Week 6: Contrastive Words with Schwa

Contrastive Words with Schwa and Other Vowels

/ʌ/	/æ/	/ʌ/	/æ/
luck	lack	suck	sack
some	Sam	fun	fan
but	bat	stuck	stack
mud	mad	ton	tan
dumb	dam	much	match

/ʌ/	/ɛ/	/ʌ/	/ɛ/
but	bet	flood	fled
ton	ten	bug	beg
done	den	must	messed
blood	bled	bunch	bench

/ʌ/	/a/	/ʌ/	/a/
cup	cop	duck	dock
shut	shot	dull	doll
rub	rob	bum	bomb
fund	fond	stuck	stock

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Week 5: Conversation for Linking Practice

Two Parents-to-be

Read the following conversation that you can find on your textbooks on pages 29 & 30. Mark all linking in it.

Donna	Bob, I want to talk to you.
Bob	Are you all right, Donna?
Donna	Don’t be alarmed. I saw Dr. Johnson at the hospital. You’re going to be a father! Our baby will be born in October.
Bob	I’m in shock. How do you feel?
Donna	I’m feeling on top of the world. I’ve got a list of names for the baby.
Bob	If it is a girl, let’s call her Donna after her mom.
Donna	Donna is fine for a middle name. How about Connie or Barbara for her first name?
Bob	Fine. If it is a boy, we’ll name him Don.
Donna	Better yet, if it is a boy, let’s call him Bob after his father. If it is a girl, we’ll call her Barbara.
Bob	Donna, maybe you want to name her Rhonda after your father’s sister. Then, if it is a boy, we can name him Ron.
Donna	We don´t want to forget your mother Carla. So, let’s call him Carl if he is a boy.
Bob	I think we ought to stop. This could go on and on.
Donna	It’s not really a problem. Now we have name for our first four darling babies.
Bob	Donna, you’ve gone too far. One at a time is enough for this mom and pop. Donna or Don is a good start for now!

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Week 4: Text Reading (2)

A letter with diagraphs

Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, CA

Read the following letter aloud. Pay attention to the words with /æ/.

Dear Dæd,

Æt læst Cærol and I are in Sæn Fræncisco. It’s an æbsolutely fæbulous city! Æs we stænd æt the top of Telegræph Hill, we can see Ælcatraz. We plæn to cætch a cable car and visit Grænd Ævenue in Chinatown. Æfter thæt, we’ll græb a tæxicæb to the Jæpanese Gardens. Yesterday, we træveled to Næpa Vælley. We also pæssed through the Nætional Park. Æfter Sæn Diego, our læst stop is Disneylænd in Los Ængeles. Cælifornia is a fantæstic state. We hæve lots of photogræphs and pæckages for the fæmily.

We´ll be bæck Sæturday æfternoon, Jænuary 1^st.

Love,

Glædys

P.S. We need cæsh. Please send money æs fæst æs you cæn!

Napa Valley, California

Get a copy of the letter with the diagraph here!

See it here!

This "letter" is on your textbooks on page 26.

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Week 4: Text Reading

The Story of the Titanic

Read the story of the Titanic. Circle all words that are pronounced with the vowel /æ/. The number in parentheses represents the total number of /æ/ words in each sentence.

Example: One of the great tragedies in the last century was the sinking of the Titanic. (3) /tay’tænɪk/

1. The Titanic was traveling to New York across the Atlantic in 1912. (3)

2. This grand and elaborate ship had over 2,200 passengers. (4)

3. It crashed into an iceberg and sank in about two and a half hours. (3)

4. Telegraphs warnings reached the Titanic too late. (2)

5. After the crash, upper and lower class passengers ran about in a panic. (6)

6. Women and children had a chance to cram into small boats at the last minute. (5)

7. The captain and other passengers could not abandon the ship. (3)

8. Actor and actresses reenacted the accident in an Academy Award movie. (5)

9. The story of the Titanic remains a sad and tragic chapter in our past. (5)

Remember that this exercise is on page 25 of your textbooks.

The answers to the exercise are here!

To get a copy of the answers, download it here!

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Week 4: Reading Sentences and Pharses

Words with the Diagraph

Repeat the following phrases and sentences. The colored a-vowels indicate that you have a diagraph /æ/.

01. last chance

02. I’ll be back.

03. at a glance

04. wrap it up

05. Is that a fact?

06. Hand me a pack of matches.

07. I have to catch a taxicab.

08. Ralph can’t stand carrots.

09. Al is a happily married man.

10. He who laughs last, laughs best!

This reading exercise is on your textbooks on page 24.

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Week 3: Transcription Exercise

Transcription Exercise

To start with, let us read the following words to be certain how they are pronounced. After that, transcribe them on your notebooks.

01. minute

02. maybe

03. briefly

04. pieces

05. sixty

06. leaving

07. payday

08. itchy

09. living

10. really

11. petting

12. very

13. invented

14. many

15. believe

To see the answers, download it here.

To get a copy of the answers, download it here.

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Week 3: Reading Exercise, Paper Inventions

An Egyptian papyrus

Paper Inventions

What is a book made of? When we read books, magazines, and newspapers, we rarely stop to think about the paper used to make it. Without this invention our lives would be very difficult.

Paper, an old Egyptian invention

Paper is one of the most important inventions of all times. The word paper comes from the word papyrus –a grasslike plant. The Egyptians first used papyrus around the year 3000 B.C. to make a kind of paper. In A.D. 105, a Chinese man named Ts’ai-Lun created a new type of paper using pieces of old cloth. For centuries, people all over the world used this Chinese method to make paper. In 1838, Charles Fenerty, a Canadian man, invented a new method of papermaking using wood. Today, most of the paper we use is made from wood.

A papyrus plant

Get a copy of the text to practice on your own here!

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