English Pronunciation

Improve your speaking skills

Sprachenzentrum der Philipps-Universität Marburg
Biegenstraße 12, D-35032 Marburg
Tel. +49 6421/28-21325, sz@staff.uni-marburg.de

Vowels
1. How Do I Pronounce Consonant Blends? (bl, br, ch, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pl, pr, sc, sh,
sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw, th, tr, tw, wh, wr).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=485J4amokuA or www.manythings.org/b/e/4541/

Consonant Cluster Exercises

A consonant cluster is a group of consonants that appear together in a word without any
vowels between them. When reading clusters, each letter within the cluster is
pronounced individually:
www.firstschoolyears.com/literacy/word/phonics/clusters/clusters.htm

2. How Do I Pronounce Two Vowels? (oa, ai, ay, ea)

Practice with the song “When Two Vowels Go Walking”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fb3Pdt8kxg

3. The Magic ‘e’

A video that teaches children about the magic e (silent e), which lengthens the
preceding vowel sound when it comes at the end of a word.
Song “The Magic E Song” www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZhl6YcrxZQ
Song “The Silent E” www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVeq9a4dFIU

4. Long Vowels Word List

rbeaudoin333.homestead.com/files/long_vowels/list_fry_words_1.pdf

British vs. American Pronunciation (BE vs. AE)

YouTube Channel YouTube Channel

(AE) – Rachel’s (BE) – Anglo Link
English - www.youtube.com/cha
www.rachelsenglish. nnel/UCaRMivfyupj3u
com/video- cUyJbZbCNg?sub_co
category/pronunciatio nfirmation=1
n

Collaboration of these two channels pointing out the differences between AE and BE
pronunciation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIZ78RwhSPc

1
English Pronunciation
Improve your speaking skills
Sprachenzentrum der Philipps-Universität Marburg
Biegenstraße 12, D-35032 Marburg
Tel. +49 6421/28-21325, sz@staff.uni-marburg.de

The Connected Speech

“When we speak naturally we do not pronounce a word, stop, and then say the next word
in the sentence. Fluent speech flows with a rhythm and the words bump into each other.
To make speech flow smoothly the way we pronounce the end and beginning of some
words can change depending on the sounds at the beginning and end of those words.
These changes are described as features of connected speech” (BBC Learning English).

For further linguistic explanations on this topic, explore the YouTube channel Linguistics
Marburg: www.youtube.com/user/LinguisticsMarburg?feature=watch.

1. Learn how the Connected Speech works in English:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7VREyOLPz0

2. Linking - Explore how native speakers of English naturally merge multiple words
together until they sound as if they are only one word.
www.pronuncian.com/Linking/Default.aspx

Intonation and Stress

1. Rhythm in Speech (AE)

www.elementalenglish.com/rhythm-in-speech/

2. Intonation in Speech (Part 1-7)

Speaking and understanding English doesn’t just come
from using correct grammar and vocabulary. Native English
speakers convey meaning in their sentences with pitch -
the ups and downs - and the musical notes of their
sentences. Learn how to do that in this video:
www.elementalenglish.com/introduction-to-intonation-
english-pronunciation-lesson/

3. Word Stress in 2-syllable Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives

This video explains why the noun the PREsent is stressed on the 1st syllable and the
verb form to preSENT on the 2nd.
 www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOcuwgpyaeI

2
English Pronunciation
Improve your speaking skills
Sprachenzentrum der Philipps-Universität Marburg
Biegenstraße 12, D-35032 Marburg
Tel. +49 6421/28-21325, sz@staff.uni-marburg.de

4. Word Stress on Suffixes (Part 1-4)

The videos explain how speakers can learn the stress pattern of words which have the
stress on the suffix (-eer, -ique, -ese, -ee).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh7oENCD0Nk&feature=BFa&list=PL86EC24EE7FC5AB0A

Practice the use of word stress with quizzes:

www.soundsofenglish.org/hollys_corner/wordstress/intro_ex1.htm

5. Vowel Changes (e.g land vs. England). Learn the rules of pronunciation of English
vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsafCqJC1wU

6. The Bossy ‘r’ Change

The ‘r’ likes to change the sound of the vowels i, e, a, o, u (e.g. cat -
> car). These vowels are also called r-controlled vowels. The video
explains what happens to the sound patterns of these words.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE2HFLDPPDc

7. How To Pronounce Past Tense Forms

Dr. English expl2346ains how speakers can distinguish the three possible ways of
pronouncing past tense forms in English: watched / wanted /listened.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAfs1h6tgLc

8. Tongue Twisters
Tongue twisters are especially useful in pronunciation when focusing on specific, related
phonemes, or sounds. The British Council has collected famous tongue twisters with
which you can exercise your pronunciation muscles.
learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/tongue-twisters

9. The Silent Letters in English A-Z

Silent letters make the spelling of words different from their pronunciation.
Here’s a list of common words with silent letters from A to Z!
www.espressoenglish.net/silent-letters-in-english-from-a-to-z/

The IPA
This video explains how to manage the British English IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
chart: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LzpH3AHX5g&index=2&list=PL67CF2C29C5D476A3

Use an Interactive Phonetic (IP) chart to improve your pronunciation:

www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/phonemic-chart
www.onestopenglish.com/skills/pronunciation/phonemic-chart-and-
app/interactive-phonemic-chart/

Phonetics Focus
Learn all about phonetics and practice it. cambridgeenglishonline.com/Phonetics_Focus/