Tag: reading
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New Vocabulary: Questions from Students
Questions from Students The following word and phrase list was assembled during classes with students. Students asked about these words and phrases in terms of both pronunciation and, sometimes, meaning. Practice with the video here. quiet, quite, quit ceiling – sailing – selling qualify serious vs. series seek/ sick put the mind at ease how…
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New Vocabulary: Linking Sounds
Linking Sounds Beyond pronunciation guides in dictionaries, there are subtle extra tendencies in pronunciation within any language. In English, we call these linking sounds. When native speakers move from a Long E, Long I or Long A sound to another vowel within a word or phrase, we make a slight Y sound (as in yes)…
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New Vocabulary: the Long I Sound
The Long I sound is technically a diphthong meaning that it’s similar to the oi/oy sound in words like choice and boy. A diphthong is two vowel sounds that slide together to form one syllable. The Long I sound starts on AH as in father and ends on EE as in see. A fun way…
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New Words: the Short I Sound
The Short I sound can make a significant impact on your speech. So often, this sound is expressed as ee in the word see, but the English short I is a soft sound with no wideness in the lips. It is much more similar to a schwa sound. Imagine a low pitch and create a…
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New Words: the Short E Sound
The Short E sound is made with a slightly rectangular position inside the mouth. The three short sounds, e, i, u or Short E, Short I and Schwa are related in that all are made simply and within the mouth (we cannot see how the sounds are made based on lips or facial muscles). However,…
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New Words: the Long E Sound
The Long E sound is the smiling vowel. The tongue should rest flatly in your mouth and your lips should be wide. The most common mistake I hear during classes is a tendency to reduce this sound, perhaps to create a casual effect. It doesn’t really reduce. You need to speak the full EE every…
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New Words: the Open A Sound
The Open A is the same as the Short O in standard American English. What is standard American? It is the dialect that came out of the midwest region which was popularized by the film industry, especially Disney. Since Disney specializes in family films, this dialect rapidly spread and became accepted across the U.S. Though…
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