The Lion and the Rabbit

A cruel lion lived in the forest. Every day, he killed and ate a lot of animals.

The other animals were afraid the lion would kill them all.

The animals told the lion, "Let's make a deal. If you promise to eat only one

animal each day, then one of us will come to you every day. Then you don't have

to hunt and kill us."

The plan sounded well thought-out to the lion, so he

agreed, but he also said, "If you don't come every day,

I promise to kill all of you the next day!"

Each day after that, one animal went to the lion so

that the lion could eat it. Then, all the other animals

were safe.

Finally, it was the rabbit's turn to go to the lion.

The rabbit went very slowly that day, so the lion

was angry when the rabbit finally arrived.

The lion angrily asked the rabbit, "Why are

you late?"

"I was hiding from another lion in the

forest. That lion said he was the king, so I

was afraid."

The lion told the rabbit, "I am the only king

here! Take me to

that other lion,

and I will kill him."

The rabbit replied, "I will be happy

to show you where he lives."

The rabbit led the lion to an old well in the middle

of the forest. The well was very deep with water at the

bottom. The rabbit told the lion, "Look in there. The lion

lives at the bottom."

When the lion looked in the well, he could see his

own face in the water. He thought that was the other lion.

Without waiting another moment, the lion jumped into

the well to attack the other lion. He never came out.

All of the other animals in the forest were very pleased

with the rabbit's clevertrick.

Word List

afraid [efreid] adj.

When someone is afraid, they feel fear.

The woman was afraid of what she saw.

agree [ǝgri:] v.

To agree is to say "yes" or to think the same way.

→ A: The food is very good in that restaurant. B: I agree with you.

angry [angril adj.

When someone is angry, they may want to speak loudly or fight.

→ She didn't do her homework, so her father is angry.

arrive [əraiv] v.

To arrive is to get to or reach some place.

The bus always arrives at the corner of my street at 4:00.

attack [ǝtæk] v.

To attack is to try to fight or to hurt.

The man with the sword attacked the other man first.

bottom [batam] n.

The bottom is the lowest part.

The bottom of my shoe has a hole in it.

clever [klevər] adj.

When someone is clever, they can solve a hard puzzle or problem.

The clever boy thought of a good idea.

cruel [krü:ǝl] adj.

When someone is cruel, they do bad things to hurt others.

The cruel man yelled at his sister.

-

finally [fainǝli] adv.

If something happens finally, it happens after a long time or at the end.

-

He finally crossed the finish line after five hours of running.

hide [haid] v.

To hide is to try not to let others see you.

The other children will hide while you count to 100.

Exercise 2

a. A clever person can solve a puzzle easily.

b. When a plane arrives, it leaves the ground and goes into the sky.

a. At noon, the sun is near the bottom of the sky.

b. If I break my brother's bike, he will be angry.

a. It is easy to hide in a dark place.

b. Many kinds of fish are afraid of water.

a. At night, your parents may say, "Hide your eyes and go to sleep."

b. Heavy things will go down to the bottom of the ocean.

a. It is cruel to keep a dog in a small cage all day.

b. Your mother will be angry when you get good grades in school.

a. Animals cannot hunt because they do not have hands.

b. It is a good idea to arrive early for class.

a. People sometimes attack pictures to email messages.

b. Some people are afraid of spiders.

a. A moment is like a second or two.

b. New shoes are usually not very comfortable or clever.

a. Small animals do not usually attack big animals.

b. There are twelve moments in a year.

a. A cruel person will try to help others at all times.

b. You can use a gun to hunt in the forest.

For Example:

Grammar Points

English is a stress language. This means that every word has at least one syllable that is more audible

than the rest of the syllables. When we stress the wrong syllable, the word may be harder to

understand. Stress only falls on vowels and not consonants.

1. "star": one-syllable word, one stress

2. "lesson": two-syllable word, one stress

3. "calendar": three-syllable word, one stress

See whether you can hear the stress in the words in the above examples. The sound that we emphasize

the most is the stress, and most often it is also the syllable that lasts the longest.

