She sells shells (minimal pairs)

Ewa | Nov 02, 2025Oct 31, 2025

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this ESL lesson on minimal pairs are to:

• discuss tricky sounds and tongue twisters;
• watch an advert;
• work on minimal pairs through listening and speaking activities.

In this lesson, students read tongue twisters, talk about pronunciation and watch an ad for a website builder. They explore the /s/ and /ʃ/ sounds, work with pictures and practise their listening skills with recordings. Students also correct mistakes in sentences and work in pairs to identify minimal pairs.

WARM-UP AND VIDEO

This ESL lesson on minimal pairs starts with a warm-up. Students read tongue twisters out loud. They then discuss questions about English pronunciation and tongue twisters. After that, students watch an advert for a website building platform and choose its best summary. Next, they watch the video again and choose the phrases they hear (e.g. by the seashore, sell so well, seashell store). Afterwards, students look at phrases from the previous task again and find examples of /s/ and /ʃ/ sounds. Then, they read the phrases aloud, paying attention to those sounds. Moving on, students use pairs of words (e.g. save + shave) to name pairs of pictures. Following that, they explore the concept of minimal pairs and get a card with sentences (e.g. What a shock!). Students read the sentences to their partner and they say which word in each minimal pair from the previous exercise they used.

MINIMAL PAIRS PRACTICE

In this part of this ESL lesson on minimal pairs, students listen to a recording and choose the correct pictures for sentences (e.g. Look at the mouse/mouth, You’ve got my vote/boat). Afterwards, they do tasks where they write the words from the previous task (e.g. mouse, mouth, sheep, cheap). Students read the minimal pairs and the sentences out loud. They also choose some sentences and add details. After that, students listen to a recording and correct sentences containing mistakes with minimal pairs. Moving on, they get a card with a minimal pair (e.g. things, sings) and write a sentence with both words. Students then work in pairs. They read their sentences and their partner guesses what the minimal pairs are. Then, students switch roles.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This ESL lesson on minimal pairs also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students correct words in sentences. The pairs of correct and incorrect words are minimal pairs. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.

WORKSHEETS

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