Vowel sounds
Claudia Cárdenas
Underline the word you hear
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•
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Sheep
Hang
Cliff
Save
Boat

ship
hung
clef
shave
but
a.ˈbɝːd
b.ˈber
c.ˈbɪrd
d.ˈbɪr
a.ˈkɑːt
b.ˈkɔːt
c. kæt
d.ˈkʌt
Underline the words you listen…
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Teacher
Kitchen
Work
Cinema
Who
Book
Five
Away

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•
•
•
•
•
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Car
Study
Ball
Hot
Pen
Cat
Hit
See

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Boy
Bed
Onion
Sugar
Say
Birds
Look
Wine

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Carrots
Now
Word
Tall
Park
Good
Key
Apple
CONCEPT

DEFINITION

EXAMPLE

Single
vowel
sounds
A combination of vowel
sounds
/i:/ /ɪ/ /u:/ /ʊ/
Open
Vowels
The tongue is neither high
not low in the mouth
Lip
positions
True or false?
• English speakers use twelve pure vowels
• Vowels are differentiated from the
consonants by their position of the tongue
and the lips
• Lip positions for vowel production can be
rounded and neutral
• While vowels are produced with the help
of many organs, consonants depend only
on the position of the tongue and the lips
• The position of the tongue and the lips
allow for a great amount of variation
enabling us to voice many more than the
familiar five vowels.
• English has eight diphthongs
• Vowels can be produced by raising the
tongue high, keeping it in the middle or
low in the mouth
• Vowels can be produced alone and may
be short or long
• Vowels are classified into close, mid and
open vowels
VOWELS
CLOSE VOWELS
• Lips spread, tongue tense. Sides of the tongue
touch upper molars (key. cheese, scene, police,
people)
• Lips spread loosely, tongue more relaxed. Sides
of tongue may touch upper molars (rhythm, sieve,
hit, sausage)
• Lips rounded, tongue relaxed, gorilla noise (book,
good, woman, push, pull)
• Lips rounded, tongue tense, use a rising and
falling intonation (food, rude, true, who, fruit)
MID VOWELS
• Lips loosely spread, tongue tenser than for
i: (egg, left, said, head)
• Lips relaxed and neutrally spread, as
though you were completely exhausted
(about- paper- banana, nation)
• Lips relaxed and neutrally spread (shirt,
her, word, further)
• Lips loosely rounded (fork, call, snore,
taught)
OPEN VOWELS
• Lips neutrally open (hat, attack,
antique)
• Lips neutrally open (run, uncle,
front, nourish, does)
• Tongue in the fully open position,
Lips neutrally open (far, part, class,
half)
• Tongue in the fully open position,
lips lightly rounded (dog, often,
cough, want)
Listen and classify the words in
the correct column
To make the sound /i:/, smile and open your
mouth a little. /i:/ is a long sound. It comes
in the words feet and seat.

To make the sound /ɪ /, open your mouth a
little more. /ɪ / is a short sound. It comes in
the words fit and sit.
THE SOUNDS /i:/ AND /ɪ /
feet
seat
steal
feel
jeans
beans
team
cheap
peach
leave

fit
sit
still
fill
gins
bins
Tim
chip
pitch
live
A necklace of brown glass ______
a. Beads
b.Bids
She broke her _______ falling down the
stairs
a. Heap
b. Hip
Those shoes don’t _______ her _______.
a. feet, fit
b.Fit, feet
He made a ____ of $150 for the painting
a. Bead
b.Bid
Everytime he wants to play, he begins to ______;
he’s really sick
a. Whiz
b.Wheez
He’s so brilliant. He’s a _____ at
mathematics
a. Whiz
b.Wheez
This is the football _______
a. Peach
b.Pitch
She _______ for her gun
a. Reached
b.Riched
Diane’s ___________ her lollipop
a. Leaking
b.Licking
There are 52 _______ in a year
a. Weeks
b.Wicks
The tap ______ all day, we have to get it
fixed
a. Licks
b.Leaks
My parents in law are ______ enough to buy
an airplane
a. Reach
b. Rich
Her face is as soft as a _______
a. Peach
b.Pitch
A candle _______ is string, cord, or wooden
object that holds the flame of a candle.
a. Week
b.Wick
That _______ of rubish stinks
a. Hip
b.Heap
Which word sounds different?