For Example:

Here's an example of a word that has a functional difference when we change the stress:

1. "an increase": noun

2. "to increase": verb

difference as well).

For Example:

1. "aluminum": American English

2. "aluminium": British English

Some words may have a secondary stress, such as "pronunciation." It may seem as though this word

has two stresses, but the "-a"is the main stress, and the "-u" is the secondary stress.

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Nouns, verbs, and adjectives are known to be content words in a sentence, which mean that they have

meaning on their own. We usually hear the stress in these words, which then sets the rhythm of the

sentence.

For Example:

1. "I saw a friend last weekend."

In this particular sentence, "saw," "friend," and "last" "weekend" are the content words. Thus, hearing

the sentence as a whole, those are the words that have the most audible stress. The other words, "I,"

"a," and "last," are not as important; therefore, we do not stress them as much when we are speaking.

This does not mean that we do not say them, but rather we do not emphasize them as much.

Of course, depending on what you want to convey, the stress of the sentence may change.

For Example:

1. "I saw a friend last weekend."

In this sentence, the speaker is trying to make it clear that it was "last" weekend and not any other

weekend. If you want to stress the subject, then you might say the sentence like this.

For Example:

"I saw a friend last weekend."

Stress is an important aspect to know and understand when learning English. It will also set the stage

for the next lesson. If your native tongue is not a stress language, then it may be hard to pronounce

words as well as hear and understand them at first. However, once you recognize the difference, you

will know what to look out for and what to practice.

The Focus of This Lesson Is Consonants in English.

In this lesson, we'll explore American English consonants. American English has voiced consonant

sounds and voiceless consonant sounds. We make a voiced sound with our vibrating vocal cords. All

vowel sounds in the previous lesson, for example, are voiced. A voiceless sound occurs when your

vocal cords are not vibrating, and we just make the sound with air, the shape of our mouths, and the

position of our tongues.

For Example:

There are twenty-four or twenty-five consonants in total: the number varies depending on the

researcher. As with the vowel lesson, we will give you the sound with an example word.

Grammar Points

1. Consonant sound in "pin"

2. Consonant sound in "bin"

3. Consonant sound in "toe"

4. Consonant sound in "doe"

5. Consonant sound in "cap"

6. Consonant sound in "gap"

7. Consonant sound in "choose"

8. Consonant sound in "juice"

9. Consonant sound in "main"

10. Consonant sound in "name"

11. Consonant sound in "hang"

Consonant sound in "fast"

- Consonant sound in "vast"

- Consonant sound in "thick"

· Consonant sound in "this"

- Consonant sound in "sap"

- Consonant sound in "zap"

- Consonant sound in "shin"

- Consonant sound in "pleasure"

- Consonant sound in "house"

- Consonant sound in "wine"

- Consonant sound in "rose"

- Consonant sound in "young"

- Consonant sound in "left"

Many of these sounds may be familiar to you from your native tongue. However, you may not use

some of these sounds in your language. Pay attention to the sounds that you do not use in your native

language so that you can get used to the tongue positioning of the word.

Be aware that English spelling can be tricky in that the same combination of letters may not always

have the same pronunciation in different words. With some patience and much practice, the

pronunciation will become easier and the words will be less difficult to pronounce. Try exaggerating

the sounds when you practice so that you get a better idea of how to shape your mouth and how to

position your tongue in your mouth.

Grammar Points

The Focus of This Lesson Is the Pronunciation of Vowels in American English.

In these five lessons, we will explain American pronunciation in detail so that you have a better

understanding of how the language works. As you know, different languages have different sounds,

and sometimes it is difficult to imitate the sound of another language when learning it. Here, we will

try to break down General American English pronunciation so that you can see why you may have

difficulty hearing certain words or why the pronunciation of some words is so odd.

In this first lesson, we will be looking at the vowels of American English. The twenty-six letter

English alphabet has twenty-six sounds divided into two groups: vowel sounds and consonant sounds.

