Difficult pronunciation

How to correctly pronounce the th-

sound.

3 November 2015

The most common words.

Year 1 to 4.Important that the pupils can pronounce the most common words.The, that, their, they, with, this, there, then, them these, than.

Quest 1 - 4Quest presents four difficult sounds in year 1 to 4.Th – that, something, month, Thursday…Ch – chair, cheese, chocolate, church…Sh – shine, sheep, shop, share…Qu – queen, quack, quiet …

Why the th-sound?A common mistake: the learner replaces with a Norwegian /t/. /tn/ versus /n/.Another common mistake: the learner pronounces /s/ instead of //. This may lead to confusion between ”sick” and ”thick”.Regarding /ð/ there are a lot of Norwegians who pronounce this as /d/.

Focus on the th-sound.There is two different sounds.The voiced - with vibration /ð/The voiceless – no vibration /θ/How would you say this?

Theo and Thelma are teething this month.

Voiced sound /ð/With vibration.Ask the pupils to place their fingers on their throat. Their tongue between their teeth. The air is to be let out between the tongue and teeth.Difficult? Ask the pupils to make a /z/ sound, then put their tongue between their teeth when the make the /z/ sound.

Lets try!Now we can try out some words with the voiced th.The, they, mother, father.

Voiceless sound /θ/No vibration.Ask the pupils to put their tongue between their teeth. The air is to og out between the tongue and upper teeth. There is no vibration on the vocal cords.If this is difficult for the pupils they could start with a regular /s/ and then put their tongue between their teeth.

Lets try!Now we can try to say some words with the voiceless th.Think, thank you, thing, Thursday.

Where’s your tongue?

Words with th at the beginning.

ThinkThankThinThickThought

ThemeThursday

Words with th in the middle.

SomethingAuthorEverythingNothing

Word with th at the endBothTeethPathMathSouthMouth

Other words with thMonth

Tenth

Thirteenth

Wealth

Health

Three

Throw

Throat

Earth

North

How do we know the difference?

The most common words that starts with th pronounces with voiced th (with vibration).The other words that starts with th pronounces with voiceless th (without vibration).Confusing?

Words that are pronounced with /θ/

Thank, theory, theatre, therapy, thief, thin, thing, third, thirst, thrive, through, throw, thunder, Thursday, thumb, thug, three, throne, thread, thrash, thigh.

Words that are pronounced with /ð/

Voiced sound.The, this, that, these, those, they, them, their, theirs, there, then, than, though.

DiscussionHow do you teach these sounds?Would you teach them differently now?How much do you think we need to focus on correct pronunciation?