Beginner Lesson 6
Creation - Day 4
Speaking Exercise
Pronunciation Exercise
Review the Short “E” Sound
In this lesson, there are many words with the short e sound. You learned this sound in lesson 5. Our new vocabulary word, separate, has the short e sound. Let’s practice more words from this lesson with the short e sound.
Listen and repeat:
said, separate, special, them, then
Practice Short “E”
Learn the Schwa Sound
Sometimes when you see the letter e, it doesn’t make the short e sound. The word happen is a good example of this. The e in happen doesn’t make the short e sound. It makes a sound called the “schwa” sound.
The schwa is the most common vowel sound in English. However, it doesn’t have a letter of its own. Any English vowel or combination of vowels can make the schwa sound.
How to Make the Schwa Sound
To make the schwa sound, open your mouth a little bit. Relax your lips, tongue and jaw. Use your vocal cords to make a very small sound. That is the schwa sound.
Read more about schwa here. Watch the pronunciation video to help you learn how to pronounce this important sound.
Practice with Schwa
Here are more words with the schwa sound from today’s lesson. The vowel that becomes a schwa is in orange. Listen and repeat.
If you don’t know what these words mean, you can use a dictionary of your language and English. You can find them in an English dictionary, too. I like to use the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary.
appear, the, separate, season, happen, darkness, was
Practice Schwa Words
Speaking Exercise
Practice speaking a sentence from this Bible lesson.
Instructions:
- Listen to the sentence one time. Only listen, do not talk.
- Play it again. This time, stop often. Repeat the words you hear.
- Practice many times.
Do your best to say the words the way the speaker says them. If you are learning American English, imitate her pronunciation the best you can.
Don’t worry if you have an accent. The most important thing is that people can understand you. Practice the vowel sounds, and learn the stress patterns in each word.
Here we go! Do your best.
Creation – Day 4 – Speaking Text
Click HERE to view a PDF of the speaking text. How did you do?
Now, move on to the Grammar Exercise.