In this lesson, the first part of our five-part pronunciation series, you'll learn how to pronounce vowels

as we pronounce them in American English. Unlike consonants, which are "closed" sounds for which

we stop the flow of air in some way, vowels are "open" sounds. When we form vowel sounds, the air

is not stopped; rather, it flows freely from the mouth. Every English word has at least one vowel

sound.

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While there are only five vowels, there are eighteen to twenty-three vowel sounds depending on the

researcher. We'll take a look at these a little bit further into the lesson.

Vowels generally fall into two categories: "long vowels" and "short vowels." We make vowel sounds

in our mouths by positioning our tongue and the lips. We make front vowels with the tongue

positioned in the front of our mouths. We make back vowels in the back of our mouths, and we make

central vowels in the center. A diphthong is when the tongue changes its position and glides from one

vowel sound to another. Instead of getting too technical with the names, we will explain the different

sounds using different words.

Front Vowels

For Example:

1. Vowel sound in "heat" and "leap"

2. Vowel sound in "hit" and "tip"

3. Vowel sound in "met" and "kept"

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Vowel sound in "map" and "bat"

Central Vowels

For Example:

1. Vowel sound in "the"

2. Vowel sound in "but" and "tough"

Back Vowels

For Example:

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1. Vowel sound in "loop" and "boot"

2. Vowel sound in "hook" and "put"

3. Vowel sound in "thought"

4. Vowel sound in "lot"

Diphthongs

For Example:

1. Vowel sound in "tow"

2. Vowel sound in "crowd"

3. Vowel sound in "light"

4. Vowel sound in "main"

5. Vowel sound in "coin"

6. Vowel sound in "peer"

7. Vowel sound in "pair"

8. Vowel sound in "lure"

All of these vowel sounds are different and are represented by the five vowels or a combination of the

vowels. So, as you can see, the differences may be slight, but there are many vowel sounds in English.

Sometimes it doesn't matter if you pronounce a vowel differently, but sometimes it does matter in that

The father returns home.

The family is watching television.

The man is showering in the shower.

The brothers are bathing in the bathtub.

The baby is sleeping on the blanket.

English

father

return

home

family

watch

television

man

shower

shower

brother

bathe

bathtub

baby

sleep

blanket

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evening

English

Vocabulary

Definition

male parent

to go or place something back to

a place

the place where one lives

a group of people usually related

by blood

to view

electronic system with a screen to

watch moving images

adult human male

to wash with spraying water

thing that sprays water

male sibling

to wash in a tub filled with water

large container in which people

can shower or soak in water to

become clean

an infant

to rest your mind and body by

closing your eyes and becoming

unconscious

covering made of cloth used to

keep you warm

the last part of the day and early

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

My father has a farm.

Don't forget to return the books you borrowed

from the library.

Welcome to our home.

Do you come from a big family?

She likes watching movies at her local theater.

Don't forget to turn the television off before you

leave.

The man disappeared into the shadows.

The man is showering.

No water came out of the broken shower.

My brother just started college.

I got this book from my brother.

She bathed after practice.

The water swirled at the bottom of the bathtub

before it went down the drain.

Look at that cute baby in that stroller!

On Sundays, he sleeps in.

I love the feeling of a blanket right out of the drier.

There are plenty of blankets in the closet.

During spring, the days are warm but the evenings

are cool.

Grammar Points

The focus of this lesson is tense comparison in English.

Present tense, Present Progressive tense, and Past tense

In this lesson you'll learn the difference between the different tenses in the English language: present

tense, present progressive tense, and past tense.

1. The father returns home.

Tense

present tense

present progressive tense

past tense

2. The family is watching television.

Tense

present tense

present progressive tense

past tense

3. The man is showering in the shower.

Tense

present tense

present progressive tense

past tense

4. The brothers are bathing in the bathtub.

Tense

present tense

present progressive tense

past tense

Target Sentence in Tense

"The father returns home."

