Pronunciation and vocabulary drills by Viv Quarry (www.vivquarry.com)
/OO/
"You two from U2 are new to Toulouse university, too."
"It's true we'll sue, due to the few new shoes she sews."
(Careful with the pronunciation of the last word!!! - 'sew' = 'so')
/TH/ & /DZ/
"It's thought that there's a theory that this thing that they think is three thousand and thirty-three, is, through these calculations, three thousand, three hundred and thirty-three and a third, and that's the truth!"
Also see "Mayday, mayday, we are thinking" video
/ER/
"Her work is worse when she walks to work."
"Pulling her fur hurts her"
/U/
"Once I wondered if you could come to our country next month to cover the fun at our comfortable company. It's in Tonbridge, near London."
"Above all, if you want some comfort, come with some money, honey. You'll love it!"
"My young son's among those who have done one tonne."
/R/ & /H/
"Henry, Henrietta and Rita, put these hard hats on your heads and ride these rare Russian horses down the rough road to the river. Go right round the red house and hold the reins hard if it rains hard. The horse on the right rears high if it hears rock and roll and has the habit of running when it sees a rat or a rabbit, but you'll be happy to hear that this rarely happens."
/AY/
"The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain."
/A/
"The man ran on the sand, the band began and he sang on the land."
"The fat cat on the mat drank with the rat."
Vocabulary drills
FALL V FEEL
"I didn't feel that I was going to fall, so when I fell, I felt sick.
I haven't very felt very well, and I've fallen over a few times."
"She didnīt feel anything when I fell."
"They feel that they are falling."
"If you feel bad, you could fall on the floor."
THINK v THING
"I must think before I write 'coisa'!" (Portuguese word for 'thing')
"I think this is the best thing to do."
"I donīt think much of these things."
Tongue twisters:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
https://www.engvid.com/english-resource/50-tongue-twisters-improve-pronunciation/
Games:
Pronunciation games (any phonemes, but some are more difficult than other - copied from the film 'Redemption')
"I'm thinking of 'a man'"
"You said 'man', I'm thinking of 'a hand' "
"You said 'hand', I'm thinking of 'sand' "
Vocabulary games (any vocab. groups)
Yesterday I went to the supermarket and a bought an 'Apple'.
Yesterday I went to the supermarket and I bought an 'Apple' and a 'Banana'.
Yesterday I went to the supermarket and I bought an 'Apple', a 'Banana' and a 'Cabbage'
Simon says 'touch your nose' (revision of parts of the body).
(Children's game - teacher says "touch your nose" and touches his/her nose. Students copy him. Game continues until the teacher says, for example, "touch your cheek" while touching his chin. Anyone who touches his/her chin, becomes 'IT' and has to play the role of 'Simon/e' until they are able to catch another student.
What's the time Mr Wolf? (revision of telling the time)
(Children's game - teacher stands with his/her back to the class, facing one wall. Students, all standing by the opposite wall say together "What's the time Mr Wolf?". Teacher replies "It's sixteen minutes past three". Students take one step towards the teacher. Game continues until the teacher answers "It's dinner time!", then turns and tries to catch one of the students. If successful, that student becomes 'Mr Wolf'. Teacher remains 'wolf' until he can catch one of the students, or a student gets close enough to be able to touch the teacher on the back.
Alphabet games (can be used with any word groups, but difficult letters need to be researched in advance- typing "food beginning with X" into Google will generally help)
When I was at school I DID ARCHERY.
When I was at school I PLAYED BADMINTON.
When I was at school I PLAYED CHESS.
(play darts, do equestrian sports, do fencing, play golf, go horse-riding, go ice-skating, do jiu jitsu, do knitting, play lacrosse, do martial arts / play mini golf, play netball, go orienteering, play poker, play quoits (throwing rings over posts), play rugby, go skiing, play table tennis, fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, play volleyball, do wrestling, do xingyiquan (form of Chinese boxing),go yachting, do zui quan (traditional Chinese martial art).
PS. If teachers starts, he/she will get most of the difficult letters!
Useful sites for vocab. teaching and learning:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/abc.shtml
https://7esl.com/list-of-animals/
http://vivquarry.com/wkshts/MP3/intro.mp3