Rhyming!

Howdy interested and curious English learners!

Today, I will talk about rhyming as a way to build your pronunciation and vocabulary. (Rhyming is a part of what is called phonics.)

When I was young, my grandma had me do extra rhyming work with her after school. At the time, I did not enjoy it (I wanted to go out and play), but now, I am very glad I did that work. I use rhyming when writing songs and poetry, and even just in normal conversation to think of new words.

Rhyming practice can be done with friends, or by yourself. When you rhyme, you just change the first part of a word, but keep the last part the same. I'll give some examples.

Rat/Cat/Bat/Sat/Fat/Hat/Mat/Gnat/Pat

Here is a kind of fun (but a little childish) video with many more examples.

It's best to start with short words, but you can practice with longer words too.

Elevator/Intimidator/Regulator/Excavator/Instigator

Notice, I kept the last syllable the same, but changed the rest. Give it a try! You can build your vocabulary and help create good pronunciation habits. Also, you can learn to write cute poems for your partner:)

If you need to get creative but don't know how, we can fix that!

Matthew
englishispersonal@gmail.com

Here is link to a rhyming dictionary if you need some help or more examples. Just type in a word and you will get a large list of rhyming words. Enjoy!