we're going to go over

the pronunciation of the word 'helpful'.

This week's Word of the Week is 'helpful'.

It was suggested by a user on YouTube.

Thanks so much for this suggestion.

It's a two-syllable word

with stress on the first syllable.

Helpful, DA-da, helpful.

'Helpful' begins with the H consonant sound.

Some speakers,

like my students from Russia and Poland,

will want to make this sound too heavy.

Don't let the soft palate

hang and bounce against the tongue,

and don't lift the tongue

to constrict the air passage.

Just simply expel the air,

contracting the throat just a bit. Hh, hh.

The mouth position doesn't matter for the H,

so you can get into the position

for the next sound, in this case, the EH vowel.

The jaw needs to drop for the EH vowel.

The tongue will lift a bit

in the middle/front.

Next we have the dark L.

Pull the back part of the tongue back

to make the Dark sound.

I find when I say this word,

I don't lift the tip of the tongue

to 'finish' the dark L sound.

So my tongue tip never comes here,

like many think it should for L.

Next the lips will close for the P.

We need to go straight from the P to the F,

so when I lift my top lip,

the bottom lip is in position for the F,

where it's touching

the bottom of the top teeth.

After the F,

go straight into the dark sound again,

by pulling back

the back part of the tongue.

Again,

I don't lift the tip of my tongue for the L.

I just make the dark sound.

Helpful, helpful.

Was that helpful? I hope so!

That's it, your Word of the Week.

Try it out yourself.

Make up a sentence with the word,

record it, and post it

as a video response to this video on YouTube.

I can't wait to watch it.

If there's a word

you find difficult to pronounce,

suggest it

as a Word of the Week in the comments.

That's it, and thanks so much for using

Rachel's English.