Hey there!

Welcome to 120 Speaking & Pronunciation!

Click on the MONTH to get to class activities. 

December 2012
November 2012
October 2012

Fashion: I'm too sexy!

Do you like to shop? What do you like to shop for?
Have you ever been interested in modeling?

More on the weather ...

Do you ever watch the news? Or even listen to the radio? - Most  likely you have heard the weather in passing, today you are going to be the weatherperson for location "x". Good luck! 

What's the weather like?

A weather forecast - Podcast
Weather pictures of 2011 - The Telegraph
Weather Vocabulary Quiz - (Match)
Weather Vocabulary Quiz - (Multiple Choice)
BBC Weather Symbols - Multiple Choice

Cute things! ... & bit/beat

English sounds and spelling 
Beat vs bit listening practice

The name's BOND, James Bond

Who is your favorite spy?

This year James Bond is celebrating 50 years in the movies. 

James Bond Official Website


James Bond Jokes
What do you call James Bond in the bath?
Bubble 07!

What's he like?

Everyday we meet different people and get to see a mosaic of unique personalities.
What is your personality?
What about members of your family?
Other people you know?



Personality Adjectives Positive & Negative
Adjectives that describe a person's personality (with definitions)
Describing someone's personality (exercises)
Personality Types (listening)

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack!

Today ...
Fall traditions around the world
Fall equinox celebrations (religious)
Thanksgiving around the world
10 Thanksgiving celebrations around the world

Vacation: Oct 1st - 5th :D

Hello everyone .. I am on vacation for the next week. Have a great week with Austin & hopefully I will see you when I get back after Thanksgiving!

Dinner party, anyone?

Dinner parties! - Everyone loves to eat and party ... whether it is a quiet affair or one on a grander scale. 
Have you ever gone to a dinner party? Have you ever hosted one? Would you like to host one? Where? What would you eat? 

Famous Dead  (A list and information about famous dead people) 


Tongue Twisters

Six sick slick slim sycamore saplings.

I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.

Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly sheep.
The seven silly sheep Silly Sally shooed
shilly-shallied south.
These sheep shouldn't sleep in a shack;
sheep should sleep in a shed.

She stood on the balcony
inexplicably mimicing him hiccupping,
and amicably welcoming him home.

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too

Today is the birthday of a very famous poet 
and artist: Shel Silverstein. 

The PAST
Irregular verbs in the simple past (list).
Regular  verbs in the simple past (list) & explanation. 

Today's pronunciation will look at verbs in the past.

Dessert!

At the end of the meal comes DESSERT ... so that's how we'll finish our week ... with DESSERT!!

Have a great weekend!

Can I take your order?

Food Jokes & Riddles
Fruit & Vegetable Riddle Challenge

Are you a master chef?

Food ... food .. food! 

Ahh ... the joys of eating, most of us like to enjoy a delicious meal, but can you cook it? Are you a good chef? What is your favorite dish to make? Eat? What are some typical dishes from your country? 


Food in every country

Vocabulary
Words to describe smell, taste, touch
Adjective List
Adjectives to describe food (list & exercise)
List of adjectives to describe taste, touch


Pronunciation CH // SH

• If Charlie chews shoes, should Charlie choose the shoes he chews?
• What a shame such a shapely sash should show such shabby stitches.

The end of SUMMER :-(

Summer is ALMOST over ...

This is the last week of summer because on September 22nd, Autumn officially begins. 

• What are the four seasons? 
• What is your favorite season? 
• What can you do only during certain seasons? 
• Does your country have 4 seasons? 
• What holidays are celebrated in each of the seasons? 
• What music do you associate with each season?

Summer
Fall / Autumn
Winter
Spring

Pronunciationv  /ch/
choose     chops    Charles    much   lunch    Church
butcher     chicken    children    cheaper    cheerful   charming
Cheshire    chump chops


Tongue Twisters

• A cheap sheep is cheaper than a cheap ship.
• The cheeky Chief Chef Chicken chatted to the Second Chef Chicken as he cooked. 
• Chipp couldn't chop chocolate chips 'cause Chip chipped his chocolate chip chopper.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Say what?!?!!?

