Unit 1. Bye, Buy.

Introducing Letters and Sounds

Unit 1; Part A

In writing, words are made of letters. In speech, words are made ofsounds. Letters are not always the same as sounds.
For example, thewords key and car begin with the same sound, but the letters aredifferent. We can see this clearly if we read the two words in phonemicsymbols: /ki:/, /ka:/.
In the examples below, word pairs have the samepronunciation but different spelling:
buy   bye            sun       son
weak   week         weigh    way
too      two         write     right

Note: There are some exercises to help you learn the phonemic symbols.

Unit 1; Part B

There are rwo kinds of sounds: consonant sounds (C) and vowel sounds(V).
For example, in duck, there are three sounds,consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC).
The number of sounds in a word is notusually the same as the number of letters. We can see this if we writethe word using phonemic symbols.
For example, duck is /dΛk/.

Unit 1; Part C

Writers often play with the sounds in words. For example, if they are finding a name for a cartoon character, they might:

repeat the first sound, for example Donald Duck.

repeat the final sound or sounds (this is called rhyme), for example Ronald McDonald.

Listen to these examples of names and expressions with sound-play.Notice that the writer is playing with the sound not the spelling.
Forexample, in Dennis the Menace, the last three sounds of the words arethe same, but the spelling is completely different.

Mickey Mouse
Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer
Dennis the Menace
Bugs Bunny
news and views
rock and roll
wine and dine
While the cat's away, the mice will play.

Unit 1; Part D

There are probably some sounds in English which do not exist in yourlanguage, and others which are similar but not exactly the same. Thiscan make it difficult to hear and make the distinction between twosimilar words in English.
Listen ro these pairs. Are any of them difficult for you?

boat - vote hit - heat so - show sung - sun wine - vine wet - wait

Exercises

1 Correct the incorrect words using words from the box.

In this story, there are 12 incorrect words. The correct wordis pronounced the same as the incorrect one, but the spelling isdifferent. Correct them using words from the box.

son some meat way threw pears sent week buy piece road two

         week
   Last ~~weak~~,I cent my sun Jamie to the shops to
  bye sum food. He got a peace of meet and too
  pairs. On the weigh home, the bag broke. The
  food fell onto the rode and got dirty. In the end,
  Jamie through the food in the bin.

2 How many sounds are there in each word?

How many sounds are there in each word? Write the order of consonant sounds (C) and vowel sounds (V).
Example:
night CVC (three sounds: first a consonant, then a vowel and finally another consonant)

1   dog
2   rabbit
3   frog

4    gorilla
5    snake
6    bee

3 Do these possible names of cartoon animals have the same first sounds?

Listen to these possible names of cartoon animals. Do they have the same first sounds? (Write A.) Do they rhyme? (Write B.)
Example:
Sam the lamb B

1     Phil the fox
2     Mary the canary
3     Ida the spider
4     Claire the bear

5    Polly the parrot
6    Deborah the zebra
7    Myrtle the turtle
8    Kitty the cat

4 Listen to these sounds. Do you have a similar sound in your language?

Listen to these sounds. Do you have a similar sound in your language? If you do, write a tick.

1   /∫/    (shoe)
2    /з:/ (girl)
3    /æ/ (hat)
4   /z/   (zoo)

5   /d3/ (June)
6   /∂u/ (soap)
7   /θ/    (thing)
8   /l/ (life)

Unit 1 Unit 2