Part I – Introduction
Working in another language requires constantly using new skills. Many textbooks
tend to challenge the student without first preparing the student. In Part I of our
book, you will first be introduced to some of the more basic elements of good
communication before gradually moving into the more challenging aspects of the
language.
-
You will learn how to pronounce with confidence, because good
pronunciation is the key to effective communication.
-
You will learn how to use the dictionary. You will find it a valuable tool in
hunting down the correct pronunciation of words and looking up the meanings
of idiomatic expressions.
-
You will practise how to tell time and learn some common time expressions.
-
You will work with numbers.
-
You will be presented with greetings and introductions backed up by
interactive games that will ease you into oral communication.
-
You will practise making small talk.
-
You will review some basic points in English grammar, such as verb tenses
and asking questions.
In general, the material contained in Part I builds towards the material in Part II
and Part III. Furthermore, each chapter in Part I offers exercises to be done in
pairs, small groups, or with the whole class. Various games and activities have
also been designed to encourage further practice. Are you ready to get started?
Chapter 1
Pronunciation
In this chapter, you will learn about vowels and consonant sounds. The exercises and games will help you
gain confidence in your ability to pronounce these sounds correctly.
Contents

Pronunciation

Pronunciation of the letters of the alphabet

Vowels
 Exercise 1.1

Additional vowel sounds
 Exercise 1.2

Tricks when pronouncing vowels

Consonants
 Exercise 1.3

Tricks when pronouncing consonants
 Exercise 1.4

Games
4  English in the Workplace
Pronunciation
1
2
une mauvaise
prononciation
de l’incompréhension
Proper pronunciation is very important. As you will note after reading the little
scenario below, you will realize that 1mispronunciation can lead to
2
miscommunication. Poor Pauline!
Dinner with Pauline
3
4
5
dîner à la bonne
franquette
hôtesse
plat
Last week, Pauline was invited to a 3pot-luck supper. When she arrived, her 4host,
Mrs. Bentley, asked:
“Pauline, what kind of 5dish did you bring?”
Pauline answered: “I brought some chicken. But before we can serve it, I have to
eat the chicken.”
6
7
8
9
Mme Bentley regarda
alors Pauline d’un air
surpris.
Whereupon 6Mrs. Bentley stared at Pauline in surprise.
comique
souligne
mettons-nous au travail.
Although 7humorous, this story 8emphasizes the importance of good pronunciation.
So 9let’s get started. Let’s begin with the letters of the alphabet.
“You must be very hungry, Pauline!” she exclaimed.
“Yes,” replied Pauline. “I’m extremely angry.”
“You’re angry? Why are you angry?” asked Mrs. Bentley, who was now getting
rather confused.
“I’m not angry,” cried Pauline, exasperated.
Mrs. Bentley still looked a little perplexed.
Pronunciation of the letters of the
alphabet
Some of the letters of the alphabet are pronounced the same way in both French
and English, but not all of them sound alike. Below is a chart of the alphabet. See if
you can pronounce the letters the way we pronounce them in English.
Aa
Bb
Cc
/èi/
/bi/
/si/
Dd
Ee
Ff
/di/
/i/
/èf/
Gg
Hh
II
/dji/
/eitsh/
/ail/
Jj
Kk
Ll
/djéi/
/kéi/
/elle/
Mm
Nn
Oo
/èm/
/èn/
/o/
Pp
Qq
Rr
/pi/
/quiou/
/awre/
Chapter 1 - Pronunciation  5
Ss
Tt
Uu
Vv
/ès/
/ti/
/you/
/vi/
Ww
Xx
Yy
Zz
/dabbl you/
/èx/
/ouaille/
/zi/zed/
Note: the Canadian Z is pronounced zed
As you know, the alphabet consists of vowels and consonants. Let’s begin by
looking at vowel sounds.
Vowels
1
voyelles
The alphabet has six 1vowels: a e i o u and sometimes y.
All the vowels have both a short sound and a long sound. The short sound is
identified with the symbol ˇ above the letter; for example cat, jog. The long vowel
is identified by the symbol ˉ; for example rate, joke, cute.
Let’s look at the different ways we can pronounce each vowel using the examples
below.
Aa
the short (ă), as in the word cat
the long (ā), as in the word plane
