Pronunciation Focus Exercises for Lesson One: Sheep and Ship · 4 Clear Up Your Accent ©Jade Joddle Speaking Skills Sheep Ship Exercises EXERCISE: Re-write this sentence, using ee

1

Clear Up Your Accent ©Jade Joddle Speaking Skills Sheep Ship Exercises

Pronunciation Focus

Exercises for Lesson One: Sheep and Ship

Long and Short

The ee sound in Sheep is a long vowel sound…

…in comparison to the short vowel sound i in Ship.

Look at a clock and tap your fingers on the table once each second.

PRACTISE saying the long vowel ee in Sheep so that it lasts for a full second. That

means you will start the word, saying sh at the beginning of one tap, make the ee sound

and keep it going until you stop with the p sound at the second tap. Then say Ship on

the third tap. It should last for only half a second. On the fourth tap, take a breath, then

move on to the next pair of words.

NOTICE: For the sake of practice, we are exaggerating the length of the long ee sound.

In clear natural speech, it’s not so long—especially when it falls in an un-stressed

syllable, such as the second syllable in the words really and species:

really reeee-lee

species speee-shees

Tap one per second…

Long Short

1 2 3 4

Sh-eeeeeee-p Ship Breathe in

B-eeeeeeee-t Bit

H-eeeeeeee-l Hill

Cl-eeeeeeee-n Cling

L-eeeeeeeee-st List

2


Standard Spelling One

The long vowel sound ee can be spelled in many different ways:

beat ea

receive ei

grief ie

legal e

unique i

victory y

The International Phonemic Alphabet (IPA) represents ee with the symbol / i: /

We will use ee as the standard spelling to help us notice this sound.

EXAMPLE: Use the standard spelling ee to re-write all the words in which you hear the

sound ee as in Sheep.

ANSWER:

Shee eeven beleeves leeves feel greef when they fall from the trees.

VIDEO PRACTICE TIP

When you listen to the Video Lesson, give careful attention to how long ee really

is in each different case, and aim to produce the same variety of lengths in your

own speech.

She even believes leaves feel grief when they fall from the trees.

3


EXERCISE: Now you do it! Say the following sentence out loud, then use the standard

spelling ee to re-write all of the words in which you hear this sound.

WRITE HERE:

Standard Spelling Two

The short i sound in Ship is almost always spelt with an i followed by a consonant,

when that consonant is not followed by the letter e.

Long Short

bite bit

site sit

The IPA symbol for the short i sound is / ɪ /.

We will use a capital letter I to help us notice it.

EXERCISE: Re-write this phrase, using a capital letter I to mark every place where you

hear the short i sound:

WRITE HERE:

This disease leads me to feel queasy so easily.

This ship was specifically built for Englishmen.

4


EXERCISE: Re-write this sentence, using ee for the long ee sound in Sheep, and I for

the short i sound in Ship

WRITE HERE:

RHYTHM

EXAMPLE: Say this sentence out loud and listen for the sounds that get a stronger

stress, or that sound like downbeats in a dance, then mark them by underlining.

ANSWER:

A true believer receives the redeemer.

We can also do this by writing the stronger sounds with bigger letters:

ANSWER:


When Christine goes skiing in winter, humility keeps her permanently

pinned to the peak of the hill.


5


The rhythm of this sentence may be represented as follows:

PRACTISE saying this out loud, giving the larger Booms the greater emphasis, like the

downbeats of a drum. Now return to the “true believer” sentence below. Say it out loud

and give it the same rhythm.

EXAMPLE: Now let’s work on this sentence:

When you listen to this sentence in the Video Lesson, notice that the words “really,

really” are said quite quickly, as if they were one word with this rhythm:

a really-really keen

a Boom-da-da-da Dee

Da Boom da Boom-pah da-Boom da da-Boom-pah.


Irene has a really, really keen sense of feeling.

6


PRACTISE saying this several times, tapping out the rhythm to the count like this:

Then practise the end of the sentence like this:

PRACTICE AGAIN saying the whole sentence in a natural and clear way, as it is

performed in the Video Lesson:

Taps 1 2 3 4

A really, really k-eeeeeeeee-n

Taps 1 2 3 4

sense of feeeeeeeeee-ling

CLEAR SPEECH TIP

It’s a common mistake to say the word feeling unclearly, not giving the ee sound

enough length, and letting the L sound swallow it up. The ee sound in feel and

feeling should be just as clear as it is in the words feed and feeding.

Irene has a really, really keen sense of feeling.

7


BREAK IT DOWN

EXAMPLE: Break this word into parts that you can pronounce separately. Also use our

standard spellings ee and I to notice the long ee and short i sound. Finally, also

underline the parts of the word that get the strongest stress or emphasis.

