Best Approaches to Teaching Diphthongs: Lecture 3

A diphthong has two sounds that have been joined together as one when they are pronounced. It consists of eight (8) sounds.

Explain the diphthongs /ai/ and /au/

To pronounce the sound /ai/, make the movement start from /a/ and end with /I/. But to pronounce the sound /au/, make the glide start from /a/ and end with /u/.

Drill the sounds.

Practise the words below until you get the pronunciation right.

Identify sounds /ai/ and /au/ by letters.

1. The sound /ai/ can be realised under the following letters:

i. Letters ‘-it’s as sound /ai/ in bite, kite, site, etc.

ii. Letters ‘-ime’ as sound /ai/ in time, lime, dime, etc.

iii. Letters ‘-ight’ as sound /ai/ in light, fight, tight, etc.

iv. Letters ‘-uy’ as sound /ai/ in buy, guy

2. The sound /au/ can be realised under the following letters:

i. Letters ‘-ou’ as sound /au/ in cow, crowd, towel, town, etc.

ii. Letters ‘-ou’ as sound /au/ in plough, sound, house, mouse, etc.

Evaluate.

 Choose the word that has the correct phonetic symbol below.

1. /ai/     (a)  go              (b)  fighting       (c)  now       (d)  gate
2. /au/   (a)  allow           (b)  write           (c)  know     (d)  right
3. /ai/    (a)  beer            (b)  air               (c)  hide       (d)  crowd
4. /au/   (a)  stick            (b)  like              (c)  take        (d)  doubt
5. /ai/    (a)  site              (b)  bow            (c)  moor     (d) boy
6. /au/   (a)  ply              (b)  toy               (c)  sure      (d) out

Explain the diphthongs /ei/ and /ǝu/.

 To pronounce / ei/, let your glide move from /e/ to /I/ and also your tongue move slightly up and back into a position for /I/. It may be spelt as in a + consonant + e, ay, etc.

To pronounce /ǝu/, let the movement start from /ǝ/ and end with /u/ as the tongue moves slightly up and forward.

Drill the sounds.

Practise the words below until you get the pronunciation right.

Identify the sounds /ei/ and /au/ by letters.

1. The vowel /ei/ can be realised under the following letters:

i. Letters ‘–ake’ as sound /ei/ in make, rake, lake, cake, etc.

ii. Letters ‘-ate’ as sound /ei/ in mate, gate, fate, hate, etc.

iii. Letters ‘-ale’ as sound /ei/ in pale, male, tale, bale, etc.

iv. Letters ‘-ai’ as sound in tail, faith, laid, nail, said, pail, bail, paid, etc.

v. Letters ‘-ay’ as sound /ei/ in say, may, day, gay, etc.

vi. Letters ‘-ade’ as sound /ei/ in made, blade, fade, etc.

vii. Letters ‘-rea’ as sound in great, break, etc.

2. The vowel /ǝu/ can be realised under the following letters:

i. Letter ‘o’ as sound/ǝu/ in so, no, go. home, roll, broke, etc.

ii. Letters ‘–ow’ as sound /ǝu/ in blow, grow, know, slow, snow, sow, etc.

iii. Letters ‘–oa’ as sound /ǝu/ in roam, roast, road, gloat, coat, float, broach, etc.

Evaluate.

 Choose the word that has the correct phonetic symbol below.

1. /ei/   (a) boy               (b) plough        (c) kite              (d) take
2. /ǝu/  (a) toe               (b) too              (c) tool              (d) buy
3. /ei/   (a) died              (b) pray            (c) busy             (d) bribe
4. /ǝu/  (a) age               (b) date            (c) home            (d) doctor
5. /ei/   (a) bee               (b) see              (c) beat              (d) bail
6. /ǝu/  (a) sow              (b) tool             (c) worn              (d) son

Explain the diphthongs /eə/ and /iə/.

 To pronounce /eə/, let the movement begin from /e/ and end with /a/ but to pronounce /iə/, let the glide start from /I/ and end with /ə/.

Drill the sounds.

Practise the words below until you get the pronunciation right.

Identify the sounds /eə/ and /iə/ by letters.

1. The sound /eə/ can be realised under the following letters:

i. Letters ‘are’ ‘ere’ as sound /eə/ in hare, there, where, etc.

ii. Letters ‘air’, ‘ear’ as sound /eə/ in bear, wear, hair, chair, air, fair, pear, etc.

2. The sound /iə/ can be realised under the following letters:

i. Letters ‘ere’ as sound /iə/ in here

ii. Letters ‘ear’ ‘ea’ as sound /iə/ in ears, dear, idea, theatre, near, rear, fear, etc.

iii. Letters ‘ier’, ‘eer’, iou’ as sound /iə/ in pierce, fierce, beer, bier, career, serious,

etc.

Evaluate.

 Choose the word that has the correct phonetic symbol below.

1. /eə/   A. chair           B. ear                 C. air               D. fear
2. /iə/   A. brain            B. peer              C. care             D. fail
3. /eə/  A. fair               B. fear               C. deer             D. idea
4. /iə/   A. air                B. pear              C. chair             D. career
5. /eə/  A. pierce           B. beer             C. fierce             D. wear
6. /iə/   A. chair             B. bier               C. hare              D. air

Explain the diphthongs /ɔi/ and /uǝ/.

 To pronounce the sound /ɔi/, let the glide start from /ɒ/ and end with /i/. But to pronounce the sound /uǝ/, let the movement begin from /u/ and end with /a/.

Drill the sounds.

Practise the words below until you get the pronunciation right.

Identify the sounds /ɔi/ and /uǝ/ by letters.

1. The sound /ɔi/ can be realised under the following letters:

i.  Letters ‘oi’ as sound /ɔi/ in loitering, point, avoid, soil, spoil, noise, oil, toil, void, etc

ii.  Letters ‘oy’ as sound /ɔi/ in coy, toy, boy, joy, etc.

2.  The sound /uǝ/ can be realised under the following letters:

i.  Letters ‘ure’ as sound /uǝ/ in sure, lure, pure, etc.

ii.  Letters ‘oo’, ‘our’, ‘der’, ‘ewe’ as sound /uǝ/ in poor, moor, doer, tour, fewer, goer, etc.

 Evaluate.

 Choose the word that has the correct phonetic symbol below.

1. /ɔi/     (a) gourd   (b) soil     (c) moor   (d) moon
2. /uǝ/   (a) poor    (b) come   (c) void    (d) book
3. /ɔi/    (a) toil      (b)doer     (c) sound  (d) boy
4. /uǝ/  (a) pen     (b) toil      (c) fewer   (d) go
5. /ɔi/   (a) joy      (b) peace   (c) goer     (d) sure
6. /uǝ/  (a) oil       (b) lure     (c) soil       (d) letter

Author: Deola Adelakun