/θ/ (voiceless ‘th’) as in ‘thin’ (This is a voiceless consonant)
He’s got a first.
He’s got a thirst.
How-to: Place the tip of your tongue between your front teeth.
Blow air out of your mouth over the top of your tongue.
(Do NOT make any sound with your voice!)
2a. Words: Listen to and repeat the minimal pair words you hear concentrating on correctly pronouncing
the sound we are focusing on in this unit (/θ/).
sum / thumb
sick / thick
sink / think
pass /path
2b. Listen carefully. You will hear five words from each minimal pair. Repeat what you year and make a
note of which sound the word contains: 1 = /s/, 2 = /θ/.
a
b
c
d
e
f
2c. Sentences: Listen and repeat the minimal pair sentences you hear; concentrate on (/θ/).
What a sweet little mouse!
It’s very sick.
There’s a mountain pass.
What a sweet little mouth!
It’s very thick.
There’s a mountain path.
Is this sum OK?
He’s sinking.
Is this thumb OK?
He’s thinking.
2d. Listen carefully. You will hear five sentences each of which contains a word from one of the minimal
pairs. Repeat what you year and make a note of which sound the phrase contains: 1 = /s/, 2 = /θ/.
g
h
i
j
x
What a sweet little mouth!
It’s very thick.
There’s a mountain path.
tree / three
2a. Words Listen to and repeat the minimal pair words you hear concentrating on correctly pronouncing
the sound we are focusing on in this unit (/θ/).
first / thirst
fin / thin
half / hearth
2b. Words: Listen carefully. You will hear five words from each minimal pair. Repeat what you year and
make a note of which sound the word contains:1=/f/ and 2= /θ/.
a
b
c
tanks / thanks
sheet / sheath
2b. Words: Listen carefully. You will hear five words from each minimal pair. Repeat what you year and
make a note of which sound the word contains: 1 = /t/, 2 = /θ/.
a
b
c
2c. Sentences: Listen and repeat the minimal pair sentences you hear; concentrate on (/θ/).
The President sends his
tanks.
The President sends his
thanks.
It’s a big three.
Is this thumb OK?
He’s thinking.
Minimal Pairs B: (/f/ v. /θ/)
z
2a. Words Listen to and repeat the minimal pair words you hear concentrating on correctly pronouncing
the sound we are focusing on in this unit (/θ/).
It’s a big tree
Listen and repeat the minimal pair sentences.
Concentrate on pronouncing /θ/ correctly AND on placing the stress on the right syllables.
y
Minimal Pairs C: (/t/ v. /θ/):
k
Is this sum OK?
He’s sinking.
I’d like a half.
I’d like a hearth.
Sentence stress
Listen to each of the minimal pair sentences one more time and underline the syllables that are
stressed.
He’s got a first.
A fin soup, please.
I’d like a half.
He’s got a thirst.
A thin soup, please.
I’d like a hearth.
Sentence stress: Listen to and repeat each of the minimal pair sentences one more time and underline
the syllables that are stressed.
What a sweet little mouse!
It’s very sick.
There’s a mountain pass.
A fin soup, please.
A thin soup, please.
2d. Listen carefully. You will hear three sentences each of which contains a word from one of the minimal pairs. Repeat what you year and make a note of which sound the phrase contains: 1 = /f/, 2 = /θ/.
Minimal pairs A: (/s/ v. /θ/):
mouse / mouth
2c. Sentences: Listen and repeat the minimal pair sentences you hear; concentrate on (/θ/).
The knife was hidden in a
sheet.
The knife was hidden in a
sheath.
2d. Listen carefully. You will hear three sentences each of which contains a word from one of the minimal pairs. Repeat what you year and make a note of which sound the phrase contains: 1 = /t/, 2 = /θ/.
x
y
z
2e. Sentence stress: Listen to and repeat each of the minimal pair sentences and underline the
syllables that are stressed.
2f. Words: Listen carefully. Tick (√) which of the following words you think you hear in the sentences.
(a)
sink
think
(b)
mouse
mouth
(c)
tin
thin
(d)
taught
thought
(e)
moss
moth
(f)
fought
thought
3. Dialogue: Before listening to the dialogue, practice saying each of the following words from the
dialogue (the stressed syllables are given in bold to help you):
three, thirsty, thank you, thousand, Thursday, author, Catherine, Samantha, nothing, something,
mathematician, Ruth, Roth, worth, month, moth, moths
Now, listen to the dialogue and repeat what you hear.