English Vowel Sounds Practice: Holiday & Travel

• The kids swim in the pool.
• I pick up shells on the sand.
• We visit friends in the city.

• We rent a tent by the lake.
• Mum gets fresh bread every morning.

• I pack my bag for the trip.
• We have a map of the island.
• The cat sits in the sun.

• The sun shines bright in July.
• Mum brings fruit for lunch.

• We go to the beach on holiday.
• Tom stops at the shop.
• It’s a hot day.

• I took a good book to the beach.
• Look at the wood!

• A banana for breakfast.
• Take a photo of the castle.

The schwa is the most common English sound – it’s in weak syllables and weak words.

• We need a map for the journey.
• Jane reads books on the beach.
• Pete needs sleep after a long day.

• The car takes us to the park.
• Our party starts at three.
• The stars are bright tonight.

In British English the r in car, park, party is not pronounced.

• We walk along the shore.
• The horse runs fast in the field.
• The storm brings rain and thunder.
• Laura draws pictures of the sea.

Different spellings, same sound: walk, shore, horse, draw, Laura.

• The moon shines bright at night.
• We flew to Rome in June.

• The bird sings in the tree.
• We search for shells.
• Tom works hard on his sandcastle.
• My first holiday was in Turkey.

No r sound in British English: bird /bɜːd/.

• The rain stopped on our way.
• Kate ate her lunch in the shade.
• They play games every day.
• The train takes us far away.

• We fly a kite on the beach.
• The sun shines bright in July.
• The moon shines bright at night.

• The boy enjoys the noise of the fireworks.
• They join their friends for a barbecue.
• We avoid the crowd at the fair.

• The cow makes a loud sound.
• It’s so cloudy, I can’t see the ground.
• My toy was found under the sofa.

• The boat floats on the lake.
• The clown throws a ball at the crowd.
• It’s so cold – let’s go home.

• We stayed near the pier.
• Cheers! Here’s to our holiday!

• We met at the fair.
• Where’s the chair? Over there.

• Are you sure about the tour?

Many British speakers now say /ɔː/ here: sure /ʃɔː/, tour /tɔː/ – both are correct.