Many learners have problems distinguishing between /p/ and /b/. So words like ‘park’ and ‘bark’ are difficult.
Say: ‘Put your hand just in front of your mouth. Now say “p”. What do you notice?’
Demonstrate and elicit that they should feel air hitting their hand.
Say: ‘Put your hand just in front of your mouth. Now say “b”. What do you notice?’
Demonstrate and elicit that they shouldn’t feel air hitting their hand this time.
Repeat the procedure with the following pairs of words until your learners are comfortable with the difference:
- park / bark
- pit / bit
- pull / bull
- peak / beak
- pack / back
- pad / bad
- pear / bear
- pet / bet
- pin / bin
- pride / bride
This will also work well if learners hold a piece of paper gently in front of their mouth. For the ‘p’ words the paper will move; for the ‘b’ words it won’t.
Note: It’s important to start with the words that begin with the letter ‘p’ as this is when learners will feel the air the most.