căt
plāne
Ee
the short (ĕ), as in the word met
the long (ē), as in the word meet
Ii
the short (ĭ), as in the word bit
the long (ī), as in the word bite
Oo
the short (ǒ), as in the word fox
the long (ō), as in the word phone
fǒx
Uu
the short (ŭ), as in the word sun
the long (ū), as in the word cute
Yy
the short (ў), as in the word baby
the long (y), as in the word try
phōne
6  English in the Workplace
Exercise 1.1: Pronouncing vowels
1) Practise pronouncing the following words:
A a short (ă)
long (ā)
Angela
angel
ant
play
address
say
again
day
E e short (ĕ)
long (ē)
bell
be
let
Leon
forget
meteor
pen
see
Ii
short (ĭ)
long (ī )
sit
nice
film
drive
did
like
trip
Bible
O o short (ǒ)
long (ō)
gone
go
shot
show
box
stove
lost
echo
U u short (ŭ)
long (ū )
shut
deluge
must
cube
run
mule
hunt
use
Y y short (ў)
long (y)
friendly
by
only
fry
puppy
sky
ready
my
2) Using the short and long vowel sound guide as previously described, practise
the short and long vowel sounds in the following tongue twisters.
1
violon
2
étrangla
3
réfutez
Aă
ā
Eĕ
ē
I ĭ
ī
Oǒ
ō
Uŭ
ū
Apples always fall after Halloween.
Kate ate anything Alice hates.
Bret met the letter carrier.
Meet three sweet people.
Play us a little bit of 1fiddle.
Five mice bite ice.
Scott shot the fox.
The bloke 2choked the old man in the boat.
Did King Tut cut his doughnuts?
You 3refute Hugh’s cute suit?
Additional vowel sounds
a) When the vowels a, e, i, o, and u are followed by an r, we refer to them as
murmur diphthongs. They all say errr. Here are some examples:
murmur, star, March, stir, fur, November, work, torn, for
b) Also, there are the vowel diphthongs oi, oy. They all say oille.
Here are some examples: oil, toy, soil, boy.
Chapter 1 - Pronunciation  7
Exercise 1.2: Additional vowel sounds
Practise pronouncing the following diphthongs:
1
comme dans
ar 1as in:
car, starve, larva
er as in:
better, September, number
ir as in:
circus, sir, girl
or as in:
corn, store, score
ur as in:
blur, occur, injure
oi as in:
noise, avoid, spoil
oy as in:
enjoy, annoy, royal
Tricks when pronouncing vowels
Here are some tips to help you with pronunciation.
a) Short vowel sounds usually end with a consonant, as in hop, Tim and car.
Long vowel sounds usually end with a vowel, as in hope, time and care.
b) When there are two consecutive vowels, as in rain, read and street, we
pronounce the first vowel, but not the second. Also, the first vowel has a long
sound, and the second vowel is silent. As the saying goes: “When two vowels
go walking, the first one does the talking”.
c) When y comes at the end of a word, it is usually either:
 a long (e) sound, as in happy, story, dizzy and busy;
 a long (i) sound, as in fry, my and sky;
 or it is silent, as in play, day and say.
8  English in the Workplace
Consonants
1
consonnes
Most 1consonants in English have the same pronunciation as they do in French and
therefore are easy to pronounce. However, certain consonants can have more than
one sound. Below is a list of consonants with more than one sound along with the
rule that shows the different sounds each consonant makes. Examples are given to
illustrate how the rule applies. You will get a chance to practise pronouncing these
consonant sounds in the exercise that follows.
a) C followed by a, o or u has a hard K sound as in come, candy and cotton.
When followed by the vowels i, e, or ie, C has a soft S sound, as in city, ice
and species.
Note: “Receive” is not an example for “ie”. Although the rule is I before E except
after C, there are exceptions, such as species, science, fancied --- not to
mention those pronounced with the “sh” sound = sufficient, glacier, ancient.
b) G followed by e, i or y has a soft “J”/“djé” sound, as in George, geography
and genuine.
G followed by a, o, or u has a “gue” sound as in gum, gold and good.
2
aspiré
c) H
Mostly, H is an 2aspirant sound, as in hospital, hockey and hot dog.
But there are a few exceptions where the H is silent such as in hour, honest and
heir.
d) TH
In some words, the “th” sound is soft, as in thin, thought and thrill.
In some words it is pronounced hard, as in this, there and then.