• Debt
• Fret
• Treat
• sweat
Which word sounds different?

• Mother
• Bother
• Brother
• Another
Which word sounds different?

• Hot
• Knot
• Taught
• What
Which word does not rhyme with the
others

• Through
• Sew
• Due
• Do
VOWELS
- the same letters can have different vowel sound:
Soup
couple
bought
/u:/
/ʌ/
/ɔ:/
-different letters can have the same vowel sound:
Soup
/u:/

boots
/u:/

suit
/u:/
Cross out the word which does not contain
the vowel sound on the left.
/e/

bread

many
/ʌ/
enough
/ɒ/
onion
/ɜ:/
shirt
/i:/
cheese
/ɑ:/
car
/ɪ /
buildings
/u:/
shampoo

woman
brother
coffee
pork
tea
carrots
little
look

eggs
sugar
lot
world
wine
half
birds
fruit

much
what
university
magazines
aren´t
milk
two
4. Listen and circle the symbol that matches
the sound of the underlined letters.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Bus
Tall
Word
Good
Park
Shop
Apples
Blue
Cigarette

/ʊ/
/ɑ:/
/ɜ:/
/ʊ/
/æ/
/ʌ/
/æ/
/ʊ/
/ʌ/

/ʌ/
/ɔ:/
/ɔ:/
/ɔ:/
/ɑ:/
/ ɒ/
/ə/
/u:/
/ə/
/u:/
To make the
sound /u:/,
make your lips very
round and hard.
make the sound
long.

/ʊ/
. Practise making
the sounds
To make the
sound /ʊ/,
open your lips a
little and make
them a little
round. Keep the
sound short.
THE SOUNDS /ʊ / AND /u:/
Full
Pull
Look
Soot

Fool
Pool
Luke
Suit
Complete the statements with
the appropriate word
sheep
hit
eel
sieve
leave
ship
heat
ill
receive
live
Match the similar words
• Sheep
• Receive
• Leave
• Heat
• Eel

• ill
• Live
• Hit
• Sieve
• Ship
ANSWER
•
•
•
•
•

Sheep
Heat
Eel
Receive
Leave

•
•
•
•
•

Ship
Hit
ill
Sieve
live
The tornado was so
devastating that
whole cities were
wiped off the
________
a. Mop
b.Map
She must be a whiz! Are you telling me that
she can ____ at the age of 2?
a. Add
b.Odd
What she ______ in
beauty, she makes up
for brains
a. Lacks
b.Locks
A _______ is a bundle
of coarse yarn, a
sponge, or other
absorbent material,
fastened at the end
of a stick or handle
for washing floors
a. Mop
b.Map
The documents of the
new exports policies
are quintessential
for the company.
That’s why they
are under ____ and
key
a. Lack
b.Lock
When we are in need for a _____ they don’t
show up
a. Cab
b.Cob
I can’t believe that
Luren let the
______ out of
the bag.
Everybody was in
shock.
a. Cot
b.Cat
Do you know how to grill
corn on the ____?
a. Cab
b.Cob
That _____ is a nightmare! Firs, I
couldn’t sleep and second, my whole
body was aching the next day
a. Cat
b.Cot
Choose the ______ word out?
a. add
b. odd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbzMC6qAzVU

