3. A fun letter for his old chaps?

Reading activity

Just several minutes after writing the letter to his old chaps, Paco decides to read it out. Sometimes, he has written fun postcards and letters. But, on this occasion it is not a fun letter. He remembers he read out lots of texts to his sister so that she could help him pronounce correctly. Let's read Paco's letter again.

Dear friends,

My first thought was to write to everyone. But my plans have just turned upside down the past few days. I've just arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone. A documentary about this country in the west of Africa made me change my mind and come to visit the diamond mines here. I'm willing to learn about and visit the mines here, so I'm afraid I won't have enough time to write a letter or postcard to everyone. That's why I'm writing this letter to you all. By the way, Andrés, thank you very much for your phone call last week. You've always been very kind and supportive. Well, all of you have always been very kind and supportive!

As you know, I've left South Africa, but not under the circumstance I would have wished. In fact, I'm rather sad and disappointed that I witnessed such a cruel scene in the Apartheid museum. I think white people have never treated black people as they deserve in that country. I really hope things change in the future. In any case, things have changed quite a lot there since the apartheid was ended in 1994. However, after staying there, I believe that some vestiges of the apartheid have remained in the country.

Well, anyway, now I'm here, in Freetown; and, although I have come to another country which hasn't got over the long civil wars it has suffered for the last 15 years, I really hope to have a good time and learn lots of things about this country and its people. I'll let you know about it as soon as I can.

Take care and let me know about you all!

Paco.

Have a look at the following words (most of them from the passage above) and guess which ones are pronounced /æ/ and which ones /ʌ /. Sometimes it's difficult to distinguish these two sounds. Ask Mike to pronounce the following words and try to hear the difference:

cap /kæp/, cup /kʌp/

everyone	just
plans	thank
country	black

Further knowledge

If you click here you will find some more examples of words which contain /æ/ and /ʌ/. All of them are different from vowel sound /a:/ as in car /ka:/.

Now, watch the videos to see how both sounds are correctly pronounced and the difference between them.

/æ/

/ʌ/

Although there are not specific rules to know how to pronounce words or sounds in English, we will try to help you distinguish both vowel sounds by means of common spellings for them.

Click on the pictures below and study the charts of the most common spellings for both sounds.

Self-Assessment

Write all the words from the sentences below containing /æ/ or /ʌ/ at least once. Use the same order as the words appear in the sentence.

1. I won't have enough time to write a letter or postcard to everyone.

/æ/: JXUwMDMwJXUwMDA5JXUwMDE3JXUwMDEz

/ʌ/:

2. ...thank you very much for your phone call last week.

/æ/: JXUwMDM0JXUwMDBkJXUwMDEyJXUwMDA3

/ʌ/: JXUwMDM1JXUwMDE4JXUwMDE2JXUwMDBi

3. In fact, I'm rather sad and disappointed that I witnessed such a cruel scene in the Apartheid museum.

/æ/: JXUwMDNlJXUwMDA3JXUwMDAyJXUwMDE3 JXUwMDJiJXUwMDEyJXUwMDA1 JXUwMDJjJXUwMDFjJXUwMDA5JXUwMDE1

/ʌ/: JXUwMDJiJXUwMDA2JXUwMDE2JXUwMDBi

4. I believe that some vestiges of the apartheid have remained in the country.

/æ/: JXUwMDJjJXUwMDFjJXUwMDA5JXUwMDE1 JXUwMDMwJXUwMDA5JXUwMDE3JXUwMDEz

/ʌ/:

This is the end of topic 2. Remember, the more you practice the better. So, go on to next section to do some more exercises related to the subjects studied in the topic. Come on, try them, they are easy!!!!

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