Collection of Guinness Book of Records Photos 2012

World's Tallest Mohawk

What Guinness Book Record would you be interested in breaking/having?

What record do you think is the coolest? most interesting? grossest? etc.

Bad hair day!?!?

From: The phrase finder

Meaning

A day on which one's hair seems unmanageable. Also extended to mean a day when everything seems to go wrong.

Origin

This first came into prominence in the language following its use in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Buffy (Kristy Swanson) to the one-armed vampire Amilyn (Paul Reubens):
"I'm fine but you're obviously having a bad hair day.".

The phrase was already known by that date but not very widely used. In July 1988 the Press Democrat, a Santa Rosa, California newspaper printed:

"Even those who emerge from the sea to casually braid their shiny wet vines into a thick coil with a hibiscus on the end also have bad-hair days.".

Whether that's where the term was coined isn't certain, although it is a strong contender. There are many hearsay reports that it is much earlier, but no hard evidence has emerged to support them.

Here are some adorable pictures of kids who've literally had a bad hair day.

Tongue Twisters

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear,
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair,
Fuzzy Wuzzy  wasn't fuzzy, was he?

Superhero - would you like to be one??

Would you like to be a superhero? Why or why not?
What would your special ability be?

10 Best songs about heroes
15 Sensational Superhero songs



Pronunciation /s/ & /z/

Tongue Twisters
The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk,
but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.

Friendly fleas and fire flies.

Sally's sandwiches

Sally's Sandwiches - pdf activity

/s/ Tongue Twisters

Twister King

• Six small slick seals. Six small slick seals. Six small slick seals. 
• Six crisp snacks. Six crisp snacks. Six crisp snacks. 
• Of all the smells I ever smelt, I never smelt a smell that smelt like that smell I smelt smelled. 
• Some shun summer sunshine. 
• Singing Sammy sung songs on sinking sand.
• Sally Swim saw Sadie Slee 
  Slowly, sadly swinging. 
  "She seems sorrowful," said she. 
  So she started singing. 
  Sadie smiled, soon swiftly swung; 
  Sitting straight, steered swiftly. 
  "See," said Sally, "something sung 
  Scatters sunshine swiftly!"

Batter up! - Sports & more sports!

In English we use a lot of different SPORTS idioms to talk about daily life. 



List of Sports Idioms - Wikipedia
Sports Idioms - quiz & definitions
Sports Idioms - quiz
Sports Idioms - BBC

Shhh!!! It's quiet!

Ever wonder what letters are pronounced in English and which are not?!?!? ... Well today we're going to look at the ones that are silent and in which words they appear.

Silent letters 1
Silent letters 2 (with audio)
List of silent letter words (long list!)

Words with silent letters (exercise)

Silent letters (excercise multiple choice)

Bait the bat!!

Bait vs bat sounds (words with pictures)

Say what?!?!?

hom·o·nym

noun /ˈhäməˌnim/  /ˈhōmə-/  homonyms, plural Each of two words having the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling (e.g., to, too, and two); a homophone Each of two or more words having the same spelling but different meanings and origins (e.g., pole1 and pole2); a homograph A Latin name that is identical to that of a different organism, the newer of the two names being invalid

List of Homonyms
List of common American Homonyms
List of Homonyms ESL Mania

Homonyms Crossword
Self-study Homonym Quizzes
Homophones Exercises

Practicing Homophones (PDF)

"The Real World" - Jobs & Interviews

Job Interview Questions  (Worksheet)

The Owl & the Pussycat

Poetry is a great way to see the rhythms and sounds of a language in an authentic manner. Today we'll look at EDWARD LEAR, a man who had many artistic talents and was well known for his nonsensical writing.


The Owl & the Pussycat
     This is a nice video just to watch about "The Owl & the Pussycat".
      Here is another cute video.  "The Owl & the Pussycat".


Here are some examples of his limericks:

There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was horribly bored by a Bee;
When they said, 'Does it buzz?'
He replied, 'Yes, it does!'
'It's a regular brute of a Bee!'


There was a Young Lady whose eyes,
Were unique as to colour and size;
When she opened them wide,
People all turned aside,
And started away in surprise.

