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Teachers Activity links ____________________ Grammar advanced intermediate beginning ____________________ Reading abridged stories paraphrasing ____________________ Writing essay skills verb choice end focus ____________________ Listening Speaking Teaching Vowels s- endings note-taking skills ____________________ more to come... ____________________ created and maintained by Douglas E. Adams		Teaching /S/ /Z/ & /EZ/ Word Endings A feature of English pronunciation that students sometime struggle with is the fact that there are three different ways to pronounce the [s] sound at the end of words. This frequently comes up with the third person singular, plural nouns, and the possessive on nouns. Since language is an organized system, surely there must be some sort of pattern to help guide students in choosing which of the three sounds to use. Lesson Begin by writing the word stops on the left-hand side of the board. Leave a little bit of space at the top of the board to later make a heading for the column you will be creating as well as some space to the left of the word. Pronounce the word stops and ask students what sound they hear at the end of the word [/S/ /Z/ or /EZ/]. (It's an /s/) Delete the /s/ from stops and ask students which sound they hear at the end of the word now. Write the letter /p/ to the left of the word stop, and ask for other words that end with a /p/ sound, [ex: sleep, hope,...] and write them next to stop.Note: The spelling doesn't matter. It's the final sound that counts. Add an /s/ to the end of each word and ask students what sound they hear, [/S/ /Z/ or /EZ/]. From this we can know that words that end in a /p/ sound become /s/. Next, move a few spaces to the right of the last word you wrote and write the word robs on the board. Pronounce the word robs and ask students what sound they hear at the end of the word [/S/ /Z/ or /EZ/]. (It's a /z/) Delete the /s/ from robs and ask students which sound they hear at the end of the word now. Write the letter /b/ to the left of the word rob, and ask for other words that end with a /b/ sound, [ex: club, crib,...] and write them next to rob. Just as with stop, Add an /s/ to the end of each word in your list and ask students what sound they hear, [/S/ /Z/ or /EZ/]. From this we can know that words that end in a /b/ sound become /z/. /p/ and /b/ are known as minimal pairs. This is a linguistic term that simply means that these two words are pronounced exactly the same except for one difference that separates their pronunciation. In the case of /p/ and /b/ that difference is that /b/ is a voiced/loud sound while /p/ is a voiceless/quiet sound. *Note: Voiceless or quiet consonants are ones that don't make much noise when you pronounce them because your larynx doesn't vibrate. They include consonants like /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /sh/, and the /th/ as in path. On the other hand, voiced or loud sounds make noise when you pronounce them because they cause your larynx to vibrate.These include consonants like /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, etc... as well as vowels. Students can feel the difference between voiced and voiceless by touching their throat as they pronounce each sound. *Note: Because minimal pairs are so similar, they often cause students difficulty; for example, the /p/ and /b/ for Arabic speakers. Back to... Listening & Speaking Up Next... the lesson continues

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