A common difficulty for Ugandan English language learners is the pronunciation of /l/ and /r/. The learning goals are as follows:
- The student will understand the correct articulator, place, and mode of articulation for the consonants r and l.
- The students would be able to recognize the /l/ and /r/ sounds.
- The student will understand the place of articulation for /l/ and /r/.
The lesson starts out by playing a game. The teacher should give the student a purple card and a red card. The purple card stands for /l/ and the red card stands for /r/. The teacher then will read a series of words and the students are to hold up the appropriate card for the corresponding sound.
The list of words could include: fall, ball, bar, light, right, wrong, wrist, list, really, silly, red, read, love, live, far, laugh, rear, load…etc.
For the first few words the teacher can let the students see her mouth but after they have practiced the teacher needs to cover his or her mouth so that way the student can not see what shape the mouth is making.
After the game, have the students pair up and pronounce the selected words with one another. Explain to them that it is ok if they mispronounce. This practice will help them learn how to better pronounce these words.
Using the articulators chart, have the students watch and listen to you pronounce both the /r/ and /l/ sound.
- It is important to note that the word love is produced by placing the tip of your tongue just behind the top of their front teeth. The students can practice by saying words like “love” or “list.”
- The /r/ sounds is produced by first making an “uh” sound and then rolling the tongue back in to the mouth and then unrolling it while saying a word like “rose.” The /r/ can be a bit harder for Ugandans to pronounce so more time may need to be devoted to this particular sound.
Do the same exercise with the cards but with a different variety of words for this exercise. Have the students do the game again and this time the letters /r/ and /l/ should be easier to identify.
The teacher should then pass out worksheets that have a conversation on them. The students are to then read the conversation and focus on the words that say /r/ and /l/.
- Pass out the worksheets
- Have the students read to themselves the conversation.
- Then have the students pair up into pairs and read aloud with one another to read the conversation together. Have them focus on pronouncing the /l/ and /r/ word
This is the last activity. After the student does these activities continue with some tongue twisters that include the letters /r/ and /l/.
- Laura an Larry rarely lull their rural rooster to sleep.
- Climbing crimes are lures for crowded clowns.
- There are free fleas for all the loyal royalty.
- Jerry’s berry jelly really rankled his broiling belly.
The students should read each of these tongue twisters out loud and concentrate on the sounds /l/ and /r/.
Use these words:
Lane, rain
lace, race
Lead, read
led, red
lock, rock
clash, crash
blight, bright
law, raw
rib, lib
lice, rice
Teaching ESL 