This is an English lesson designed to help you improve your English listening and pronunciation. 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: Thanksgiving dinner
Pronunciation lesson: How word stress changes the meaning of a word.
Listen to the podcast:
If you have trouble with your listening skills, here’s something that may help:
How to practice listening
Listening Comprehension Questions:
1. When is Thanksgiving Day?
2. On what day did we have Thanksgiving dinner?
3. How many people were at Thanksgiving dinner?
4. What did we eat for dinner?
5. What was my dilemma?
6. In the end, what did I do?
Transcript:
(*Click on the links to learn more about the grammar, vocabulary and expressions used in the story!)
Every October, Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving. Originally, it was a day to thank God at the end of the harvest season. Now, we celebrate the day by eating a big turkey dinner with family. Thanksgiving Day is officially on the 2nd Monday in October, but most people have Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, so they can relax on Monday.
This year my mom’s sister and her family came over. There were 9 of us around the dining room table. Outside, it was a colourful day with the sun shining on all the leaves changing colour. Inside, the house was full of fun and lively conversations. I don’t know how my mother cooks such a large meal: we had turkey with stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce, as well as fall vegetables like potatoes, squash, turnip, and carrots in a cinnamon sauce. Every year, she makes such a delicious meal!
I had a real dilemma this year! Everyone who came to the dinner brought a dessert: we had chocolate cupcakes, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cherry pie and apple crisp! Dessert is my favourite part of the meal. How could I possibly eat dinner AND all the desserts? Do I eat a big dinner and choose only one dessert? Or do I eat a little less at dinner, so I can save room for more of the desserts? This was my dilemma.
In the end, I compromised. I ate some turkey and vegetables – but not too much. I attempted to eat a little bit of all the desserts, but I only had room for 1 cupcake, some apple crisp and a slice of pecan pie. We put the pumpkin pie in the freezer to save it for a later date, and during the week after Thanksgiving we ate the cherry pie.
It was a very happy Thanksgiving!
[Note: The American Thanksgiving is in November. You can read more about Canadian Thanksgiving here.]
Pronunciation:
One of the most important elements in spoken English is word stress. One syllable in a word is said louder and longer than the other syllables.
Word stress is important in English, because there are a few words where the meaning of the word changes completely depending on where the stress is!
For example, a desert is large area of land covered in sand, but if you desert someone, you abandon them. Dessert with two‘s’ also means a sweet kind of food at the end of a meal.
A record is something you listen to. A singer or a band records a record.
Can you see a pattern?
In the noun form, the stress is on the first syllable: desert, record
In the verb form, the stress is on the last syllable: desert, record
Here are some more words where the stress changes the meaning of the word:
present
conflict
contest
object
permit
If you are not sure where the stress in a word should be, check your dictionary. A good dictionary will always mark which syllable the stress should be on.
http://www.learnersdictionary.com
http://dictionary.cambridge.org
Can you think of anymore words where the stress changes the meaning of the word?
Vocabulary:
the harvest season
Originally, it was a day to thank God at the end of the harvest season.
= in Canada, we have one short season in which to grow fruits and vegetables; the harvest season is when the last of the fruits and vegetables are picked from trees/the ground. Winter starts soon, so nothing will grow until the spring.
to save room (in your stomach!)
Or do I eat a little less at dinner, so I can save room for more of the desserts?
= to make sure that you don’t eat so much that you are full; make sure there is enough space left in your stomach so you can eat some more (in this case, dessert!)
apple crisp
= also known as apple crumle; baked apples with a crispy topping, usually oats + sugar, among other ingredients
Melanie is a TESL-certified English teacher. She lives near Toronto, Canada. Through her blog, videos, podcasts, and social media, she helps thousands of people around the world improve their English. She makes English a little less confusing and a little more fun! She also helps people understand Canadian and American culture. She believes that natural interaction with a native speaker helps people practice what they have learned and builds their confidence with English!
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I learned a lot, with this lesson. Thanks.
Hi, Magda!
I'm glad this lesson was useful to you! Thanks for listening & leaving a comment = )
Take care,
Melanie
perfect, very good teacher skills
Hello Freemelia77,
Thank you for your kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the listening lesson.
Take care,
Melanie
= )
Hello!
I'm a student from Madrid and I've already read your story and i think it's very interesting.
I've learn many things about that day, so thank you.
Godd luck.
Hellooooo!!!!
I'm from Madrid and I've alredy read your story. You told me many things that i didn't know before
I have learned a lot with your lesson "A Dilemma on Thanksgiving!". thaks.
Hello Cristina & hello again Miguel & Dani,
Thank you all for taking the time to leave a comment! I always like to hear from people reading my blog. I'm glad you enjoyed this listening lesson!
Do you have a similar holiday in Spain?
Take care,
Melanie
= )
I'd like to know if the vowel sound (I) in an unstressed syllable (like in: Pump-kin, pock-et, vir-gin, Kev-in, etc.) really is changed into a schwa by some speakers, therefore those words I mentioned would be pronounced like this: pumpkin /ˈpʌmpkən/, pocket /ˈpɑ:kət/, virgin /ˈvɚʤən/, Kevin /'kevən/ instead of the /I/ sound at the unstressed syllable. Does this happen Melanie?
Thanks!
Hi, Marcos!
This is an interesting question. In an unstressed syllable, the difference between /ə/ and /I/ is very small and not very important. I checked two different dictionaries (Merriam Webster's Learner's Dictionary & Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary) and got two different answers! One had /ˈvɚʤən/ and one had /ˈvɚʤIn/. This is one case where is doesn't really matter if you say /ə/ or /I/ – no one will hear the difference!
I hope that helps!
Melanie
= )
Thanks a lot for replying me. I really needed the answer of a person who knows the language better than anyone else (you). That cleared up my mind.
I totally agree with you about the importance of these two different sounds. I used to do a comparison pronouncing a same word with both sounds in the unstressed syllable just to hear the difference, and sometimes in some words even I knew which sound I was making I couldn't notice a significant difference between them. It's like you make a sound, you know what sound you are making but you can't really say if it's really being pronounced differently (sometimes). Well, I don't know. That's why english is so fascinating!
Again, thanks for your explanation. You can't imagine how it helped me.
Marcos