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This chant has a waltz rhythm – each stressed syllable is separated by two unstressed syllables. The overall form of the text is a limerick. It has an unusual density of the sound /w/ - a semi-consonant created by movement of the lips.

This chant is made up of five rhyming couplets, and it has an unusual density of TH-sounds (the hard TH in 'earth' and the soft TH in 'brother'. The hard TH is called ‘theta’, and for convenience, I’ll use that name to refer to both sounds.

The image above is the answer key to a surprisingly tricky puzzle which requires learners to keep a clear distinction in mind between the spelling of words and the way they are pronounced.

This is a free sample activity from PronPack.

This is a rhyme designed to work over the melody of the French nursery rhyme Frère Jacques. The melody is represented by the position of the words on the musical stave.

This short video (see link below) is a rap. It features a high density of the vowel minimal pair in ship and sheep – namely, fit and feet, sit and seat, bit and beat and fill and feel. Note that the vowel in the first word in each pair is shorter, with the mouth muscles more relaxed.

This simple activity always gets the class deeply involved in thinking about grammar in a colloborative and enjoyable way. It is based on an idea in Grammar Games by Mario Rinvolucri and has long been one of our favourites!

The long and short i sounds cause problems for a lot of learners, who cannot hear or produce the difference between pairs of words like bin and bean.

This activity is a free sample from PronPack 2: Pronunciation Puzzles. It can be very tricky to distinguish /s/ from /z/ at the end of a word. Try this maze to see if you can do it. If you find it hard, try two strategies:

This activity is a free sample from PronPack 1: Pronunciation Workouts. It focuses on raising awareness of the role of the tongue, jaw and lips in forming the vowel sounds.