NOTICE The syllable bI gets the main or primary stress, while poss gets a slightly

lesser, secondary stress.

Here’s how it looks printed in IPA in the Cambridge Online Dictionary:

Primary stress is indicated by a mark before and above the syllable ‘bI

Secondary stress is indicated by a mark before and below the syllable ˌposs

Impossibility:

STEP ONE im poss i bi li ty

STEP TWO Im poss I bI lI tee

STEP THREE Im poss I bI lI tee

/ɪmˌpɑs·əˈbɪl·ɪ·t̬i/

da boom da Boom da dee

8


EXERCISE: Now you do the same with the 3 words in the grey box below.

FIRST STEP: Break them into parts you can pronounce separately.

SECOND STEP: Use our standard spelling ee to re-write parts of the word where you

hear the long ee sound.

STEP THREE: Underline the parts of the word that get the strongest stress or

emphasis.

SPACE TO WRITE YOUR ANSWERS:

NOW PRACTISE pronouncing these three words. First say each syllable separately,

with a separate tap on the table. Then say it again, still making the syllables separate,

but with less space in between. Finally, say the whole word smoothly and naturally, with

the correct rhythm. NOTE: The long ee sound will not really be very long when it occurs

in an un-stressed syllable.

1. reality

2. theology

3. increasingly

9


CLARITY

Consider this short sentence:

PRACTISE this sentence, making clear the difference between witch in and kitchen.

Also practise saying this sentence fast, faster, and then as fast as you possibly can.

Then return to the normal speed, pronouncing it clearly and naturally.

PRACTISE these phrases in the same way: fast, faster, fastest…then back to normal:

Is this the kitchen he kissed the witch in?

CLEAR SPEECH TIP

NOTICE that the words witch in almost rhyme with the word kitchen. But do NOT

say witchen to make it rhyme with kitchen.

1. the British citizens listed in it

2. this list of his skills

CLEAR SPEECH TIP

Make sure the short i sound is clear in the word skills, just as it is in the word

sticks.

10


Consider the short sentence:

The word irrigate should be broken into parts like this:

i ri gate

just like the similar word integrate: in te grate.

PRACTISE pronouncing this pair of words, first very clearly in separate parts, then

gradually connecting the parts to sound natural and smooth, but still clear:

Peter feels this is the easiest way to irrigate these fields.

in te grate i ri gate

PRACTISE in the same way this pair of words:

acquittal a kwit ul

a squirrel a skwi rul

11


Consider the short sentence:

NOTICE: Despite the fact that it is spelt with four syllables: in ter est ing,

the word interesting is correctly pronounced with three syllables, which we may

represent as follows:

My sister is so interesting, it’s impossible, I think, to resist her.

CLEAR SPEECH TIP

NOTICE that the words resist her almost rhyme with the word sister. But do NOT

say resister to make it rhyme with sister. PRACTISE the sentence above again,

making clear the difference between resist her and sister.

interest in trest

interesting in tres ting

Notice also that the word specifically is pronounced

spe si fick lee

12


LEARN ABOUT THE WORD

The word interesting comes from the Latin phrase: quod inter est. This means: what is

between two things—that is, what is the difference between two things? Differences are

what naturally attract our curiosity, our inter-est. For example, what is between an apple

and a pear—that is, what is the difference between them? We also see the word in

sentences such as: It’s in my interest that this company make a profit. In other words, it

makes a difference to me: the difference between making a profit and not making one

matters to me.

TAKE IT WITH YOU

Everything we have discussed in this lesson can be noticed in this sentence. So

memorise this sentence, notice everything interesting in it, and take it with you.

ANSWERS

This disease leads me to feel queasy so easily.

This diseese leeds mee to feel queesee so eesilee.

This ship was specifically built for Englishmen.

ThIs shIp was specIfIcally bIlt for InglIshmen.

I see she is singing really, really beautifully.

13


When Christine goes skiing in winter, humility keeps her permanently pinned to the peak of

the hill.

When ChrIsteene goes skee-Ing In wInter, humIlItee keeps her permanentlee pInned to the

peek of the hIll.

reality re a li ty theology the o lo gy

ree a li tee thee o lo gee

ree a li tee thee o lo gee

increasingly in crea sing ly

in cree sing lee

in cree sing lee

Documents

Pronunciation Focus Exercises for Lesson One: Sheep and Ship · 4 Clear Up Your Accent ©Jade Joddle Speaking Skills Sheep Ship Exercises EXERCISE: Re-write this sentence, using ee