Month: September 2026

Instructions:

All the words in this maze contain the letter T. Go from WRITER to BETTER crossing only words where the letter T sounds the same as in ‘writer’ IN YOUR ACCENT. You can see that 5 stones in the maze are shaded. Try not to step on one of these – but you can if there is no other way.

Example: In some accents, ‘writer’ sounds like ‘rider’ because the T is pronounced like a D (this is called ‘flapped T’). If your accent is like this, then your first move is from ‘writer’ to ‘eating’, because you probably also have a flapped T in ‘eating’. On the other hand, if your T in ‘writer’ is NOT like a D, then go from ‘writer’ to ‘hotel’, because this also has a hard T, and you do not need to step on a shaded word.

For more on accent awareness, try PronPack: Accent for Listeners

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Learning point:

Accents of English often differ in the pronunciation of the T. If the T comes between vowels, it often becomes a ‘flapped T’, which sounds like a D (although this does not happen if the vowel after the T is in a stressed syllable, as in ‘hotel’).  You also find a flapped T after an N or an R, and before a vowel or L, for example ‘forty’, ‘winter’. Some speakers flap the T between a vowel and L too, for example, ‘little’. The flapped T is typical in American accents, for example.

Other speakers use the flapped T much less commonly, using a hard T in all the examples above. The hard T is typical in British accents, for example – although speakers may use a flapped T sometimes, specially in fast speech. Many speakers in Britain pronounce the T between vowels as a glottal stop, alternatively.

What about your accent – do you ever use the ‘flapped T’? How about the glottal stop?

Possible paths:

1. WRITER – eating – forty – waiter – dirty – atom – pretty – metal – thirty – butter – water – photo – Peter – little – city – sweater (winter – often) – hotter – eighty – BETTER
2. WRITER – hotel – (twenty) – water – butter – thirty – fifty – waiter – dirty – atom – pretty – easter – (mister) – fifteen – poster – sweater – (often) – hotter – eighty – BETTER

Instructions:

Go from ZERO to HERO crossing only words or phrases with an R-sound in your accent (there are different paths for different accents). You can see that 6 stones in the maze are shaded. Try not to step on one of these – but you can if there is no other way.

Example: From ZERO, you can go to ‘car’ if you pronounce the R in that word. If not, you need to go to ‘euro’ instead – most people pronounce the R in this word.

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Learning point:

Accents of English are of two kinds – accents where every R is pronounced, and accents where the R is not pronounced unless there is a vowel sound after it. For example, in these accents, the R is not pronounced in car or care, but it is pronounced in caring, because there is a vowel sound after it. Which kind of accent do you have? (Learn more about accents and how to teach them with PronPack: Accent for Listeners)

Possible paths:

1. ZERO – car – wore – very – carry – or else – heard – sorry – Mary – (here) – (Harry) – are – girl – there – air – for one – for all – bored – far – HERO
2. ZERO – euro – area – sorry – Mary – Harry – worry – or else – carry – very – marry – caring – bury – arrow – ear ache – for all – far away – HERO