Video tip: Elizabeth’s thirsty

Watch Lynda giving some useful advice on getting your teeth around the tricky ‘th’ sound in English.

There’s one word in particular which causes great problems for many German speakers – clothes /kloʊðz/.  Many learners say /kloʊziz/ because the close proximity of the /ð/ and /z/ is extremely difficult to pronounce. However, many native speakers don’t pronounce the /ð/ in the middle of the word; they just say /kloʊz/, as in Can you close the door?

So next time your students struggle to say clothes, help them with this tip:

• Open the door and then close it.
• Elicit the word close.
• Explain that close is what many native speakers say when they talk about skirts, trousers and coats. I bought some new clothes for my holiday.