A Big Pig -- or is it?!

Pronunciation B/P

BBC Pronunciation tip (video)
Minimal pairs big or pig (worksheet)

Blast from the PAST "-ed"!!

The simple past has two different endings, regular (-ed) and the irregular (a little bit of everything). For the regular verbs, even though they all look the same, they don't SOUND the same.



Simple Past Regular Verbs (table)
How to pronounce -ed 
Simple Past -ed
Pronunciation Supplement (Top Notch)


Here is a different version of what we saw yesterday "The house that Jack built"

And to give us something else to practice "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly"

Dream HOUSES!!!

Have you ever watched International House Hunters? House Hunters? Or any other TV program where they travel around the world and look at buying different houses?

Where is your dream house?
What does it look like?
Explain almost every little detail!!

Pronunciation (I'd)


Basement Apartment By Sarah Harmer

THink about Summer!!! :D

Summer!!! The last few days have been BEAUTIFUL ... and you have had a great opportunity to enjoy it here in Vancouver. 

Today in class we will look at TH and it's pronunciation as well as asking questions. 

TH sounds in English

American Pronunciation TH (transcript)

The two TH consonants - Rachel's English

Basic Sound TH

think / bathroom / teeth (PDF)

Tongue twisters

• These things that these things think, they're the things that these things think.
• Thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.

Velcome! :D

The above video is to see the mistakes that can be made in English ... how many can you spot!?

Pronuncation
/v/ & /w/  (worksheets) ... /v/ & /w/ mp3

/v/ & /w/ American Pronunciation - youtube video

Riddles & Wonders

The world is an amazing place and there are so many different things to see, both man-made and from nature.
What do you consider to be the wonders of the world?

The new wonders of the world?
Natural wonders of the world?
The ancient wonders of the world?

National Geographic: 7 ancient vs 7 new wonders of the world



Do you like to try and figure things out? Play with words? Well ... here are some pages with different riddles in English to put your brain to the test.

• Brain Food
• Forty Traditional Riddles
• Not so hard riddles

Excuse, are you lost?!

Map of Vancouver
Map of San Pedro

Tuesday that feels like MONDAY!!!

Happy returns after the Looooooooooooooooonnnng weekend!!! Hope you all had a great one. 


Today's MENU: 
Giving directions!!

Vocab for giving directions
Word list for giving directions

Pronunciation
The P and F sound

Happy BC Weekend!!

 

Have a great weekend!

Remember that Monday August 6th is a HOLIDAY!!!

Royalty! - The throne ...

The weekend is coming!!! Whoo hoo!!! Remember that August 6th is a HOLIDAY & there are no classes. 

On the Throne

Right at the light?!

What's his name?: Snoop Lion
Discover your spirit animal
Spirit Animal list - Shamanism
A long list of Spirit animals & their meanings

Oral English Assessment - Practice L/R
Minimal Pairs L / R

R is for Romance :S

 R is for romance and so many other things!!!

/r/ & /l/ - various activities

L/R pronunciation practice

Pronunciation Drills - aka Tongue twisters :D

L/R Pronunciation Drills - listening

Love & Romance

Ahhh ... love is in the air?! Or is it???

• What is love? 
• What phrases are generally associated with love? 
• What do you think is the MOST romantic song of all times? 

Love & Romance

My Dream Man  - Mad Glib

Thursday - have any plans?

Ahhh ... the weekend is ALMOST here! Time to spend it in the sun or just lazying around.

Review
Pronouncation of questions & sounds seen in class

And the murderer is ...?!?!?!?

Who killed Miss McGowan?! 


Was it you or was it one of the other people attending the class reunion? In today's class we will see who murderer is and WHY he/ she did it.



Listening for intonation in questions
Intonation & Questions
WH- questions pitch boundaries
Tag questions #3

Chapter 4 - Questions - Oxford University Press

Whodunit?!!?!

Crime is everywhere ... what can we do about it?!



Famous Detectives
The Most Famous Detectives
The Top 10 TV Detectives

Mystery Digest - Detective Nose


Vocabulary
Crime Vocabulary - with activities
Criminal offenses
Crime vocabulary - with definitions

1-2-3-4 ... What's your number?

