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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Week 2: Reading Sentences

Let’s Read Some Sentences

The following sentences contain some phonetic vowels we have studied in class. Read them carefully, and make sure you are pronouncing them correctly. Pay attention to the following key:

Tense “i:" /iy/

Lax “i:" /ɪ/

Epsilon: /ɛ/

The vowel /ey/: /ey/

1. That scene in that movie was scary.

2. Pete misses his mom a lot.

3. There are lots of dead fish in the riverbanks.

4. If Rick heals faster, he will go to Sweden.

5. Kim met her roommate last Friday.

6. I found a lot of red and green beads on my bed.

7. After the race, Lynn was sweating a lot.

8. Do you like beans? Beans are full of protein.

9. Tim ate eight peaches in a day.

10. Beets are sweet vegetables that people eat in salads.

To get a copy of the exercise, go over here!

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Week 1: Transcribing the /iy/

Transcribing Words

Containing Tense “i” /iy/

All the words included in the chart below are pronounced with a tense “i.” Keep in mind that the tense “i” is similar to the /i/-sound we have in Spanish.

First, repeat each word several times so you can get familiarized with the way each one is pronounced.

Second, transcribe the rest of the words that have not been transcribed. Download a copy of this list of words by clicking HERE!

Third, bring your chart to class to check the exercise with the whole class.

Word	IPA	Word	IPA
bee	/biy/	beef	/biyf/
beer		creek
bleed		deed
cheek		feel
cheese		flee
feed	/fiyd/	geeks	/giyks/
heal		free
heat		hear
jeans		lead
leaf		leak
lean	/liyn/	mead	/miyd/
meal		mean
meat		peace
neat		peak
peach		seat

Check your answers over here!

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