a. First practise the target sound /p/ in words from the dialogue. Read the words aloud or visit the website to practise.
The sound /p/ is louder before a vowel. and fairly loud before ‘1' or ‘r'.

One-syllablewords: pot        pie        piece        spoon        plate        plane        please

Two-syllable words: pencil        Peter        pepper        pocket        Poppy        postcard        pulling        Paris        airport        stupid        practise        plastic        people        apple

(The strong stress is always on the first syllable in these words.)

TWO-syllable words: surprised        perhaps

(The strong stress is always on the second syllable in these words.)

Three-syllable words: passenger        newspaper        potato        impatient        pepper pot.

Note on word stress: Word stress doesn't usually change. Bold is used to show you which part of the word is strongly stressed, i.e. which syllable is always pronounced more LOUDly and s l o w l y than the other(s).
Note on sentence stress: Sentence stress changes with the speaker’s meaning. Underlining is used here to show you which words in the sentence are being strongly stressed, i.e. which words are pronounced more LOUDly and s l o w l y than the others:

It's a piece of potato pie on a plastic plate. Peter is surprised.

The sound /p/ is often quieter at the end of a word.

an envelope with a stamp        a cup        Help!        a pipe

The sound /p/ is usually quiet and sometimes almost silent before a consonant. Listen and repeat.

empty        Upstairs        dropped        help me
helpful        perhaps        Mr Tupman        stop shouting
stop talking        stop pulling

b. Listen to the dialogue, paying attention to the target sound. Notice that it is sometimes louder or quieter. Then read the dialogue and fill the gaps (1—6) and (a—f) with the correct words from the boxes. Numbers 1 and a) have been done as examples.

Words 1—6 have a louder /p/ sound:

Words a—f have a quieter /p/ sound:

Passport, Please

(Mr and Mrs Tupman are at the airport They have just got off the plane from Paris.)