound…

Your bottom jaw should be as wide open as possible.

Your tongue should RISE UP (independently of your jaw) and touch right behind your top teeth.

Produce the ‘L’ sound by dropping and relaxing your tongue.

Practice “LA, LA, LA”, keeping your bottom jaw lowered and open while only raising your tongue.

‘L’ at the beginning of words

• Lunch
• Local
• London
• Learn
• Large
• Life
• Lobby
• Library
• Lucky
• Lift
• Laugh
• Long

‘L’ in the middle of words

• Inflation
• Believe
• Volume
• Glue
• Elevator
• Solve
• Pulling
• Flood
• Delete
• Elect
• Alive
• Color

‘L’ at the end of a word

To produce an ‘L’ at the end of a word, remember to slowly raise your tongue upward, towards your upper teeth, while keeping your bottom jaw as open as possible. The ‘L’ sound comes from the tongue movement, not from the placement.

(Using your finger to push down on your bottom teeth to keep your jaw open, may be helpful for practicing.) 

Practice words

• Will
• Ball
• Tall
• Call
• Small
• Control
• Bowl
• Apple
• Miracle
• Powerful
• Control
• Financial
• People

‘L’ Sentences

• The lollipop fell into the cool water.
• Her driver’s license was pulled out of the blue golf bag.
• Blake’s bowling ball fell under his tools.
• Carl could not locate the lemons or the limes.
•  he school was a mile away from the hill.
• The golf club was made of steel.
• Al’s goal was to play baseball with Carol.
•  A certified letter was delivered for the enrollment list.
• It was revealing to look at the smiling lawyer.

 ‘FL’ Blend Poem

• A flea and a fly, flew up in a flue.
• Said the flea, “Let us fly!”
• Said the fly, “Let us flee!”
• So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Practice using ‘Will’

• Will you empty the garbage?
• Will you ask her to clean the kitchen?
• Will you prepare a meal for the children?
• When will you begin your studies at college?
• When will she purchase the dress for her wedding?
• Why will he ask them to stay late at work?
• Why will she bring her baby to the meeting?
• How will they know if our flight is delayed?
• Where will the child be going next year?
• Where will they put all of the pillows?
• What will she do with the millions of dollars she won?

Comparing ‘R’ and ‘L’

•  Red -  Led
• Rick -  Lick
• Reef -   Leaf
• Rear -  Lear
• Rest -  Less
• Grass -  Glass
• Crime - Climb
• Free -  Flee

 ‘L’ and ‘R’ Combinations

• seal ring
• toll road
• already
• civil rights
• railroad
• rivalry
• coral reef
• jewelry
• schoolroom
• gravel road