This document provides a guide with online resources to help students improve their pronunciation. It lists 7 categories of resources, including sites for minimal pairs, tongue twisters, past verb tenses, and checking individual word pronunciation. For each category, several links are given along with a brief description of what can be found at each site, such as audio recordings, exercises, and online dictionaries. The goal is to provide meaningful individual practice to help students learn pronunciation at their own pace.

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ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT
Pronunciation
Pronunciation i-Aids
Online Resources for Students
This guide has been devised as a collection of sites dealing with pronunciation.
Moreover, there is a brief description of what to find in each of the links listed.
1. Minimal Pairs:
Being the difference between vowels and consonants in the target language and
your mother tongue a major challenge, the following sites can provide you with
meaningful and proactive practice of some of the contents you have covered in class.
Practicing on your own or in the computer lab can benefit your English pronunciation
skills by letting you cover things at your own pace and with your own motivation.
2. Minimal pairs for either consonants or vowels:
http://www.manythings.org/pp/
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/
http://sky.hfjh.tp.edu.tw/michelle/bestweb/minimalpairs.pdf (printout)
http://tesl.engl.iastate.edu/510/F03/pronounce/activity%20pages/pronunciationhome.h
tm
http://www.speak-read-write.com/minimalpairs.html (only consonants)
3. Minimal pairs just for vowels:
http://www.shiporsheep.com/page1.html
http://www.fonetiks.org/shiporsheep/
Pronunciation Aids Students / CDU / October 2011

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4. Tongue Twisters:
Using tongue twisters is a good way to practice your pronunciation or to realize
that you are mispronouncing a given sound. Tongue twisters can help you not only to
work on your vowel and consonant clarity, but can also help you discover how words
are really pronounced with the help of audio samples that can be found on the
Internet nowadays. For a good but short practice with tongue twisters including the
audio version of each one, visit:
http://www.eslmania.com/students/accent_reduction/Tongue_twister_with_audio.htm
To work on your own, but without audio versions, and to later consult with your
educational leader in class, visit this site containing over 400 samples:
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm
And get ready to have fun trying some of these twisters on your own or in class.
5. Past tenses:
Another troublesome area in your pronunciation has to do with the correct
pronunciation of the past tenses of regular verbs. Once you have studied this in class,
you can practice on your own by visiting the following websites:
http://eolf.univ-fcomte.fr/index.php?page=english-pronunciation-exercises
http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/-ed.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1413_gramchallenge
26/
The only requirement to access the exercises on this page is to have installed the
program called “Flash,” which is something most computers have. If needed, the same
page gives you the opportunity to download it.
The exercises you will encounter on this page are past tense recognition
exercises. In this way you are forced to make the effort not only to understand how
the past tense is pronounced but how you must pronounce the verb to sound much
more idiomatic and accurate. The good thing about this page is its audio, so you can
listen to the verb form as many times as it is necessary.
Pronunciation Aids Students / CDU / October 2011

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6. To check the pronunciation of words:
Although the following link is not meant to be used for pronunciation practice per
se, you can use it to find out or corroborate whether you have the right pronunciation
of the word(s) you know or that you encounter in your books. You get not only the
meaning and synonyms of the word(s), but also you can check how they are
pronounced by native speakers.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
You should have this link available on your PCs either at work, if you have the
chance, or at home, so you can verify words you are not quite sure how they are
pronounced while reading or doing your homework. The online dictionary will give you
a prompt and quite accurate answer.
7. Homophones:
Finally, a link on homophones for those of you who might ask yourself what the
difference between words such as two, too, and to in terms of pronunciation is.
http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/homophones.htm
Pronunciation Aids Students / CDU / October 2011