Tweet

This is an English lesson designed to help you practice and improve your English listening and pronunciation skills. The listening lesson is a short story about something that happened in my life in Canada. There is also a short pronunciation explanation about a word or sound I used in the story.

Story: Carving a pumpkin for the first time in years!
Pronunciation explanation: The ‘tapped t’ sound!

If you have trouble with your listening skills, here’s something that may help:
How to practice listening

Listen to the podcast:
*Try to listen at least once without looking at the words!

Download the podcast in .mp3 from Podbean.com or itunes!

Watch the video:

Listening Comprehension Questions:

1. What is a ‘jack-o’-lantern’?

2. What 3 things did I do to make a jack-o’-lantern?

3. What did I do with the pumpkin seeds?

4. What did I use to draw the face on the pumpkin before I started cutting?

Transcript:

(*Click on the links to learn more about the grammar, vocabulary and expressions used in the story!)

Halloween is fast approaching, so I thought I would do something I haven’t done since I was a little girl…I decided to carve my own jack-o’-lantern. This is a Halloween tradition! A jack-o’-lantern is a hollowed-out pumpkin with a scary face carved on one side and a candle inside to light it up. It’s not hard to find a pumpkin at this time of year – they’re everywhere! I bought mine at the grocery store for $5.99.

Carving a pumpkin is time-consuming! It took me an entire afternoon. I cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin to make a lid. I thought it would be difficult because the outside of a pumpkin is quite hard, but it was surprisingly easy. It’s important to cut the lid on an angle, so it doesn’t fall into the pumpkin.

Then came the fun part – scooping out the pumpkin guts from inside the pumpkin! The easiest way to do it is to stick your hand into the squishy mess and pull it all out. I used a peeler to scrape out everything I couldn’t pull out. I think I went a bit overboard. Once I had all the guts out, I separated the pumpkin seeds from the mess and put them in the oven to roast – one of my favourite memories of childhood is the taste of roasted pumpkin seeds!

I drew the face on the pumpkin in black crayon before I started cutting. I cut two triangles for the eyes, a triangle for the nose and a mouth with sharp teeth. I don’t think my jack-o’-lantern is going to scare anyone away, but it’s not bad for my first attempt in years!

Pronunciation: the tapped ‘t’ – is it /t/ or /d/?

In a previous podcast, we looked at the unvoiced tapped t sound. Remember the –sts consonant cluster in the words ‘lasts’ or ‘costs’? Your tongue quickly taps the top of your mouth to make the’t’ sound in this cluster.

In this week’s story, I used words like:
little
cutting

Both of these words are spelled with the letter ‘t’, but it doesn’t sound like I said the letter ‘t’.

In American English, when the letter ‘t’ is between two vowel sounds, and is at the beginning of an unstressed syllable, it is not a fully pronounced t.

A fully pronounced ‘t’ is unvoiced – meaning there is just air coming out of your mouth: /t/.

However, vowel sounds are voiced – meaning your vocal chords vibrate. So, when the letter ‘t’ comes between two vowel sounds and is at the beginning of an unstressed syllable, your tongue quickly taps the top of your mouth, while your vocal chords vibrate.

This is why some people say that it sounds like a ‘d.’ Remember that the ‘t’ and ‘d’ sounds are made with the exact same mouth position. The only difference between these two sounds is that the ‘t’ is unvoiced and the ‘d’ is voiced.

However, the tapped ‘t’ isn’t really a ‘d’ either. I didn’t say ‘liddle’ or ‘cudding.’

Again, to make the tapped t sound, your tongue quickly taps the top of your mouth while your vocal chords vibrate.

Here are some more words to practice. Listen, and repeat after me:
daughter
writing
vitamin
better
water
ability
total

The tapped t sound can also occur when words are linked. Listen carefully:

In the story, I didn’t say: I thought I would do something

I said: I thought I would do something

The ‘t’ at the end of ‘thought’ is linked to the vowel sound ‘I’ /aI/. The ‘t’ is between two vowel sounds: the /a/ in ‘thought’ and the /aI/ sound. It also begins an unstressed syllable.

Listen again: I thought I would do something

Listen to the entire story again. Can you hear more examples of the tapped t used in words and word combinations?

* a candle inside to light it up
* I cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin
* but it was surprisingly easy
* stick your hand into the squishy mess and pull it all out
* I think I went a bit overboard

Vocabulary

time-consuming
(adjective)
Carving a pumpkin is time-consuming!
= it consumes/takes a lot of time (to do something)

a peeler
I used a peeler to scrape out everything I couldn’t pull out.
= a small kitchen tool used to peel the skin off (to take the skin off) fruit and vegetables (like apples, potatoes, carrots)

go overboard
I think I went a bit overboard.
= to do more than is necessary, to do too much

a crayon
I drew the face on the pumpkin in black crayon.
= a small stick of coloured wax that children use to draw and colour; I used it on the pumpkin because it washes off easily.