Lesson # 9

Words to know:

[ɝ] [ɚ]
This sound can be found at the This sound can be found in the
beginning, in the middle and at the middle of words and at the end of
end of words. words.

as in turn, first and serve

as in father and actor

Beginning Middle End Middle End

urge, turn, curve, fur, liberty, butterfly, baker, sooner,
early, word, prefer, perhaps, butter, teacher,
herb, learn, verb, sir, flowerpot, mirror, deliver,
urban, earn, circus, stir, surprise, mother,
earnest, third, her, understood weather
earth, Thursday purr,
irk occur,
defer
Common Patterns: Common Patterns:
ir, ur, er ar, er, or, ure
Less Frequent Patterns:
ear – heard, early, learn, earn, earth,
earnest
our – journey, nourishing
or – work, word, world, worse, worm, Spelled:
worth ar: sugar, dollar, collar, regular,
grammar
Spelled: er: after, paper, father, farmer, silver
ir: bird, girl, firm, third, circle or: color, actor, flavor, doctor, razor
ur: hurt, curl, curb, purple, turkey ure: nature, picture, feature, failure,
er: fern, term, stern, German, servant measure

[ɝ] and [ɚ]

The grammar teacher worked on verbs.
Actors perform better after rehearsing.
 [ɹ/r]
This sound can be found at the beginning, in the middle and
at the end of words.

As in red, marry and far

Beginning Middle End

red, run, row, read, very, marry, story, or, are, far,
rest, rich, rain, real, berry, sorry, hurry, door, near,
wrong, write carrot, orange, more, sure,
around, tomorrow their, before,
appear
Common Patterns:
r

[ɹ/r]
Roy returns tomorrow morning.
Robert ran around the corner.
Remember; never put the cart before the horse!
Understand:
 It is difficult to hear the difference between [ɝ] and [ɚ] when these sounds
are produced in isolation.
 [ɝ] always receive strong emphasis and is found only in stressed
syllables. It is produced with slightly protruded lips and tense tongue
muscles.
 [ɚ] is produced with much less force and occurs only in unstressed
syllables. The position of the lips and jaw is the same as for [ɝ], but the
tongue muscles are completely relaxed.
 [ɹ/r] is a vibrating sound, airstream continuous, and the position of the lips
should be rounded.
 To pronounce the [ɹ/r] sound correctly, make sure that the tip of your
tongue never touches your upper gum ridge, but is curled upward toward
the roof of your mouth.
  Vowels [ɝ] and [ɚ]

[ɚ] [ɝ]

labor bird
waiver verb
proper perch
offer first
wonder dirty
Sentences:

1. The worm is busy working.

2. If you get hurt, you’d better see a doctor.

The consonant [r]

[r]- -[r]- -[r]

1. read 1. career 1. hear

2. rude 2. spirit 2. share
3. red 3. parade 3. car
4. rope 4. arrest 4. tour
5. rag 5. correct 5. fire
Sentences:

1. We have to rearrange our tour because of the rain.

2. Right or wrong, you’d better run before you get arrested.

Vowels [i] followed by [r]

1. ear
2. year
3. beer
4. fear
5. tear (n.)
Sentences:

1. Give me a beer, please.

2. She can’t hear anything with her ears covered.

Vowels [ɛ] followed by [r]

1. air
2. bear
3. pair
4. fair
5. care
Sentences:

1. There are still bears in the bay area.

2. If you don’t care, I’d rather you share the room with Clare.
Vowels [ɑ] followed by [r]

1. are
2. bar
3. car
4. far
5. card
Sentences:

1. Bob doesn’t play the guitar; he plays the harp.

2. The guard is not smart, but he has a good heart.
Vowels [ɔ] followed by [r]
1. or
2. bore
3. pour
4. four
5. court
Sentences:

1. The court house was torn down during the war.

2. There are four doors for you to explore in this game.

Vowels [aɪ], [aʊ] and [(j)ʊ] followed by [r]

[aɪr] [aʊr] [(j)ʊr]

1. byre bower lure

2. empire power cure
ire our pure
3.
1. fire devour
4. liar flour
Sentences:

1. The power of your empire is no longer secure.

2. I hired a tour guide to lead me to the ancient tower
Plan:
Sort the words according to their sound (in pairs, listen to a partner
pronunciation and then put the words in the correct box)

Turn, sugar, doctor, bring, turtle, bird, cry, tree, flower, circus, summer, proud,
servant, drink, birthday, measure, heard, picture, paper, right, before, wrong,
near

[ɝ] [ɚ] [ɹ/r]

Try to create your own Tongue Twister using vocabulary with the sounds:
[ɝ], [ɚ], [ɹ/r]; and practice with a partner.

