Top ESL Resources for Phonetics

As part of my Phonetic Project I thought I'd get together a list of resources to help you teach phonetics in class. I've done quite a bit of reading over the last few months and here are the best websites with interactive materials, websites to help write script, some printable IPA charts, and a few randoms. Hope they help. If you know of any more and want to add them below then feel free.

No...that's just wrong.
Photo by baty
Interactive Stuff
This Interactive phonemic chart is the best one I know of. It's on the British Council Teaching English section and is great because it gives you the sound of the symbol plus three examples. Students love downloading the app on their smart phones too.

Adrian Underhill's interactive phonemic chart is probably one of the best out there. Click on each symbol to produce the sound and a related word. I found it on one stop english; an excellent resource for pretty much anything related to EFL.

Cambridge English also has loads of resources for EFL teachers. I really like these Interactive Animations for sounds, word and sentence stress, intonation and also the phonemic chart.

ESL Galaxy has some great interactive pronunciation and intonation materials, worth a butchers.

Websites to help you write script
Once you've got your head around the symbols then these websites are excellent to help you write script and then copy and paste as you please.

My favourites are ipa.typeitE-lang IPA, and phonemic chart. They are all quiet similar and I guess it just depends on personal preference. Have a play about and find which one you like best.

IPA Charts
These are not interactive, but still useful for class or printing out for your students. It's a good idea to have a copy for yourself and on the wall next to your board so you can refer to it throughout the lesson.

Omniglot is an online encyclopedia of writing systems and language. They have a decent page on the International Phonetic Alphabet which has various charts and also a great list of resources at the bottom.

ESL lounge separates out the consonants and vowels on this phonetic chart.

English club also have a useful phonemic chart which you can print in colour, if you have a flashy printer.

If you want to take it to the next level, which I haven't just yet, then check out Paul Meier's website. He offers instruction and coaching in a massive range of accents and he also has some intense IPA charts.

Interesting articles / websites
This article is worth a read. It's about why your teacher might teach you phonemic script and has some bad ones at the end, not sure if I am guilty of one of those while learning the script for the DELTA last year.

The BBC Learning English section has a great section on pronunciation with some useful talks on the schwa, connected speech and intonation.

Antimoon is a decent website full of ideas about pronunciation. I like this page about the sounds of English and also this one about a demonstration of the phonetic transcription

These are two great websites about learning English. Learning English with Michelle - pronunciation and for all those who lurve the American accent look at Rachel's English.

There must be loads more out there, but I'm out of time...my electricity runs on a metre and I have no pennies...any more useful resources, or if you want to plug your site, then just leave a comment below.

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