/ ˈlɪtl̩ red ˈraɪdɪŋ hʊd lɪvd ɪn ə wʊd wɪð hər
ˈmʌðər / wʌn deɪ ˈlɪtl̩ ˈraɪdɪŋ hʊd ˈwent tə
ˈsiː hər ˈɡræni / ʃi həd ə naɪs keɪk ɪn hər
ˈbɑːskɪt / ɒn hər ˈweɪ/ ˈlɪtl̩ red ˈraɪdɪŋ hʊd
met ə wʊlf / həˈləʊ / ˈsed ðə wʊlf / weər ər
ju ˈɡəʊɪŋ / aɪm ˈɡəʊɪŋ tə ˈsiː maɪ ˈɡræn
ˌmʌðər /
ʃi lɪvz ɪn ə ˈhaʊs bɪˈhaɪnd ðəʊz triːz / ðə wʊlf ræn tə
ɡræniz ˈhaʊs / ənd eɪt ˈɡræni ʌp / hi ˈɡɒt ˈɪntə ɡræniz
bed /ə ˈlɪtl̩ ˈleɪtər/ ˈlɪtl̩ red ˈraɪdɪŋ hʊd riːtʃt ðə ˈhaʊs / / ʃi
lʊkt ət ðə wʊlf / ˈɡræni / ˈwɒt ə bɪɡ aɪz ju hæv / ɔːl ðə
ˈbetər tə ˈsiː ju wɪð / ˈsed ðə wʊlf / ˈɡræni / ˈwɒt ə bɪɡ
ɪərz ju hæv | ɔːl ðə ˈbetər tə hɪər ju wɪð /
ˈsed ðə wʊlf / ˈɡræni / ˈwɒt ə bɪɡ nəʊz ju hæv / ɔːl ðə ˈbetər
tə smel ju wɪð / ˈsed ðə wʊlf / ˈɡræni / ˈwɒt bɪɡ tiːθ ju hæv /
ɔːl ðə ˈbetər tu iːt ju wɪð / ˈʃaʊtɪd ðə wʊlf / ə ˈwʊdkʌtər wəz
ɪn ðə wʊd / hi hɜːrd ə laʊd skriːm / ənd ræn tə ðə ˈhaʊs /
ðə ˈwʊdkʌtər hɪt ðə wʊlf ˈəʊvər ðə hed / ðə wʊlf ˈəʊpənd ɪz
maʊθ waɪd ənd ˈʃaʊtɪd/ ənd ˈɡræni dʒʌmpt aʊt / ðə wʊlf
ræn əˈweɪ / ənd ˈlɪtl̩ red ˈraɪdɪŋ hʊd ˈnevər ˈsɔː ðə wʊlf ə
ˈɡen /

