Aspiration

1. Say 'Peter' with a huge, almost 'p-h-eter' puff of air after the first p.
2. Repeat this exaggerated version three times, feeling the strong breath release.
3. Say 'Peter' again with about half that amount of air.
4. Say it once more at a natural, comfortable level, keeping a clear but shorter puff.
5. Repeat the same three steps with 'tea' and 'key'.
6. Record your final natural versions and check them against a model recording.

Success check: Your natural-level recording still has a clearly audible puff of air after p, t, and k, just smaller than your first exaggerated attempt.

ExaggeratedA strong, almost 'h'-like puff of air clearly audible after the consonant release.

NaturalA shorter but still clearly present puff of air after the consonant release.

Why this works. Over-aspirating stops into an almost audible 'h' after the release lets the learner isolate and feel the glottal delay that produces aspiration, before scaling the airflow back down to a natural but still clearly aspirated level; this overshoot-then-reduce strategy mirrors training protocols where exaggerated acoustic contrasts sharpen perceptual categories prior to natural-level production.

1. Say 'Peter poured the tea into two cups' slowly, pausing right after each p and t to add a small puff of air.
2. Speed up gradually while keeping that puff audible on each stressed p/t.
3. Say 'Kate's cat kept the key' the same way, adding a puff after each stressed k.
4. Record both sentences at a natural conversational pace.
5. Listen back and underline any stop that sounds like it's missing its puff of air.
6. Redo just the underlined words with extra breath support.

Success check: You can clearly hear a short burst of air after every stressed p, t, and k in both sentences when played back.

Aspirated targetA small burst of air drawn right after each marked consonant below.

Why this works. A carrier sentence packed with multiple stressed p/t/k onsets lets the learner practice the aspiration gesture repeatedly within one breath group, building a motor habit of delaying voicing onset specifically in stressed-syllable-initial position while contrasting it with the unaspirated post-s environment.

1. Listen to 'Peter poured the tea into two cups' once without speaking.
2. Hold a strip of paper near your mouth and play the recording again, starting to shadow it a beat behind.
3. Watch the paper move on 'Peter', 'poured', 'tea', and 'two', matching the model's timing.
4. Record yourself shadowing the full sentence three times.
5. Repeat the process with 'Kate's cat kept the key.'
6. Compare your recording to the model and note any stops that lack a visible or audible puff.

Success check: The paper strip visibly flutters right after you release p, t, or k at the start of 'Peter', 'tea', 'two', 'Kate's', 'cat', 'kept', and 'key', timed with the recording.

ModelA visible puff of breath released right after the lips or tongue open for p, t, or k.Looks almost the same as the picture.

Your shadowMatching puff of breath timed to the model's release.

Why this works. Shadowing the model's stressed-syllable-initial stops in real time trains the release-to-voicing timing (voice onset time) needed for aspiration, since matching the model's exact release-to-voicing gap is only possible if the learner delays glottal closure the way English speakers do.