Sounds and Letters Don't Agree by Lord Cromer (1902): Poems ESL Listening

(TESOL Worksheets--Poems ESL Listening)
Transcript: drive, docs, pub, homework sheet: docs, pub, Quizlet HERE
Video HERE

Sounds and Letters Don't Agree by Lord Cromer (1902): poems

Video: https://youtu.be/RQkpaFGxCa4

Quizlet: https://quizlet.com/_6vovz7

Suggested Use:

Step 1: Look at the vocabulary. Check any words that you don’t know in your dictionary.

Step 2: Listen to the video. (Listen only.  Don’t look at the poem yet).

Step  3: Practice the vocabulary on Quizlet 

Step 4: Watch the video again.  This time look at the poem. Read and listen at the same time.

Step 5: Practice the vocabulary on Quizlet again 

Step 6: Listen one last time.  The last time, don’t look at the poem. 

Vocabulary

as, beard, blood, bomb, comb, cord, cow, doll, dose, foe, hear, horse, hose, it seems to me, lone, loose, lose, low, maker, mould, pray, pronounce, reason, rhyme, roll, sew, shoe, sum, sum up, the same as, tomb, tongue, verse, weak, worse

Sounds and Letters Don't Agree by Lord Cromer (1902): poems

When the English tongue we speak,

Why does break not rhyme with weak?

Won't you tell me why it's true

We say sew, but also few?

And the maker of a verse

Cannot rhyme his horse with worse?

Beard is not the same as heard.

Cord is different from word,

Cow is cow, but low is low,

Shoe is never ryhmed with foe.

Think of hose and dose and lose,

And think of loose and yet of choose,

Think of comb and tomb and bomb

Doll and roll and home and some.

And since pay is rhymed with say

Why not paid with said I pray?

Think of blood and food and good;

Mould is not pronounced like could.

Why is it done, but gone and lone

Is there any reason known?

To sum up, it seems to me

That sounds and letters don't agree.

as - used to compare two things, people, amounts, etc:

He's not as tall as his brother.

the same as - someone or something that is exactly like (another person or thing being discussed or referred to):

Your idea is the same as his.

beard - the hair that grows on a man's chin (= the bottom of his face)

bomb - a weapon that explodes and causes damage:

The bomb destroyed several office buildings in the city.

blood - the red liquid that flows around your body:

The level of iron in her blood was too low.

comb - a flat piece of metal or plastic with a row of long, narrow parts along one side, that you use to tidy your hair

cord - thick string, or a piece of this

cow - a large farm animal kept for milk or meat:

They keep cows for milk.

doll - a child's toy that looks like a small person

dose - a measured amount of medicine that is taken at one time or during a period of time:

What is the recommended dose?

foe - an enemy

hear - to be aware of a sound through your ears:

I could hear his voice in the distance.

horse - a large animal with four legs, which people ride or use to pull heavy things:

The horse jumped the last fence.

hose - a long pipe made of rubber or plastic and used for directing water somewhere, usually onto a garden or fire

loose - not firmly fixed:

There were some loose wires hanging out of the wall.

lose - to not be able to find someone or something:

She's always losing her car keys.

lone - alone:

He was the lone survivor.

low - near the ground, not high:

There are low ceilings.

maker - the person or company that makes a product:

They are makers of top quality electrical products.

mould - a green or black substance that grows in wet places or on old food

pray - to speak to a god in order to show your feelings or to ask for something:

Let us pray for all the sick children.

pronounce - to make the sound of a letter or word:

How do you pronounce his name?

reason - the facts about why something happens or why someone does something:

I knew Sam was going - that was the reason I went there.

rhyme - If a word rhymes with another word, the end part of the words sound the same:

'Moon' rhymes with 'June'.

roll - to move somewhere by turning in a circular direction, or to make something move this way:

The ball rolled through the goalkeeper's legs.

sew - to join things together with a needle and thread:

I need to sew a button on my shirt.

shoe - a strong covering for the foot, often made of leather:

This is a pair of shoes.

sum - the total amount that you get when you add two or more numbers together:

The sum of six and seven is thirteen.

sum up - to describe briefly the important facts or characteristics of something or someone:

The purpose of a conclusion is to sum up the main points of an essay.

it seems to me - used for saying that something appears to exist or be true:

It seems to me this is his most important novel.

tomb - a place where a dead person is buried, usually with a monument (= stone structure)

tongue - the soft thing inside your mouth that you move and use for tasting and speaking:

The little boy stuck his tongue out.

verse - words that are in the form of poetry:

The story was told in verse.

weak - not physically strong:

He felt too weak to sit up.

worse - comparative of bad : more unpleasant or difficult than something else that is also bad:

The exam was worse than I expected.