Vowels

  • 1.
  • 2.
    Underline the wordyou hear • • • • • Sheep Hang Cliff Save Boat ship hung clef shave but
  • 3.
  • 4.
  • 6.
    Underline the wordsyou listen… • • • • • • • • Teacher Kitchen Work Cinema Who Book Five Away • • • • • • • • Car Study Ball Hot Pen Cat Hit See • • • • • • • • Boy Bed Onion Sugar Say Birds Look Wine • • • • • • • • Carrots Now Word Tall Park Good Key Apple
  • 7.
    CONCEPT DEFINITION EXAMPLE Single vowel sounds A combination ofvowel sounds /i:/ /ɪ/ /u:/ /ʊ/ Open Vowels The tongue is neither high not low in the mouth Lip positions
  • 8.
    True or false? •English speakers use twelve pure vowels • Vowels are differentiated from the consonants by their position of the tongue and the lips • Lip positions for vowel production can be rounded and neutral
  • 9.
    • While vowelsare produced with the help of many organs, consonants depend only on the position of the tongue and the lips • The position of the tongue and the lips allow for a great amount of variation enabling us to voice many more than the familiar five vowels.
  • 10.
    • English haseight diphthongs • Vowels can be produced by raising the tongue high, keeping it in the middle or low in the mouth • Vowels can be produced alone and may be short or long • Vowels are classified into close, mid and open vowels
  • 11.
  • 12.
    CLOSE VOWELS • Lipsspread, tongue tense. Sides of the tongue touch upper molars (key. cheese, scene, police, people) • Lips spread loosely, tongue more relaxed. Sides of tongue may touch upper molars (rhythm, sieve, hit, sausage) • Lips rounded, tongue relaxed, gorilla noise (book, good, woman, push, pull) • Lips rounded, tongue tense, use a rising and falling intonation (food, rude, true, who, fruit)
  • 13.
    MID VOWELS • Lipsloosely spread, tongue tenser than for i: (egg, left, said, head) • Lips relaxed and neutrally spread, as though you were completely exhausted (about- paper- banana, nation) • Lips relaxed and neutrally spread (shirt, her, word, further) • Lips loosely rounded (fork, call, snore, taught)
  • 14.
    OPEN VOWELS • Lipsneutrally open (hat, attack, antique) • Lips neutrally open (run, uncle, front, nourish, does) • Tongue in the fully open position, Lips neutrally open (far, part, class, half) • Tongue in the fully open position, lips lightly rounded (dog, often, cough, want)
  • 18.
    Listen and classifythe words in the correct column
  • 19.
    To make thesound /i:/, smile and open your mouth a little. /i:/ is a long sound. It comes in the words feet and seat. To make the sound /ɪ /, open your mouth a little more. /ɪ / is a short sound. It comes in the words fit and sit.
  • 20.
    THE SOUNDS /i:/AND /ɪ / feet seat steal feel jeans beans team cheap peach leave fit sit still fill gins bins Tim chip pitch live
  • 21.
    A necklace ofbrown glass ______ a. Beads b.Bids
  • 22.
    She broke her_______ falling down the stairs a. Heap b. Hip
  • 23.
    Those shoes don’t_______ her _______. a. feet, fit b.Fit, feet
  • 24.
    He made a____ of $150 for the painting a. Bead b.Bid
  • 25.
    Everytime he wantsto play, he begins to ______; he’s really sick a. Whiz b.Wheez
  • 26.
    He’s so brilliant.He’s a _____ at mathematics a. Whiz b.Wheez
  • 27.
    This is thefootball _______ a. Peach b.Pitch
  • 28.
    She _______ forher gun a. Reached b.Riched
  • 29.
    Diane’s ___________ herlollipop a. Leaking b.Licking
  • 30.
    There are 52_______ in a year a. Weeks b.Wicks
  • 31.
    The tap ______all day, we have to get it fixed a. Licks b.Leaks
  • 32.
    My parents inlaw are ______ enough to buy an airplane a. Reach b. Rich
  • 33.
    Her face isas soft as a _______ a. Peach b.Pitch
  • 34.
    A candle _______is string, cord, or wooden object that holds the flame of a candle. a. Week b.Wick
