Teaching the "Th" Sound to Young EFL Learners

Camran Shirvani
camran.shirvani{at}gmail.com
Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr (Qaemshahr, Iran)

EFL learners often mispronounce the "th" sound. What follows is an effective technique (a tongue exercise) for in-class practice. This is especially effective in case of young EFL learners since it is entertaining and produces near-immediate results.

Introduction

Mispronouncing the "th" sound by making a simple "s" or "t" sound is very common among English language learners, and the case has been discussed for several decades. Carr (1967) in her article "Teaching the "th" sounds of English" in the first number of the first volume of TESOL journal begins as follow:

"There is nothing boring about teaching the ancient and honorable the sounds of English – the phonemes which are so characteristic a part of the stream of the speech in English but so rare among other languages of the world. If instructor and learners keep even a few bit of information about the structure of English in mind, these lessons can be the most successful effort of a semester."

In The Name of God

تغييرات ايجاد شده در صداي حروف هنگامي كه يك صدا با صداي كلمه بعد ادغام مي شود.

@    Good girl. She's a good girl. (goog girl)
Good boy. He's a good boy. (goob boy)
White paper. I only use white paper. (whipe paper)
Speed boat. I've never been in speed boat. (speeb boat)

1 Download these examples (149k)

به دليل موقعيتي كه براي زبان در هنگام تلفظ و اداي اين حروف بوجود مي ايد ، گاهي اوقات صدايي كاملاً متفاوت ايجاد مي شود.

@    Can go. We can go now. (cang go)
Can buy. We can buy it. (cam buy)
Green Park. I walked through Green Park. (greem park)
On Monday. He arrives on Monday. (om Monday)

1 Download these examples (165k)

In God We Trust

hello every body,

here are two things that you must know for learning pronounciation of words;but remember that their are in british accent...

Homographs

Homographs are words which are spelled the same but have different meanings and pronunciation.

• Would you set the VCR to record /ri'ko:d/ The Simpsons for me tonight?
  I spent a lot of time listening to records /'reko:ds/.

• I can't read /ri:d/ your writing.
  She picked up the letter and read /red/ it.
• I always use /ju:z/ the same shampoo.
  Try to make good use /ju:s/ of your time.

• Plants can't live /liv/ without water.
  U2 is singing live /laiv/ on TV tonight.

• A sudden gust of wind /wind/ blew the paper out of his hand.
  I hate watches that you have to wind /waind/.

• Can you see me in the photo? I'm in the back row /r..u/ on the left.
  He had just had a row /rau/ with his wife.

Homophones

Homophones are words that sound the same, but have different meanings and spellings. For example when you hear /pein/ you don't know if it's a flat piece of glass (a pane) or an unpleasant sensation (pain). You have to work it out from the context.

• aloud/allowed = /..'laud/
  You're not allowed to talk during the test.
  Read this passage aloud.
• faze/phase = /feiz/
  Mark was embarrassed, but it didn't faze Steve a bit.
  The project is only in the initial phase as yet, but it's looking quite promising.
• flu/flew = /flu:/
  She couldn't go because she had flu.
  The window suddenly flew open.
• knew/new = /nju:/
  No one knew where Jackie was.
  Have you seen their new baby?
• meat/meet = /mi:t/
  I don't eat meat.
  Let's meet for dinner.
• our/hour = /au../
  You can stay at our house.
  The exam lasted an hour and a half.
• pane/pain = /pein/
  I watched the rain as it pounded against the window pane.
  He felt a sharp pain in his stomach.
• sole/soul = /s..ul/
  There is a hole in the sole of my shoe.
  She knew in her soul that Jim was never going to change.
• some/sum = /s^m/
  I've got to do some more work before I can go out.
  My aunt left me a small sum of money when she died.
• weak/week = /wi:k/
  She felt weak with emotion at the sight of him.
  I go to the cinema about once a week.
• weather/whether = /'weTH../
  What will the weather be like tomorrow?
  She asked me whether I was interested in working for her.

In The Name Of Allah

Numbers

The proper pronunciation of numbers in English causes trouble to lots of people. Make sure you know how to pronounce the following properly:

• 12.4 (twelve point four)
• 2/3 (two thirds), 4/5 (four fifths), 7/12 (seven over twelve)
• 2² (two squared), 4³ (four cubed), 5⁹ (five to the power of nine)
• 67% (sixty-seven per cent)
• 6 m x 10 m (six metres by ten metres)

• My phone number is 70455. (seven o four double five)
• The city was founded in 1021. (ten twenty one)
  Shakespeare wrote Hamlet around 1600. (sixteen hundred)
  The company was established in 1901. (nineteen o one)
  Jack first visited Russia in 1993. (nineteen ninety-three)
  Poland joined the EU in 2004. (two thousand and four)
• My father was born during the World War II. ( world war two/, not world war the second)

In the Name Of God

با سلام

اگه مطلب قبلي رو بدقت مطالعه كرده باشين حتماً به يك نكته ي خيلي جالب برخورديد!