e) GH and PH
These combinations always have an F sound, as in laugh, cough, rough and
photograph.
f) -tion
Makes the sound “shun” as in notion, duration and option.
Exercise 1.3: Practising vowel sounds
For this exercise, your teacher will divide you into pairs. Read the following
bizarre stories to your partner. If you are not sure of the pronunciaton of a word,
consult the table on the next page.
Story 1
Student A reads out loud to student B
Phillis Seymour became scared when she perceived a circle of mice gently
dancing in a corner of the room and eating corn on the cob and stuffed cabbage.
“What a peculiar picture,” she gasped. “Honestly,” she thought, “either I’m going
completely crazy or my phobia of mice is causing hallucinations.” To try to
recover from her condition, she decided to escape to Philadelphia. She bought
new clothes and a keg of Coca Cola and ate mincemeat pie for the rest of the year.
Chapter 1 - Pronunciation  9
Story 2
Student B now reads out loud to student A
George Jacob Garden was on the verge of taking a sip of his hot ginger-apple
cider when suddenly he received a call on his cell phone. It was his good friend
Gord Jeffery. Gord’s voice was hoarse and he had a horrible cough. “What
happened to you?” George Jacob Gardener laughed. “I’ve had a rough night,”
Gord Jeffery complained. “I fell off a bridge and plunged into ice-cold water.
Now I’ve got a bad cold. My lungs are full of phlegm. And last night, I didn’t get
enough rest. I coughed all night, so I only got about three hours of sleep.
The consonant C
Hard K Sound
became
clothes
scared
because
corn
cabbage
recover
picture
peculiar
escape
call
complain
Coca Cola
The consonant G
Hard “gue” Sound
keg
gord
got, get
gasp
go
garden
Soft S Sound
mice
circle
perceived
mince meat
received
cell phone
dancing
ice
cider
hallucination
decide
voice
Soft“djé”/“J” Sound
George
verge
gently
bridge
plunge
ginger
GH and PH
rough
cough
enough
laugh
Phyllis
phone
phobia
Philadelphia
phlegm
10  English in the Workplace
The consonant H
Aspired H
hoarse
he, her, his
hot
have, had
hallucination
The “TH” Sound
Hard
either
the
Silent H
hour
honestly
Soft
three
through
thought
Consecutive Vowels
hoarse
eating
either
eat
Exercise 1.4: Practising pronunciation (pair work)
Do this exercise in pairs. Practise dictating the following names and addresses to
your partner.
Ronald Sullivan
116 Belvedere Avenue
Dartmouth, Nova-Scotia
B3A 1K4
John Smith
11 Sunnybrook Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1V 2P6
Thomas Perkins
93 Pendrell Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6G 1S9
Barbara MacDonald
66 Blackburn Crescent
Kanata, Ontario
K2S 5M5
Helen Hamel
87 Saint George Street
Moncton, New-Brunswick
E1C 1W5
Ruth Richards
77 Brown Avenue
Québec City, Québec
G1S 3A7
Theodore Crawford
41 Church Road
Spears, Saskatchewan
S0M 2V0
Joanne Hampton
270 Riverside Boulevard
Windsor, Ontario
N9A 5K4
Chapter 1 - Pronunciation  11
Games
Let’s have some fun practising the alphabet! These are games the whole class can
play together.
1
machinchouette
Game 1.1: T, as in 1“thingamajig”
One at a time, each student thinks of a word that starts with a letter of the alphabet.
Student 1 finds a word that starts with A, such as apple.
Student 2 finds a word that starts with B, such as bottle.
Student 3 finds a word that starts with C, such as cat, etc.
2
Sur le bout de la langue
Game 1.2: 2On the Tip of My Tongue
Choose a theme that your class can use to practise the alphabet in the same way as
in Game 1.
Here are some suggestions: things found in a garden, a kitchen, or an office; music;
famous people; movies, kinds of cars and animals.
Here’s how it works.
Cars
Student 1 finds a word that starts with A, such as the Honda Accord.
Student 2 finds a word that starts with B, such as Buick.
Student 3 finds a word that starts with C, such as Chevrolet, etc.
Actors
Student 1 finds a word that starts with A, such as Anthony Hopkins.
Student 2 finds a word that starts with B, such as Carol Burnett.
Student 3 finds a word that starts with C, such as Catherine Deneuve, etc.