slides from The Sounds of English session delivered to a CELTA class

1. The Sounds of English

2. What do you know?
• How many letters are there in English?
• How many sounds are there?
• What’s the difference between a vowel and a consonant?
• What’s the most common vowel sound in English?
• What’s the difference between the sound /I/ in pin and
/ai/ in pine?
• What sound do the following have in common:
does, zoo, noise?
• What sound do these three words have in common:
first, surf, earns?
• True or false? /SeikspI@ r@Ut
m@kbeT/
• True or false? /nju: jO:k Iz In
teks@s/

3. How many sounds?
• cat • 3
• horse • 3
• judge • 3
• cow • 2
• chemist • 6
• sing • 3
• business • 6
• knowledge • 5
• fox • 4

9. /m /kA:/ /fe /plA:n /SrIn
et/ tS/ t/ k/
met car fetch plant shrink
/sI /fINg@ /j /T3:tI /nek
N@/ / et/ / st/
singer finger yet thirty next
/b /b@U/ /be /tel@f /b@n
aU @/ @Un/ a:n@
/ /
bow (v) bow (n) bear telephone banana
/dZU:s /we /SIkA: /bais
b@rI/ D@/ g@U/ @k@l

10. What do you know?
• How many letters are there in English?
• How many sounds are there?
• What’s the difference between a vowel and a consonant?
• What’s the most common vowel sound in English?
• What’s the difference between the sound /I/ in pin and /ai/
in pine?
• What sound do the following have in common: does, zoo,
noise?
• What sound do these three words have in common: first,
surf, earns?
• True or false? /SeikspI@ r@Ut m@kbeT/
• True or false? /nju: jO:k Iz In teks@s/