About this activity
Twelve Spanish minimal pairs contrasting the single tap and the trilled r: pero and perro, caro and carro, coro and corro, para and parra, cero and cerro, ahora and ahorra, pera and perra, careta and carreta. In Spanish this is not an accent difference — the two sounds distinguish words, and pero and perro mean entirely different things.
How to use it in a session
Do the listening half first. Say one of the pair and have the student choose; only when they can hear the contrast reliably is production practice worth doing. Then reverse it — they produce one and you choose — which gives them feedback that is not an opinion. Use the meanings: pero is but and perro is dog, and a sentence where the wrong one is comical makes the contrast memorable. Twelve minutes covers the set both ways.
What to listen for
Listen for the trill being replaced by a tap, which is the usual direction and turns perro into pero. Watch for the reverse too, where a student over-applies the trill and produces carro for caro. Notice that the trill develops later than most Spanish sounds, so a young child producing taps is often within the expected range rather than in difficulty.
Carrying it home
These are common words in any Spanish-speaking home. Asking which word someone said — pero or perro — is a game that takes seconds and builds the discrimination the production depends on.
Questions
- Is this board in Spanish?
- Yes, all twelve pairs are Spanish words. The page is in English so an English-speaking clinician can find and evaluate it.
- Do I need an account?
- No, it plays free in the browser.
- Is the trill a late-developing sound?
- Yes, it is one of the later ones in Spanish. A young child producing taps where trills belong may well be within the typical range, so the child's age and exposure matter before calling it an error.