Numerology - Paul Sadowski
Numerology - Token Rock 


How to say numbers & dates in English
Numbers Listening Practice
Numbers mixed (Crossword puzzle - spelling)
100 Plus Cloze (with listening)
20-100 Cloze (with listening)
Ordinal Numbers (with listening)



English Listening to Numbers #1
English Listening to Numbers #2

Theme Parks

Ahhh ... to be young and spend the summer days in the sun with friends at the theme/amusement park.

Feelings and amusement park vocabulary
          Theme Park Maps
          Playland - Vancouver, BC
          Theme Parks /Amusement Parks

Pronunciation

T vs TH Slideshare
Pronunciation – Practice the ‘th’ vs. /t/ and /d/ Sounds! (video)


Tongue Twisters: Twisters with "t" and "th"

• Those toes aren't these toes.
• These teas aren't those teas.
• This tike ties threads together twice.
• That tike ties together three threads.
• Those threads the two tikes tied are tight.
• Twist twice to tie tightly.
• Thirty tee-shirts are tan, and thirteen tee-shirts are tie-dyed teal green.
• The teal tee-shirts total thirteen, the tan tee-shirts total thirty.

What's in a name?!

Today in the newspaper I saw the article about "Is there a Jim Smith in the house? Probably". It talks about the Jim Smith Society and the convention they are going to have this weekend. It started me thinking about our names ... did our parents have a hard time naming us? Do our names fit us? What do our names mean?

Sooo ...

• What does your name mean? What are the origins of your name? 
• How common is your name? 
• Are there any famous people who share your name? 
• Are there any songs that mention your name? 

CH or J

Ch pronunciation 
The "ch" sound crossword
"ch" sound with pictures

"ch" or "j" pronunciation podcast transcript (you can sign up to listen to the actual podcast)
Q & A: How do you pronounce "j" and "ch" as in "job" and "chop'?


Tongue Twisters

Charlie chooses cheese and cherries.
Cheerful children chant charming tunes.

Charles is a cheerful chicken-farmer.  He chuckles at the chance of a choice chicken to chew for his lunch.


Jean, Joan, George and Gerald judged generally.
Jolly Jack and joyful Jill jumping down the jagged hill.
John Johnson joined jealous Jenny Jerry making apple-jelly.

Fashion!?!?

Fashion trends and hobbies

What people do for fashion?

Today we talked about the worst and best fashion trends!

I wanna ...

Information
Learn it - gonna, gotta, wanna, dunno
Informal contractions
Gonna & wanna (video)


Songs

• I don't wanna miss a thing
• I  wanna know what love is
• Beat it
• Songs with wanna in the title

Did you know JULY is ...

YEAH!!! What a great month to celebrate!!!

(okay ... so it's American ... but who doesn't LOVE ice cream?!?!?!?)

Ice Cream Month - Days of the Year
Fun Facts on ice cream 
Ice Cream Survey - example
Ice cream goes on a crazy streak this summer

From cow to cone
The History of ice cream
The History of the ice cream conehttp://www.idfa.org/news--views/media-kits/ice-cream/the-history-of-the-ice-cream-c/



Pronunciation

Long i, American English Pronunciation
Long i quiz


Tongue Twisters
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!
I wish I were what I was when I wished I were what I am.

How rude!

Extraordinary Rude Behaviour Around the world
25 Rudest behaviors - are you an offender? 

BUGS! bugs! n' more BUGS!

A limerick:

There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was horribly bored by a Bee;
     When they said, 'Does it buzz?'
     He replied, 'Yes, it does!'
'It's a regular brute of a Bee!'

Tongue twisters: 

Busy buzzing bumblebees.

Friendly fleas and fire flies.

Let's go for a drink!

Have you just met someone new and would like to see them again? Yes? ... Well invite them out for a drink or a coffee. 


Exercise: Inviting someone to a birthday party
Inviting someone out for drinks (Australian English)

Good Spots for Drinks - Vanmag
Drinks Vancouver

http://www.esquire.com/drinks/

What kind of drink are you?

Tongue Twisters
Orange jello, lemon jello,
Orange jello, lemon jello,
Orange jello, lemon jello.


A cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup.

Syllables & Word Stress 2

Syllable Scramble 1 - interactive exercise

Syllable Scramble 2 - interactive exercise

Word Stress Patterns 1 - interactive exercise

Syllables & Word Stress

Pronunciation: WORD STRESS


Syllables & Word Stres
Syllables
Skill Builders Pronunciation Syllable Stress
Syllable Sleuth
Pronunciation word stress reference
Word Stress
Pronunciation Worksheets - various


Introduction to word stress 1 exercise
Word stress - exercise

Recreation Areas

Ahhh ... summer ... so many great things to do. Summer is a time of year when people get out and enjoy many different activities, or at least in countries like Canada where people long for summer and the sunny skies that it brings.


What do you like to do in the  summer?

Vacations

With yesterday being the first day of summer, people are starting to dream about their summer vacations. 


Where would you like to go? Why? -- The sky is the limit. 


Pronunciation --> [v] VAT or [b] BAT


Minimal Pairs - list by level 
Bat or Vat - with listening practice
B or V Quiz

Fame!

"Fame is a bee. 
It has a song
It has a sting
Ah, too, it has a wing."
   - Emily Dickinson


Being Famous // Being a Celebrity

Ship or Sheep?!?!

• Minimal Pairs 1 -- BEAT  vs BIT  (with listening)
• Minimal Pairs 2 -- SHIP vs SHEEP
• Minimal Pairs 3 -- SIT vs SEAT (listed by difficulty)
• Minimal Pairs QUIZ 

Tongue Twister FUN:


* Cheap ship trip.
* I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.

School & Places

Everybody LOVES school and travelling,right?

Today we are going to look at the poem "Geography Lesson" by Brain Patten

World Map

Continue with yesterday & a little more

Yesterday we didn't get to do all the things that I had planned, so we will work some more from there and do a few more things.

"The Laundromat" - podcast

Really ready, Freddy?

[r] - right & [l] - late

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

Unit 3 - rarely lures rural

Mouth Positions for R & L sounds

American Pronunciation of R & L sounds - with sound

Minimal Pairs r & l 

R words

L words

L Blends (story) 

Still talking 'bout YESTERDAY

The pronunciation of the past can be tricky. 
Here's some more activities to help you out:


Simple Past: "-ed Pronunciation"
The Bank Robbery
Pronunciation Worksheet "-ed"
English for everyone "-ed"


Lego Men + Real life situations :D

The house that Jack built - Yesterday?!

Greetings ... hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Today's question is "What did you do on the weekend?" (I am sure it was a bunch of wonderful things that allowed you to enjoy time in Vancouver and to be with your friends.)

The pronunciation focus of this class is the simple past "-ed" /t/d/id/.
Here is a nursery rhyme to help you practice the the simple past. "This is the house that Jack built"

Reminder:
watched -- walked-- missed --> /t/
visited -- attended -- rented --> /id/
tried -- called -- showed -- /d/

Wetter Weather

Hey there ... today was all about you and your THEME song! Mine is "Walking on Sunshine", what's yours?

Another thing we did was look at:
Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better. 
Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better. 





Here is a link that can help you with different pronuncation:


http://www.learnersdictionary.com/pronex/pronex.htm

Personality & Music :D

Today we are going to talk about personality. What are you like??

Animal Personality ... AT THE ZOO

TODAY'S tongue twister was:

RED LEATHER, YELLOW LEATHER. (Try this 3 times fast.)



We didn't get to the stuff below :D.

Do you have a "theme" song? ... What kind of music makes you feel happy? Sad?
Visit this website to see if you a possible theme song for you.

• The MUSIC QUIZ
• What's your theme song? 

How would you describe your personality?
Visit PERSONALITY ADJECTIVES to help you be more descriptive.

English Pronunciation

Learning a foreign language always is an adventure and part of that adventure is the PRONUNCIATION. Here is a fun ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION POEM to help us look at the strange ways the anglo-saxons speak this language.

Try this limerick to practice a bit more :D

     There was an Old Man with a gong,

     Who bumped at it all day long;

     But they called out, 'O law!

     You're a horrid old bore!'

     So they smashed that Old Man with a gong.