"The father is returning home."

"The father returned home."

Target Sentence in Tense

"The family watches television."

"The family is watching television."

"The family watched television."

Target Sentence in Tense

"The man showers in the morning."

|"The man is showering in the morning."

"The man showered in the morning."

Target Sentence in Tense

"The boys bathe in the bathtub."

"The boys are bathing in the bathtub."

"The boys bathed in the bathtub."

The boy is waking up in the morning.

The woman is brushing her teeth.

The girl is washing her face.

The family is eating breakfast.

The woman is drinking water.

English

boy

wake up

morning

woman

brush

teeth

girl

wash

face

family

to eat

breakfast

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drink

water

English

Vocabulary

Definition

male child

to stop sleeping

the earliest part of the day

female human adult

to clean or smooth a surface

several hard white objects in the

mouth used for chewing food

female child

to clean with water and usually

cleaning product

front of head

a group of people usually related

by blood

to swallow food in the mouth

the first meal of the day; the

morning meal

to swallow liquid in the mouth

clear liquid; rain, ocean, lake,

stream; H2O

The boy wakes up and leaves his bed.

The boy wakes up and leaves his bed.

I enjoy waking up early in the morning.

The scared woman is protecting her baby.

Brush to prevent plaque built up.

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

Class

noun

verb

noun

noun

verb

noun

noun

verb

noun

noun

verb

noun

verb

noun

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The dentist cleaned the plaque on her teeth.

I want to date the cute girl.

The tag says to wash in cold water.

The bug is cleaning its face.

Do you come from a big family?

Do you eat fish?

I usually eat an egg for breakfast.

You should drink a lot of water.

The ocean is a large body of water.

The focus of this lesson is tense comparison in English.

Present tense, Present Progressive tense, and Past tense

In this lesson you'll learn the difference between the different tenses in the English language: present

tense, present progressive tense, and past tense.

1. The boy is waking up in the morning.

Tense

present tense

present progressive tense

past tense

Grammar Points

2. The woman is brushing her teeth.

Tense

present tense

present progressive tense

past tense

3. The girl is washing her face.

Target Sentence in Tense

"The boy wakes up in the morning."

"The boy is waking up in the

morning."

"The boy woke up in the morning."

Target Sentence in Tense

"The woman brushes her teeth."

"The woman is brushing her teeth."

"The woman brushed her teeth"

4. The family is eating breakfast.

Tense

present tense

present progressive tense

past tense

5. The woman is drinking water.

Tense

present tense

present progressive tense

past tense

Target Sentence in Tense

"The girl washes her face."

"The girl is washing her face."

"The girl is washed her face."

Target Sentence in Tense

"The family eats breakfast."

"The family is eating breakfast."

"The family ate breakfast."

Target Sentence in Tense

"The woman drinks water."

"The woman is drinking water."

"The boy drank water."

Vocabulary

Definition

acceptable level of quality,

normal

pronunciation that is common to

a group of people from a certain

area

certain place that is separate from

other places in some way

who a person is

act of remaining against

something

power to affect something or

somebody

a certain general characteristic

about a group of people thought

to apply to all individuals of that

group

to have an opinion after careful

thought

standard for something acceptable

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

A standard brand is good enough for our needs.

Smart phones have more features than standard

cell phones.

Different regions have different accents even when

speaking the same language.

She spoke with a French accent.

The regional director is a good person.

The regional newspaper had personal stories.

Her card showed her identity.

His identity is unknown.

His body developed a resistance to the medicine.

She sensed some resistance from the group.

Many different influences changed the style of her

writing.

You can see some European influence in the

architecture.

Racial and cultural stereotypes usually annoy

individuals.

A stereotype of a nerd is a person wearing thick

glasses and suspenders.

She judged that it was rotten by the smell.

He judged the performance and announced his

score.

Social norms are always changing.

His score was under the norm.

Grammar Points

The Focus of This Lesson Is Different English Accents.

