Beginner Lesson 7
Creation - Day 5
Speaking Exercise
Pronunciation Practice
Review the Schwa Sound
In this lesson, there are three words with the schwa sound. You learned this sound in lesson 6. Let’s practice the words from this lesson that have the schwa sound. Notice that this sound can be spelled with any vowel or any combination of vowels.
Listen and repeat:
command, ocean, was
Practice the Schwa Sound
Learn the Short "I" Sound
Many English learners have trouble with the short i sound. In many languages, the letter i makes the “ee” sound. But in English, this letter can make many sounds. The most common sound is called short i, and it is similar to the short e sound.
To pronounce the short sound of the letter i, the corners of your mouth should be pulled back, as if you are smiling. Your tongue should be a little bit relaxed in the bottom of your mouth.
It is very important to think about how tense, or tight, your tongue is. If your tongue is totally relaxed, you will make the schwa sound. If it is a little bit tense, you will pronounce the short e sound. If it is a little tighter, you will pronounce the short i sound. If it is very tense, you will pronounce the long e, or “ee” sound. The back of your tongue will also rise a little bit each time you make it more tense.
You can practice this progression to see how the sounds are different. Make each sound as you make your tongue a little more tense each time. Start with schwa, then short e, then short i, then long e (ee).
Watch this video to help you pronounce the short i sound.
Practice with Short "I"
Here are words with the short i sound from today’s verses. If you don’t know what these words mean, you can use a dictionary of your own language and English, or find them in an English dictionary. I like to use the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary.
Listen and repeat:
living, swim, it, his, increase, live, in, fifth
Practice the Short “I” Sound
Speaking Exercise
Practice speaking a sentence from this Bible lesson.
Instructions:
- Listen to the sentence one time. Only listen, do not talk.
- Play it again. This time, stop often. Repeat the words you hear.
- Practice many times.
Do your best to say the words the way the speaker says them. If you are learning American English, imitate her pronunciation the best you can.
Don’t worry if you have an accent. The most important thing is that people can understand you. Practice the vowel sounds, and learn the stress patterns in each word.
Here we go! Do your best.
Creation – Day 5 – Speaking Text
Click HERE to view a PDF of the speaking text. How did you do?
Now, move on to the Grammar Exercise.
