The a sound: bad & bed (/æ/ vs /e/)

Objective & content

This Sound Check video (about 2 minutes 30) fixes one pair of vowels: the wide a of bad and the short e of bed. Freya (British) and Cody (American) show the jaw. For bad, open the mouth wide. For bed, keep the jaw small and relaxed. Mixing them changes the word: man and men, pan and pen, sat and set. Students repeat words and one sentence, The bad cat sat on the bed, then play a three-round game: which word did you hear?

Pedagogical guide

Many languages have no wide a of this kind, so learners pull bad towards their own e and say bad like bed. This is common for speakers of French, Spanish, Italian, German and Portuguese. The difference is in how far the jaw opens, not in how long the sound is. A hand under the chin helps: for bad the jaw moves down. Both hosts say these two vowels the same way, so there is no British or American difference to explain. The game tests listening only: check the speaking yourself.

Suggested procedure

1. Before (2 min). Write bad and bed on the board. Ask students to say both.
2. Watch (3 min). Play the video once. Students repeat aloud when the hosts say "Try it with us", "Say them with me" and "Now a sentence, with me".
3. Game (2 min). Play the game again. Pause after a host says "Listen..." and the word, before the other host gives the answer. The class votes: wide or relaxed?
4. After (3 min). In pairs, one student says pan or pen, man or men, sat or set. The partner points to the right word on the board.

Materials & prerequisites

• The video, a screen and sound for the whole class.
• The example words are at about A2- level. Students do not need phonetic symbols.

Assessment & extensions

Say bad, men, pan, set and man in random order. Students show a wide hand or a small hand.