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Write and Think:

a) Look at the pictures, choose a word from above and label the
pictures correctly.

morning – herbs – curve – share – word – later – circus - stir

a) Dictation of words with [ɝ] sound and [ɚ] sound:

____________________ ____________________ ____________________

____________________ ____________________ ____________________

____________________ ____________________ ____________________

____________________ ____________________ ____________________

Edit:
Write the number in each word according to the order your teacher pronounces it. Then
practice with a partner.

purse sooner round consider

rise work rain razor

later write perfume failure

very bird sorry desserts

carrot measure curly around

their verbs picture turkey

church regular scissors creature

collar story skirt winter

Listen and circle the word that is pronounced with /ɝ/ sound.

a 1 2 3

b 1 2 3

c 1 2 3

d 1 2 3

e 1 2 3

f 1 2 3

g 1 2 3

h 1 2 3

i 1 2 3

j 1 2 3
Pronunciation
Minimal Pairs /er/ /ir/
Words like HAIR and HEAR
 Activity 1
Listen to your teacher saying the words in Column 1 and Column 2 below.

Column 1 Column 2

Hair Hear/Here
Air Ear
Chairs Cheers
Bear Beer
Fare/Fair Fear
Staring Steering
Dare Dear/Deer
 Activity 2
Listen to your teacher saying one of the words from Activity 1. Say if you think the word is in
Column 1 or Column 2.

 Activity 3
Listen to your teacher saying two words from Activity 1. If the words are the same, circle S
below. If you think the words are different, circle D below.

1. S D 2. S D 3. S D 4. S D 5. S D
6. S D 7. S D 8. S D 9. S D 10. S D
 Activity 4
Listen to your teacher reading the sentences below. Circle the word you hear.

1. It’s beautiful hair / here.

2. There is something in the air / ear.
3. There were a lot of chairs / cheers.
4. The bear / beer is brown.
5. The fare / fear was too much.
6. He was staring / steering straight at her.
7. It was a very bold dare / deer.

 Activity 5
Imagine you are the teacher now! Work with a partner and repeat the activities above. Then
swap roles.
Pronunciation
Minimal Pairs /er/ /ɝ /
Words like HAIR and HER
 Activity 1
Listen to your teacher saying the words in Column 1 and Column 2 below.

Column 1 Column 2

Hair Her
Wear Were
Fairy Furry
Staring Stirring
Bared Bird
Pears Purrs
 Activity 2
Listen to your teacher saying one of the words from Activity 1. Say if you think the word is in
Column 1 or Column 2.

 Activity 3
Listen to your teacher saying two words from Activity 1. If the words are the same, circle S
below. If you think the words are different, circle D below.

1. S D 2. S D 3. S D 4. S D 5. S D
6. S D 7. S D 8. S D 9. S D 10. S D
 Activity 4
Listen to your teacher reading the sentences below. Circle the word you hear.

1. They don’t need hair / her.

2. They wear / were very expensive clothes.

3. She wore a fairy / furry costume at the carnival.

4. You should stop staring / stirring now.

 Activity 5
Imagine you are the teacher now! Work with a partner and repeat the activities above. Then
swap roles.
Pronunciation
Minimal Pairs /er/ /ɑr/
Words like CARE and CAR
 Activity 1
Listen to your teacher saying the words in Column 1 and Column 2 below.

Column 1 Column 2

Care Car
Fair Far
Stairs Stars
Bear Bar
Tear (verb) Tar

 Activity 2
Listen to your teacher saying one of the words from Activity 1. Say if you think the word is in
Column 1 or Column 2.

 Activity 3
Listen to your teacher saying two words from Activity 1. If the words are the same, circle S
below. If you think the words are different, circle D below.

1. S D 2. S D 3. S D 4. S D 5. S D
6. S D 7. S D 8. S D 9. S D 10. S D
 Activity 4
Listen to your teacher reading the sentences below. Circle the word you hear.

1. He doesn’t have a care / car.

2. It’s not fair / far.

3. There were a lot of stairs / stars.

4. She didn’t go near the bear / bar.

5. Please don’t tear / tar this one.

 Activity 5
Imagine you are the teacher now! Work with a partner and repeat the activities above. Then
swap roles.
Pronunciation
Minimal Pairs /ɑr/ /ɔr/
Words like FAR and FOR
 Activity 1
Listen to your teacher saying the words in Column 1 and Column 2 below.

Column 1 Column 2

Far For/Four
Cart Court
Stars Stores
Farmed Formed
Part Port
Hearty Haughty
 Activity 2
Listen to your teacher saying one of the words from Activity 1. Say if you think the word is in
Column 1 or Column 2.
 Activity 3
Listen to your teacher saying two words from Activity 1. If the words are the same, circle S
below. If you think the words are different, circle D below.

1. S D 2. S D 3. S D 4. S D 5. S D
6. S D 7. S D 8. S D 9. S D 10. S D
 Activity 4
Listen to your teacher reading the sentences below. Circle the word you hear.

1. He can’t get far / four today.

2. He sat in the cart / court all morning.

3. There were lots of stars / stores.

4. The land was farmed / formed a long time ago.

5. Unfortunately, the part / port was very small.

6. He was a hearty / haughty man.

 Activity 5

Imagine you are the teacher now! Work with a partner and repeat the activities

above. Then swap roles.

Animals