  • 35.
    That _______ ofrubish stinks a. Hip b.Heap
  • 36.
    Which word soundsdifferent? • Debt • Fret • Treat • sweat
  • 37.
    Which word soundsdifferent? • Mother • Bother • Brother • Another
  • 38.
    Which word soundsdifferent? • Hot • Knot • Taught • What
  • 39.
    Which word doesnot rhyme with the others • Through • Sew • Due • Do
  • 40.
  • 41.
    - the sameletters can have different vowel sound: Soup couple bought /u:/ /ʌ/ /ɔ:/ -different letters can have the same vowel sound: Soup /u:/ boots /u:/ suit /u:/
  • 42.
    Cross out theword which does not contain the vowel sound on the left. /e/ bread many /ʌ/ enough /ɒ/ onion /ɜ:/ shirt /i:/ cheese /ɑ:/ car /ɪ / buildings /u:/ shampoo woman brother coffee pork tea carrots little look eggs sugar lot world wine half birds fruit much what university magazines aren´t milk two
  • 43.
    4. Listen andcircle the symbol that matches the sound of the underlined letters. • • • • • • • • • Bus Tall Word Good Park Shop Apples Blue Cigarette /ʊ/ /ɑ:/ /ɜ:/ /ʊ/ /æ/ /ʌ/ /æ/ /ʊ/ /ʌ/ /ʌ/ /ɔ:/ /ɔ:/ /ɔ:/ /ɑ:/ / ɒ/ /ə/ /u:/ /ə/
  • 44.
    /u:/ To make the sound/u:/, make your lips very round and hard. make the sound long. /ʊ/ . Practise making the sounds To make the sound /ʊ/, open your lips a little and make them a little round. Keep the sound short.
  • 45.
    THE SOUNDS /ʊ/ AND /u:/ Full Pull Look Soot Fool Pool Luke Suit
  • 46.
    Complete the statementswith the appropriate word
  • 47.
  • 48.
  • 49.
  • 50.
  • 51.
  • 52.
  • 53.
  • 54.
  • 55.
  • 56.
  • 57.
    Match the similarwords • Sheep • Receive • Leave • Heat • Eel • ill • Live • Hit • Sieve • Ship
  • 58.
  • 59.
    The tornado wasso devastating that whole cities were wiped off the ________ a. Mop b.Map
  • 60.
    She must bea whiz! Are you telling me that she can ____ at the age of 2? a. Add b.Odd
  • 61.
    What she ______in beauty, she makes up for brains a. Lacks b.Locks
  • 62.
    A _______ isa bundle of coarse yarn, a sponge, or other absorbent material, fastened at the end of a stick or handle for washing floors a. Mop b.Map
  • 63.
    The documents ofthe new exports policies are quintessential for the company. That’s why they are under ____ and key a. Lack b.Lock
  • 64.
    When we arein need for a _____ they don’t show up a. Cab b.Cob
  • 65.
    I can’t believethat Luren let the ______ out of the bag. Everybody was in shock. a. Cot b.Cat
  • 66.
    Do you knowhow to grill corn on the ____? a. Cab b.Cob
  • 67.
    That _____ isa nightmare! Firs, I couldn’t sleep and second, my whole body was aching the next day a. Cat b.Cot
  • 68.
    Choose the ______word out? a. add b. odd
  • 73.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbzMC6qAzVU / ˈlɪtl̩ redˈraɪdɪŋ hʊd lɪvd ɪn ə wʊd wɪð hər ˈmʌðər / wʌn deɪ ˈlɪtl̩ ˈraɪdɪŋ hʊd ˈwent tə ˈsiː hər ˈɡræni / ʃi həd ə naɪs keɪk ɪn hər ˈbɑːskɪt / ɒn hər ˈweɪ/ ˈlɪtl̩ red ˈraɪdɪŋ hʊd met ə wʊlf / həˈləʊ / ˈsed ðə wʊlf / weər ər ju ˈɡəʊɪŋ / aɪm ˈɡəʊɪŋ tə ˈsiː maɪ ˈɡræn ˌmʌðər /
  • 74.
    ʃi lɪvz ɪnə ˈhaʊs bɪˈhaɪnd ðəʊz triːz / ðə wʊlf ræn tə ɡræniz ˈhaʊs / ənd eɪt ˈɡræni ʌp / hi ˈɡɒt ˈɪntə ɡræniz bed /ə ˈlɪtl̩ ˈleɪtər/ ˈlɪtl̩ red ˈraɪdɪŋ hʊd riːtʃt ðə ˈhaʊs / / ʃi lʊkt ət ðə wʊlf / ˈɡræni / ˈwɒt ə bɪɡ aɪz ju hæv / ɔːl ðə ˈbetər tə ˈsiː ju wɪð / ˈsed ðə wʊlf / ˈɡræni / ˈwɒt ə bɪɡ ɪərz ju hæv | ɔːl ðə ˈbetər tə hɪər ju wɪð /
  • 75.
    ˈsed ðə wʊlf/ ˈɡræni / ˈwɒt ə bɪɡ nəʊz ju hæv / ɔːl ðə ˈbetər tə smel ju wɪð / ˈsed ðə wʊlf / ˈɡræni / ˈwɒt bɪɡ tiːθ ju hæv / ɔːl ðə ˈbetər tu iːt ju wɪð / ˈʃaʊtɪd ðə wʊlf / ə ˈwʊdkʌtər wəz ɪn ðə wʊd / hi hɜːrd ə laʊd skriːm / ənd ræn tə ðə ˈhaʊs / ðə ˈwʊdkʌtər hɪt ðə wʊlf ˈəʊvər ðə hed / ðə wʊlf ˈəʊpənd ɪz maʊθ waɪd ənd ˈʃaʊtɪd/ ənd ˈɡræni dʒʌmpt aʊt / ðə wʊlf ræn əˈweɪ / ənd ˈlɪtl̩ red ˈraɪdɪŋ hʊd ˈnevər ˈsɔː ðə wʊlf ə ˈɡen /