English contains a lot of words that are spelled the same but sound different based on the intonation of the vowel. This sound alone will determine the context of entire sentences. For example, the base word "read" is completely different in the following sentences: "He read the paper yesterday," and "They read the paper daily." A vowel activity to point out this difference is to use a vowel chart. This chart lists all five vowels and the long and short way to pronounce each one. Then, students can take both ways of pronouncing the vowel, in this case "e," and apply it correctly to a sample of sentences.
For foreign speakers, English may sound relatively slower than their native language. This is because English has words that are meant to sound longer than the way they are spelled. For example, the letters R and W in most words take longer to pronounce. In the word, "word," pronouncing the R alone should take half the time to pronounce as pronouncing the entire word. Students tending to speak fast overlook this and say "wod" instead. As an activity, students can take a sample list of these words and slowly enunciate each word until mastered. Common words to look out for contain R, W, S (pronounced as Z, i.e., Spoons), and Y (adding an invisible Y to words, i.e., DistribYute.)
According to Pronunciation Workshop, Friction Words are subtle sounds that are produced by creating friction between the different parts of your mouth. For example, the "th" sound can only be pronounced by making the tongue and teeth touch slightly. A word example that falls under this rule is the word "the," one of the most common words used in conversation. Students may forget to create the friction and sound out "ta" or pronounce it too quickly, resulting in a strong "da." Tongue-twisters serve as a good way to solve this problem. The students would slowly go through the sentence and emphasize enunciating each word perfectly. After a few repetitions, the sentences would be pronounced at higher and higher speed while still maintaining clarity of pronunciation.
Experts agree that the most effective activity to pronounce correctly is by regularly listening and speaking in conversational English. All of the previously mentioned issues in pronunciation are present in everyday conversations. Students are highly encouraged to participate in speaking circles or to partner up with a native speaker. In the group, speakers should constantly try to talk about everyday topics such as current events or news and point out pronunciation mistakes as they are made.