Festivals and celebrations minimal pairs
Listen to two similar-sounding phrases and hold up one finger if you think the first version is a correct expression linked to festivals and celebrations, or hold up two fingers if you think the second version is better more to this topic.
Circle the correct festivals and celebrations vocabulary on each line below, thinking about which is more related to this topic if both seem possible.
- Bank Holiday/ Bunk Holiday
- light a lamp/ light a lump
- Xmas card/ Xmas curd
- harvest festival/ her vest festival
- my star sign is Cancer/ my stir sign is Cancer
- cherry blossom viewing party/ jerry blossom viewing party
- Bonfire night fire walks/ Bonfire night fireworks
- bath day cake/ birthday cake
- Oktoberfest/ October Vest
- Xmas tree fairy lights/ Xmas tree hairy lights
- Could Friday/ Good Friday
- foam made present/ homemade present
- Box in Day/ Boxing Day
- April Fool’s Day choke/ April Fool’s Day joke
- good luck charm/ good ruck charm
- Buddhist gone/ Buddhist gong
- dancing round the maypole/ dancing round the may pull
- traditional folk music/ traditional fork music
- talent shore/ talent show
- war memorial/ were memorial
- Venetian masked ball/ Venetian masked bowl
- twelve day of moaning/ twelve day of mourning
- pancake lace/ pancake race
- turkey with cranberry sauce/ turkey with cranberry saws
- housewarming party/ hows warming party
- drink rice wine/ drink rise wine
- birthday cake candles/ birthday cake can dolls
- fasting during lend/ fasting during Lent
- based on a miss/ based on a myth
- a sank-you note/ a thank-you note
- Balentine’s Day/ Valentine’s Day
- wedding bows/ wedding vows
- a glass of hot mulled vine/ a glass of hot mulled wine
- Chinese New Ear/ Chinese New Year
- pull a Xmas crack/ pull a Xmas cracker
- mince pies and cream/ minced pies and cream
- burn some incense/ burn some incensed
Check as a class or with the suggested answers.
Suggested answers
- Bank Holiday/ Bunk Holiday
- light a lamp/ light a lump
- Xmas card/ Xmas curd
- harvest festival/ her vest festival
- my star sign is Cancer/ my stir sign is Cancer
- cherry blossom viewing party/ jerry blossom viewing party
- Bonfire night fire walks/ Bonfire night fireworks
- bath day cake/ birthday cake
- Oktoberfest/ October Vest
- Xmas tree fairy lights/ Xmas tree hairy lights
- Could Friday/ Good Friday
- foam made present/ homemade present
- Box in Day/ Boxing Day
- April Fool’s Day choke/ April Fool’s Day joke
- good luck charm/ good ruck charm
- Buddhist gone/ Buddhist gong
- dancing round the maypole/ dancing round the may pull
- traditional folk music/ traditional fork music
- talent shore/ talent show
- war memorial/ were memorial
- Venetian masked ball/ Venetian masked bowl
- twelve day of moaning/ twelve day of mourning
- pancake lace/ pancake race
- turkey with cranberry sauce/ turkey with cranberry saws
- housewarming party/ hows warming party
- drink rice wine/ drink rise wine
- birthday cake candles/ birthday cake can dolls
- fasting during lend/ fasting during Lent
- based on a miss/ based on a myth
- a sank-you note/ a thank-you note
- Balentine’s Day/ Valentine’s Day
- wedding bows/ wedding vows
- a glass of hot mulled vine/ a glass of hot mulled wine
- Chinese New Ear/ Chinese New Year
- pull a Xmas crack/ pull a Xmas cracker
- mince pies and cream/ minced pies and cream
- burn some incense/ burn some incensed
Test each other on the pronunciation of the vocabulary:
- Do the same listening and identifying the right pronunciation activity, but this time taking turns saying the two things on one line above
- Say just one of the versions and see if your partner can say if it is correct or not
- Say both versions and see if your partner can repeat back just the correct version
- Say a wrong version and see if your partner can correct it
- Show your partner one line and see if they can say both versions as they are written
- Say a correct version for your partner to make an example sentence out of
