Who needs to do this activity?
Problems with the -st cluster at the end of syllables and words is a common pronunciation problem for speakers of South East Asian languages, particularly Thai, Lao and Vietnamese speakers. If you speak one of these languages as your first language, you may experience problems with these word pairs. As you might imagine, you will want to be able to pronounce the first pair (especially the word fast) correctly. 😜
Exercise 1: Listen to each word pair and repeat. Focus on pronouncing the s in the second word.
| Word said | Word intended | Words contrasted |
|---|---|---|
| fart | fast | |
| boat | boast | |
| part | past | |
| hate | haste | |
| wait | waist / waste | |
| mart | mast | |
| wet | west | |
| bet | best | |
| coat | coast | |
| fit | fist | |
| clutter | cluster |
Exercise 2: Record your voice and listen back
Hopefully, by recording your voice and listening back, you’ll be able to hear if you are saying these words correctly and focus on improving your pronunciation.
Record your voice via the app below or visit this page for other ways to record yourself: Record your voice
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