VOCABULARY & PRONUNCIATION

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I’m thankful for YOU!

Today we celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October each year. Most families have a special dinner that consists mainly in turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash or turnips, cranberries sauce, and pumpkin pie. It’s a time to spend with family and friends.

Typical Canadian Thanksgiving dinner

Vocabulary related to Thanksgiving

Vocabulary related to Thanksgiving

Grammar related to Thanksgiving

Canadian families have different traditions during Thanksgiving dinner. My family has a special tradition before eating dinner. First, we say grace, which is a short prayer to give thanks. Then, each person says something they are thankful for. Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and give thanks for one’s life, health, food, family, friends, work, and freedom. 

How to use the word thankful?

First let’s analyze what part of the speech is the word thankful. It’s similar to the word thank, right? The word thank is a verb, so thankful is and adjective (many adjectives have a ‘ful’ ending). Can you guess what the adverb form is? Yes, the adverb form is thankfully (many adverbs have a ‘ly’ ending). Yay! We already have made a word family.

  • thank (verb)
  • thankful (adjective)
  • thankfully (adverb)

The word thankful represents a feeling that people experience when they are happy because of someone or something. It is commonly used to express gratitude.

Thankful for someone or something

Examples:

He is thankful for his wife.

I’m so thankful for all the support I’ve received during these hard times.

Thankful to do something

Examples:

I’m so thankful to be alive.

She is thankful to have a job


Practice time

What are you are thankful for today?

Share your answer in the comments below.


For more details about word families, check this:

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PRONUNCIATION

S consonant clusters

A consonant cluster is a group of consonants without any vowel. They can appear at the beginning, in the middle of at the end of words.

For example:

initial st : stop

middle st: faster

final st: tallest

Spanish and Portuguese speakers have difficulties pronouncing s-cluster words, especially when the cluster is located at the beginning of a word.

In this mini lesson I’ll teach you how to pronounce words that start with S consonant clusters.


‘SP’, ‘ST’, ‘SM’, ‘SK’, ‘SL’ ‘SN’ and ‘SW’ are consonant clusters that are not present at the beginning of words in Spanish, Portuguese and other languages. To improve your pronunciation it is important that you recognize them and learn how to pronounce each sound of the cluster correctly.

Watch this video and practice to improve your pronunciation

ENGLISH VERSION

SPANISH VERSION


Do you want to practice pronunciation? Download a worksheet with more initial position /s/ consonant blends.

Happy practice!!

Do you remember any other words in English that start with an ‘S’ cluster?

VOCABULARY & PRONUNCIATION

10 Canadian Animals Pronunciation practice for ESL students

Canada is a famous for its winter sports and maple syrup. However, Canada is home to a wide variety of beautiful animals.

In the video below you will find a list of 10 animals native to Canada. Watch the video, listen to the pronunciation of each animal and repeat.

Happy practice!

Spelling and Pronunciation

If you want to learn more about the Canadian biodiversity visit Environment and Climate Change Canada YouTube channel.

FLUENCY

The Tongue Twister Challenge (Intensity Level 3)

Workout for your English muscles

A great way to improve your pronunciation and fluency is by saying tongue twisters as fast as you can. Tongue twisters are great to exercise your English muscles. Are you ready to complete this fun challenge?

Have you completed Intensity level 1 and 2? If not, click the button below.

If you are an intermediate student, you can use Intensity Level 1 as your warm up.

If you are an advanced student, you can use Intensity Level 1 and Level 2 as your warm up

Let’s start!

Say each of the following tongue twisters five times as fast as you can. If you are not sure about the correct pronunciation you can play the audio first and repeat after me. Then you can say the tongue twister slowly and when you feel confident about your pronunciation you increase the speed.

1.  I scream, you scream, all scream for ice cream.

2. Three free throws.

3. Rubber baby buggy bumpers.

Let’s increase the intensity

4.  Birdie birdie in the sky laid a turdie in my eye.
If cows could fly I’d have a cow pie in my eye.

5.  Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread.
Spread it thick, say it quick!
Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread.
Spread it thicker, say it quicker!

6.  Betty Botter bought some butter
But she said the butter’s bitter
If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter
But a bit of better butter will make my batter better
So ‘twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.

DOWNLOAD the worksheet with audio to practice anytime, anywhere.

Try out this tongue twisters and let me know how it went. Which was the most difficult one? Leave your answers in the comments below.

Happy practice!

FLUENCY

The Tongue Twister Challenge (Intensity Level 1)


Workout for your English muscles

A great way to improve your pronunciation and fluency is by saying tongue twisters as fast as you can. Tongue twisters are great to exercise your English muscles. Are you ready to complete this fun challenge?

Let’s warm up

Say each of the following tongue twisters five times as fast as you can. If you are not sure about the correct pronunciation you can play the audio first and repeat after me. Then you can say the tongue twister slowly and when you feel confident about your pronunciation you increase the speed.

1 You know New York, you need New York

2 So, this is the sushi chef

3 Stupid superstition

Let’s increase the intensity

Say each of the following tongue twisters five times as fast as you can

4. I saw a kitten eaten chicken in the kitchen

5.Eddie edited it

6. Willie’s really weary

7. The big fat cat sat on the rat

8. She sells seashells by the seashore

DOWNLOAD the worksheet with audio to practice anytime, anywhere.

Try out this tongue twisters and let me know how it went. Which was the most difficult one? Leave your answers in the comments below.

Happy practice!