ONE WORLD, ONE PEOPLE

ESL Lessons, Games, Ideas, and Links Page Two

Added Sept., 1997. If you have ideas you would like to share, send them via email. Send comments or lesson ideas to John Korber

Minimal pairs

It's time to drive some of your oriental students crazy. Ian Hewitt, author of Edutainment, sent in this list of minimal pairs.

Procedure: Distribute the list of words to your class. Read one word from each pair. Read it three times with a normal intonation. Have the students circle the word they hear. Check the correct answers with the class, and then run them through some choral and individual pronunciation drills.

  1. rips --- lips
  2. right --- light
  3. read --- lead
  4. Paris --- palace
  5. crime --- climb
  6. grass --- glass
  7. arrive --- alive
  8. correct --- collect
  9. crowd --- cloud
  10. pray --- play
  11. red --- led
  12. free --- flea
  13. ride --- lied
  14. fry --- fly
  15. river --- liver

I made some sentence sets with the same vocabulary. Follow the same procedure as above:

  1. She has nice lips. --- She has nice rips.
  2. That's right. --- That's light!
  3. If you read, I'll follow along. --- If you lead, I'll follow along.
  4. The Paris police are here. --- The palace police are here.
  5. It's a terrible crime. --- It's a terrible climb.
  6. Don't touch the grass. --- Don't touch the glass.
  7. I'll correct them. --- I'll collect them.
  8. A crowd was around him. --- A cloud was around him.
  9. Marianna likes to pray. --- Marianna likes to play.
  10. The dog could be red. ---The dog could be led.
  11. She wants to know
  12. I like the liver. --- I like the river.
  13. I wish I could fly. --- I wish I could fry.
  14. I'm not sure if I ride. --- I'm not sure if I lied.
  15. I got a flea bite at the buffet. --- I got a free bite at the buffet.

Time to drive some of your hispanic students crazy. Follow the procedures above.

  1. chair --- share
  2. cheap --- sheep
  3. cheat --- sheet
  4. cheered --- sheered
  5. shin --- chin
  6. chines --- shines
  7. chirt --- shirt
  8. chip --- ship
  9. shuck --- chuck

Here are some sentence sets with the same vocabulary. Some of them test the bounds of metaphor.;-) Follow the same procedure as above:

  1. I like to chair at a meeting. --- I like to share at a meeting.
  2. He thought the cheese was cheap. --- He thought the cheese was sheep.
  3. The cheat failed the strength test. --- The sheet failed the strength test.
  4. The crowded cheered when she began walking. --- The crowded sheered when she began walking.
  5. I hurt my shin. --- I hurt my chin.
  6. We are finished when the bell chines. --- We are finished when the bell shines.
  7. The geologist brought a chirt. --- The geologist brought a shirt.
  8. The engineers made a better chip. --- The engineers made a better ship.
  9. Shuck some of the new corn. --- Chuck some of the new corn.

If you know of other sounds particular language groups have problems distinguishing, would love to hear from you:. Just click my name:John Korber.

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Almost Heaven, Mother Russian

You may remember the song by John Denver from the 1970's. He sings of the longing for his homeland. Needless to say, many immigrant students learning English can relate to the theme. Step One: For starters you can present the song to your students as a cloze exercise to be completed while listening to the song, and then have them sing it as a class. 

Take Me Home, Country Roads

Almost heaven, West Virgina
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, flowing like the breeze.

Country roads, take me home (Chorus)
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads.

All my memories gather 'round her
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye.

(Chorus)

I hear her voice, in the morning hour she calls me
Radio reminds me of my home far away
Driving down the road I get a feeling
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday.

(Chorus)

Step Two: Everyone has a place that they miss. Divide your students into groups, and have them substitute the geographic references to suit their own longings. If you have a variety of different nations in your class like I currently do, this can be fun. For example, the first stanza from a group of Russian students might look like this:

Almost heaven, Mother Russia
Ural Mountains, flowing Volga River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, flowing like the breeze.

Step Three: Have each group present their version of the song to the class. They can sing acappella or with the original song playing in the background. If some groups are shy, you might want to sing with them.

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