كلمه ي Congratulations  به جاي اينكه [k'ngraech'lationz] تلفظ بشه به صورت [k'ngraej'lationz] تلفظ ميشه!

چرا؟؟؟؟

خب بايد خدمتتون عرض كنم كه T  در وسط كلمه به صورت [d] تلفظ ميشه، مگر stress  روي T  باشه يا T حرف اول كلمه باشه تا همون [t] تلفظ بشه!

1-T in the middle of a word à [D]

2-T in the beginning of a word à [t]

3-Stress on T in a word à [t]

مثالي جالب براي حالت اول:

Betty bought a bit of better butter.

 [Beddy…badè…bidè…bedder…budder]

حالت دوم:

Trust 

حالت سوم:

Contrast

*البته اين هم بگم كه انقدر بايد روي اين قواعد (ذكر شده در اين پست و پست قبلي) كار كنيد كه ديگه زبونتون روي بعضي كلمات گير نكنه.

*اگه صداي خود رو ضبط كنيد بعد اونو چك كنيد بيشتر جواب ميده!

Go ahead up to success!

In The Name Of God

با عرض سلام خدمت دوستان عزيز...

اين بارمي خواهم چند تا قاعده ي خيلي خيلي (....)مهم رو در مورد Listening  و Speaking خدمتتون عرض كنم...

*دوستان اين نكته رو توجه داشته باشيد كه اگه اين قواعد رو بلد باشيد ،به تنهايي و بدون استفاده گرفتن از تكنيك هاي ديگه ، حدود %70 مي توانيد Listening خود را بهبود بخشيد.

1-هر گاه يك وا‍ژه اي كه با يك حرف بي صدا(Consonant) ختم ميشه ، قبل از يك كلمه قرار بگيره كه با يك حرف صدادار (Vowel) شروع ميشه ،قرار بگيره ؛صداها با هم پيوند مي خورند و يك آواي نيم صوتي (Semivowel) ايجاد ميشود.

حالا با ذكر چند مثال خواهيد ديد كه چقدر اين قواعد ساده و در عين حال مهم هستند.

My name is …      [ my nay.miz]

Hold on                 [hol  don]

Tell him I miss him         [ tellim I missim]

 *توجه داشته باشيد كه كلمات داخل كمانك شكل تلفظي كلمات مي باشند.

2-اگر يك كلمه با يه حرف بي صدا ختم و بلا فاصله كلمه بعد نيز با يك حرف بي صداي ديگه شروع بشه ، دو كلمه به هم متصل مي شوند ،ولي ادغام نمي شوند.

--- consonant + consonant---

Hard times       [hardtimes]

The time          [ thetime]

3-حالا اگه كلمه  اول  با يك آواي صدادار ختم و كلمه بعد از اون شروع بشه ،آواها در حين به وجود آمدن يك   glide* به هم پيوند مي خورند.

*يك glide يك صداي خفيف [y] يا [w] مي باشد.

Go away  [Go(w)away]

she isn't.   [she(y)isn't]

who is ?   [who(w)is]

4-كاربردي ترين قاعده،يعني قاعده ي ادغام صداهاي T, D, S)  يا (Z  با Y:

هرگاه كلمه اي يا يكي از صداهاي داخل پرانتز ختم شد و كلمه ي بعدي با صداي Y اغاز شد، هردو صداها با هم ادغام شده و صدايي جديد توليد ميشود.

1- T+ Y= CH

Don't you like it?       [don’t chew lye  kit]

Let you …                 [le chew] & [letcha]

2- D+ Y= J

Did you...?                [didjè]

Congratulations!       [k'ngraej'lationz]

3- S+ Y= SH

Yes, you are.             [yeshu are]

Bless you!                 [blesshue]

4- Z+ Y= ZH

How was your trip?  [haewâzhier trip]

                                                                             [vi.zhyè(w)èl] Visual  

***

*حالا شما بايد بدونيد كه كلماتي مثلdunno, ya  lemi, gotta, wanna, و غيره و ذالك از كجا نشأت مي گيريند.

اميدوارم كه توانسته باشم خدمتي در جهت پيشبرد مكالمه ودرك شما انجام بدهم!

Best regards…!

Amin