In this English class, the host, Houni, engages Benjamin in a game to improve their pronunciation of pairs of similar-sounding words. They start with the words "face" and "space", and Benjamin correctly identifies the other word as "facing". However, he struggles with the pronunciation of "women" and "woman", and "desert" and "dessert". They also discuss the pronunciation of "sachs" (which means "suck") and "socks". Houni explains that the 's' in "sachs" sounds like 'z', similar to the pronunciation of "socks". They also explore the pronunciation of "ice", "weather", and "uader" (pronounced "weber"). Throughout the class, Houni emphasizes the importance of listening and understanding the context to correctly pronounce these words.
1. The speaker, Houni, is teaching English pairs of words that are very similar in pronunciation, which can be confusing for English speakers as a second language.
2. The exercise involves pronouncing a word without the other person seeing, and then providing the correct pronunciation and definition.
3. The speaker has a guest, Benjamin, who learned English as an adult and has a good level of English with a slight accent.
4. The speaker demonstrates the pronunciation of the words "face" and "space" and explains that the 's' in "face" sounds like 'z' in English.
5. The speaker discusses the pronunciation of the words "close" and "streets", and explains that the pronunciation of 'e' in "close" is different from "streets".
6. The speaker talks about the words "women" and "women" (plural), and explains that the pronunciation of the first syllable changes from 'to' in singular and 'to' in plural.
7. The speaker discusses the words "read" and "breathe", and explains that the 'th' in "breathe" changes from 'th' in "the" to 'silent th'.
8. The speaker explains the pronunciation of the word "yasser", which means "desert" in Spanish.
9. The speaker discusses the pronunciation of the words "desert" and "dessert", and explains that either of the two is fine as long as the stressed syllable is pronounced correctly.
10. The speaker explains the pronunciation of the word "abandoned", which is pronounced as "from me do not abandon me do not leave me".
11. The speaker discusses the pronunciation of the words "warm" and "barns", and explains that the pronunciation of 'e' in "warm" is different from "barns".
12. The speaker explains the pronunciation of the words "socks" and "sachs", and explains that the pronunciation of 's' in "socks" is different from "sachs".
13. The speaker explains the pronunciation of the words "weather" and "house", and explains that the pronunciation of 'e' in "weather" is different from "house".
14. The speaker discusses the pronunciation of the words "weber" and "uader", and explains that in daily life, people usually say "uader" the same as "weber".
15. The speaker explains the pronunciation of the word "checked", and explains that the 'e' in "checked" is different from "bed".
16. The speaker explains the pronunciation of the word "comfortable", and explains that the 'e' in "comfortable" is different from "comfort".
17. The speaker explains the pronunciation of the word "comfort", and explains that the 'e' in "comfort" is different from "comfortable".