Vowel listening practice: What do you hear?

Life is a beach . . . but pronouncing the word “beach” can be difficult!

Click “play” to listen to the audio for this post!

Do you have a problem understanding different vowel sounds in English? This is a common concern of English students. In particular, students have trouble with the “i” and “e” sounds. It can be “i” like in hit, sit, and mitt . . . or it can be “i” like in heat, seat, and meet.

This a big problem, because it can lead to students pronouncing words incorrectly . . . and the students accidentally say a “bad” word! For example, students will want to say “Let’s go to the beach,” but they mispronounce the “ea” sound, and use “i” instead of “ea.” Oops!

One way to improve your pronunciation is to work on improving your listening skills, because the two are related: you say what you hear. We will begin working on your pronunciation by first practicing your listening skills.

You are going to hear eight words in English. Write what you hear. Then, scroll down to see if your answer is correct. Warning: some of the words are curse words, so make sure there is no one in the room that you will offend!

Are you ready?

1. ______________________

2. ______________________

3. ______________________

4. ______________________

5. ______________________

6. ______________________

7. ______________________

8. ______________________

Here are the answers:

1. ship

2. hit

3. bitch

4. sheep

5. shit

6. heat

7. sheet

8. beach

A good way to practice your “i” pronunciation is to follow these rules:

For the “ee” sound, like in cheese and sneeze and each, your mouth looks like you are smiling. This is why we say “cheese!” when someone is taking our picture.
For the “i” sound, open your mouth softly. The sound comes from opening your lower jaw slightly.

Now, try pronouncing these words in the list after me.