Teacher’s Guide
1
Dictionary Symbols & Warmup
In English, many sounds do not have a one-to-one correspondence with spelling. This
makes use of a dictionary essential. If a student doesn’t know how to pronounce a word, a
good dictionary can be of help, but only if the student knows how to use the dictionary
and connect symbols to the sounds they are meant to represent.
Warmup
The words listed in the warmup exercise are ones we have found consistently.
Final "th" in clusters
• months
• clothes
• sixth
• fifth
• twelfth
The final “th” words all have clusters in which simplification is not only common, but
normal. Conscientious learners often try to say all the sounds, saying months as [mʌnθɛs]
when normal speech says [mʌns] or [mʌnθs]. Likewise, learners may say clothes as
[klođɛz] or [klozɛz] when [kloz] is the most common pronunciation. The ordinal numbers
fifth, sixth and twelfth all typically undergo simplification of some sort, often to [fɪθ] or
[fɪft], [sɪkss] or [sɪkst], and [twɛlθ] or [twɛlft].
Initial /w/ words
• work and walk
• world
• women
• would
The initial [w] words are all followed by back vowels and are often said by learners with
no [w] sound because the [w] and the vowel are very similar. Women is often said with
the wrong vowel, such that the singular and plural forms are not distinct.
Other words
• usually
• question
Teacher’s Guide
2
• year
• would
Finally, usually is often pronounced by Chinese learners as something close to urally,
question by Korean learners as [k] rather than [kw] at the beginning, and year, without
the [y].
Words in Phonetic Transcription (Dictionary Symbols – Instruction)
shoe
/ʃu/
sugar
/ˈʃʊgər/
nation
/ˈneɪʃən/
racial
/ˈreɪʃəl/
mission
/ˈmɪʃən/
cat
/kæt/
many
/ˈmɛni/
father
/ˈfɑðər/
late
/leɪt/
sofa
/ˈsoʊfə/
Words in Phonetic Transcription (Dictionary Symbols – Warmup)
fifth
/fɪfθ/
walk
/wɔk/
clothes
/kloʊz/ or /kloʊðz/
question
/ˈkwɛstʃən/
months
/mʌn(θ)s/
twelfth
/twɛlfθ/
usually
/ˈjuʒʊəli/
year
/jɪr/
work
/wɜrk/
world
/wɜrld/
women
/ˈwɪmɪn/
would
/wʊd/