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Beer, beard, bear, bird

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🗣️
In this lesson, we’ll focus on the pronunciation of those four confusing words.
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Theory

BEER🍺, BEARD 🧔, BEAR 🐻, BIRD 🐦
Think about it this way:
  • The words ‘bear’ and ‘bird’ have similar vowels. → 🐻 Bears and 🐦birds go together.
  • The words ‘beer’ and ‘beard’ have the same vowels. → 🍺 Beer and 🧔 beards go together.
Imagine a bear sitting in the woods, chilling with its bird friends and a bearded man drinking beer while watching them.
 
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Exercise 1

Read the sentences and watch the clips to check your answers.
 
  • 🐻 “There are two people in a wood and they run into a bear.” 🐻
  • 🐦 “Sir, we have a bird in motion! Anyone on the deck, we have a rogue bird.” 🐦
In this clip, was the pronunciation British or American?
Check the answer
British
In this clip, was the pronunciation British or American?
Check the answer
American
💡
a bird – in this clip, this bird is a spaceship not an actual animal in motion – flying anyone on the deck – anyone who is on the spaceship a rogue bird – a spaceship that is flying against orders
 
  • 🧔 "So, where’d you find that beard? It’s pretty snazzy." 🧔
  • 🍺 “Who exactly is buying the beer?” 🍺
In this clip, was the pronunciation British or American?
Check the answer
American
In this clip, was the pronunciation British or American?
Check the answer
American
💡
snazzy – stylish and modern, e.g. a pair of shoes
 

Exercise 2

Name the pictures one by one.
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Listen to this recording and check your answers: link. (British English pronunciation)

Exercise 3

Read the sentences below.
  1. My dad has a black beard. 🧔 Listen to the recording: link.
  1. He doesn’t drink beer 🍺 very often. Listen to the recording: link.
  1. When he does, his beard 🧔 always gets in his beer. 🍺 Listen to the recording: link.
  1. When I was a child, I had a teddy bear. 🐻 Listen to the recording: link.
  1. The teddy bear 🐻 was so fluffy that I thought it has a beard. 🧔 Listen to the recording: link.
  1. When Ann woke up, she could hear a bird 🐦 singing. Listen to the recording: link.
  1. The bird 🐦 was looking for water. Instead, it found beer. 🍺 Listen to the recording: link.

Exercise 4

Read this tongue twister!
BEER🍺, BEARD 🧔, BEAR 🐻, BIRD 🐦
An eagle bird 🐦 met with its friend bear 🐻.
They watched a football match hoping everyone plays fair.
Because the bear 🐻 had a very majestic beard 🧔
(the biggest in the country – as the bird 🐦 had heard)
the jealous bird 🐦 spilt beer 🍺 on the bear’s 🐻 beard 🧔 as he cheered.
He slipped and hit his head feeling no fear.
That’s how he fell down and drowned in bear’s 🐻 beer 🍺.
Listen to the recording: link.
 

Exercise 5

Look at the picture, read the story aloud and fill in the gaps with the correct word - beer, beard, bear or bird.
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Deep in the forest, a 🐻 _____ named Bruno was looking for food. He came across a table and noticed a bottle of 🍺 _____. Right next to the bottle, a 🐦 _____ named Lila was chirping a cheerful song. Not too far away, Finn, a man with a long 🧔 _____ was sitting on a bench. He realised that he had left a bottle of 🍺 _____ on the table. Holding his binoculars, he smiled, watching the scene and feeling lucky to witness such a special moment.
Listen to the recording: link
Answers
bear, beer, bird, beard, beer