English Linking Sounds
Vowels Consonants
a, e, i, o, u b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, z
y = why / happy / silly y = yes / yellow / young
Linking
consonant + consonant vowel + vowel consonant + vowel
will like
I am (yam)
live in (vin)
this scene
you are (war)
an apartment (na)
Practice: In the text below, find and mark the three types of linking sounds shown above.
Last summer, some friends and I visited a few cities in Italy. It was a great
experience and I hope we get a chance to go again soon.
We started off in Rome and then went to Milan and Venice. Because it was a
short trip, we were only able to stay in each place for a couple of days.
My personal favorite was Rome but all of my friends preferred Venice. To them,
the waterways and the style of the buildings sold them on it. I loved it too but
for me, Rome was the absolute best.
This Friday, I’m planning on going out with some friends from work. We haven’t
decided where we are going to go exactly. I just hope it’s someplace new. We
usually go to a little restaurant near our office but I am really tired of it. It’s not a
bad place but we’ve been there too many times.
I make breakfast almost every morning. Usually, I just make a big vegetable
and fruit smoothie. But last week I saw a YouTube video of a chef making a
really great recipe. It was an Indian dish made with scrambled eggs and
spinach.
The first thing you do is lightly fry some mustard seeds and spices in oil. Then
you add some thinly sliced onions and butter. When it’s ready, you add the
spinach and finally the eggs and a little more butter.
The whole thing is served in a flat bread with a yogurt and mint dressing. It was
amazing.
My English Images.com
English Linking Sounds
Vowels Consonants
a, e, i, o, u b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, z
y = why / happy / silly y = yes / yellow / young
Linking
consonant + consonant vowel + vowel consonant + vowel
will like
I am (yam)
live in (vin)
this scene
you are (war)
an apartment (na)
Practice: In the text below, find and mark the three types of linking sounds shown above.
Last summer, some friends and I visited a few cities in Italy. It was a great
experience and I hope we get a chance to go again soon.
We started off in Rome and then went to Milan and Venice. Because it was a
short trip, we were only able to stay in each place for a couple of days.
My personal favorite was Rome but all of my friends preferred Venice. To them,
the waterways and the style of the buildings sold them on it. I loved it too but
for me, Rome was the absolute best.
This Friday, I’m planning on going out with some friends from work. We haven’t
decided where we are going to go exactly. I just hope it’s someplace new. We
usually go to a little restaurant near our office but I am really tired of it. It’s not a
bad place but we’ve been there a lot.
I make breakfast almost every morning. Usually, I just make a big vegetable
and fruit smoothie. But last week, I saw a YouTube video of a chef making a
really great recipe. It was an Indian dish made with scrambled eggs and
spinach.
The first thing you do is lightly fry some mustard seeds and spices in oil. Then,
you add some thinly sliced onions and butter. When it’s ready, you add the
spinach, and finally the eggs and a little more butter.
The whole thing is served in a flat bread with a yogurt and mint dressing. It was
amazing.
My English Images.com
English Linking Sounds
Pronunciation can seem daunting to a lot of learners and teachers
alike. After all, there are so many overlapping sounds going on.
Sentences are rising and falling, there are pauses, glottal stops, "t"s
that sound more like "d"s and all of it happening at once.
So keep it simple.
Don’t worry about all the sounds that are going on all at once and
don’t bog students down with technical terms they aren’t likely to
know in their native languages. I promise, most students don’t really
fi nd them anywhere near as interesting as you do.
The main focus of this lesson is to have students identify and use
a simple pattern, the connected sound that occurs when a word
ending in a consonant is followed by a word starting with a vowel.
Can I?
nai
Basic lesson plan
- Have students warm up by speaking about a light topic.
Mark down example sentences, phrases or word pairings they use
and take note of where they are succeeding and where then need
help.
- Introduce vowels and consonants
- Show the three pairing examples: consonant + same consonant /
vowel + vowel / consonant + vowel (focus on the third one).
- Practice together or in pairs doing each of the three sample
readings. Have students ID the language as much as possible. It’s
up to you if you want to give them the answer sheet or not. For
some classes you might want to just start with the answer sheet
and go from there.