In the last four lessons, you learned about English vowels, consonants, stress, and intonation. In this

last lesson, we would like to concentrate on different versions of English that exist within the United

States.

In its written form, English is standard across different accents, but as you may know, many accents

exist when spoken. General American is the name given to the version of English that does not have a

recognizable regional accent. (However, since all language has an origin, it's based on the version of

English spoken in the Midwest.) This is known as the English spoken on the news, used in business,

and used in government matters.

Along with the different types of English that exist comes a sense of identity among its speakers.

People with the same regional accent may identify themselves through certain words or sounds that are

distinct to that area. If they live outside their hometowns for a long time, they might find themselves

adapting to another regional accent. This could be because they like the area they live in and are

slowly growing an identity there. On the other hand, they might also find that they never adopt the

accent because they have some resistance to it.

The Focus of This Lesson Is Intonation.

Grammar Points

We use intonation in many, if not all, languages, and it can convey meaning, express emotion, or even

establish whether the sentence is a statement or a question. Without the correct intonation, English

may sound unnatural, and misunderstandings may occur.

For Example:

Let's take a look at a sample sentence so we can see how intonation works.

1. "This is a clean floor."

If the speaker says this sentence with a downward intonation on "floor," the sentence is a statement.

However, if the speaker says it with an upward intonation, then the statement becomes a question,

asking whether or not the floor is clean. Now if the speaker says this sentence with a stronger

questioning intonation, it sounds sarcastic as opposed to a statement or a question.

As you can see with the sentences above, the intonation is important in conveying what you want to

say. It expresses the attitude of the person talking and therefore can change the whole feel of a

sentence. Also, without intonation, it would be hard to understand when a sentence ends and when

another one begins. The intonation goes along with the rhythm set by the stressed sounds of the words.

Therefore, it's important that you understand word stress before intonation.

The Focus of This Lesson Is Stress in American English.

In the first two lessons, we talked about vowels and consonants, which are the sounds that make up a

word. In this lesson, we will talk about stress.

For Example:

Grammar Points

English is a stress language. This means that every word has at least one syllable that is more audible

than the rest of the syllables. When we stress the wrong syllable, the word may be harder to

understand. Stress only falls on vowels and not consonants.

1. "star": one-syllable word, one stress

2. "lesson": two-syllable word, one stress

3. "calendar": three-syllable word, one stress

See whether you can hear the stress in the words in the above examples. The sound that we emphasize

the most is the stress, and most often it is also the syllable that lasts the longest.

For Example:

Here's an example of a word that has a functional difference when we change the stress:

1. "an increase": noun

2. "to increase": verb

And here's an example of how sometimes it's hard to understand different accents (note the spelling

difference as well).

For Example:

1. "aluminum": American English

2. "aluminium": British English

Some words may have a secondary stress, such as "pronunciation." It may seem as though this word

has two stresses, but the "-a"is the main stress, and the "-u" is the secondary stress.

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Nouns, verbs, and adjectives are known to be content words in a sentence, which mean that they have

meaning on their own. We usually hear the stress in these words, which then sets the rhythm of the

sentence.

For Example:

1. "I saw a friend last weekend."

In this particular sentence, "saw," "friend," and "last" "weekend" are the content words. Thus, hearing

the sentence as a whole, those are the words that have the most audible stress. The other words, "I,"

"a," and "last," are not as important; therefore, we do not stress them as much when we are speaking.

This does not mean that we do not say them, but rather we do not emphasize them as much.

Of course, depending on what you want to convey, the stress of the sentence may change.

For Example:

1. "I saw a friend last weekend."

In this sentence, the speaker is trying to make it clear that it was "last" weekend and not any other

weekend. If you want to stress the subject, then you might say the sentence like this.

For Example:

"I saw a friend last weekend."

Stress is an important aspect to know and understand when learning English. It will also set the stage

for the next lesson. If your native tongue is not a stress language, then it may be hard to pronounce

words as well as hear and understand them at first. However, once you recognize the difference, you

will know what to look out for and what to practice.