My name is Emma, and in today's video we are going to learn about pronunciation, specifically

how to pronounce back vowels.

Okay?

So, whether you are learning British English, Canadian English, American English, whatever

English you're learning, these sounds exist in all of them.

Okay? So it doesn't matter what type of...

What dialect you're learning.

You will find these sounds in many different dialects.

Okay, so to get started let's talk about: What are vowels?

So I have here "a", "e", "i", "o", "u", and sometimes "y".

These are what we call vowels in English.

Okay?

So, these make a certain type of sound where usually you...

You have a lot of air coming into your mouth from the back of your throat.

So it's not so important how...

Like, what a vowel is.

The main thing is to remember that "a", "e", "i", "o", "u", and sometimes "y" are vowels.

Whatever is a letter that isn't one of these is called a consonant, so for example:

"s", "t", "d", "f".

These are all consonants.

Okay, so let's get started by looking at this and thinking: What is a consonant and what

is a vowel?

So we have here the word: "drew".

Can you tell me: What is the vowel in this word: "drew"?

If you said this, you're correct.

Okay?

The "d", "r", and the "w", they're consonants, and the "e" is a vowel.

We have the word here: "foot".

So what's the vowel?

In this case it's the o's and "f" and "t" are consonants.

"Hello",

the "e" is a vowel and so is the "o".

"All", in this case the "a" is the vowel.

"Jaw", and "clock".

Okay, so these are the different vowels in English.

Today we are going to be looking at four of the vowel sounds that happen in the back of

your mouth.

So I'll explain that in a second, but first I want you to look at these four words:

"foot", "food", "foe", "flock".

What is the same in these words?

If you look at the spelling,

all these words have an "o" in the spelling.

Now, do we pronounce the "oo" the same way?

Listen carefully.

Is the "o" pronounced the same in each of these words?

"Foot", "food", "foe", "flock".

The "o" is actually pronounced differently in these words, which is why you can't always

depend on spelling in English to help you with your pronunciation.

Okay?

So I'm going to teach you how to...

You know, some tips on how to do these different pronunciations and how to know when to pronounce

which sounds.

Okay.

So, before we get to these different vowel sounds we're going to practice today, I just

wanted to tell you some general things about pronouncing vowels.

A lot of students, they don't know what they're doing with their mouth when they're pronouncing.

It's very important to pay attention to what your mouth is doing and what your tongue is

doing when you actually pronounce something.

Okay?

This will really help you improve your pronunciation.

It's also a good idea maybe to use a mirror in order to look and become aware of what

this area is doing to make the sound.

So, when you're thinking about your lips it's important to think: Are your lips spread,

like: "cheese",

or are your lips...?

So this would be spread.

Or are your lips like closer together, like: "food", "oo"?

"ee", "oo", notice the difference?

So that's one thing to look at: Are your lips spread like "ee" or are they close together

like "oo"?

Okay.

How open is your mouth?

Is something you want to look at.

Is it not very open, like: "oo"?

Or is it very open, like: "ah"?

Okay? How open is your mouth?

The other thing you want to pay attention to is your tongue.

So, these are your lips.

I'm not a great artist, I know.

These are your teeth, this is your chin, your neck, and this red...

Red thing is your tongue.

Is your tongue touching your teeth, is your tongue touching the top of your mouth, or

is your tongue hanging out kind of close to the back of your mouth?

For back vowels your tongue is going to be more towards the back, like this.

Okay? So your tongue is not where your teeth are.

Your tongue...

If these are your teeth, your tongue is not touching your teeth.

Your tongue is a little bit back.

Okay?

Okay, so now we know what we need to pay attention to.

Now let's learn some of these back vowels and how to make them.

Okay, so the first back vowel sound we're going to learn is the "oo" sound, "oo".

Okay?

So, again, your tongue should be not touching your teeth.

Your tongue... If this is your teeth, your tongue is a little bit back.

Okay, so here is the spelling of this sound.

You might see it as two o's, "oo", it might be a "u"...

Oh, I put "u" again.

"ue" sometimes, like "blue", "oo",

"o" and "e", "o" and "u", and "e" and "w".

So there's many, many different spellings of this sound.

That's one reason why you can't use the spelling always to know how a sound is pronounced.

One thing you can use is something called the International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA

for short.

This is where you have a lot of different symbols, and each symbol actually is a sound.

So, in the dictionary when you're looking at a word, sometimes they will actually have

the way to pronounce it and they will show you the International Phonetic Alphabet pronunciation.

So this is a tool that can help you with your pronunciation.

Okay?

So, this is the symbol for the "oo" sound.

So if you ever look at the International Phonetic Alphabet and you see a word and it has this

in it, it's the "oo" sound.

So let's look at some examples of this sound.

We have: "boot", "oo", "boot", "new", "due", "Luke"...

If you think of Luke Skywalker and you think of Star Wars, "Luke", "too".

Okay? These all have the same sound in them.

So I want you to think now about what your lips are doing, what your mouth is doing,

how big or how small your mouth is to help you with the pronunciation of this sound.

Okay.

So, I want you to look at my mouth.

"Oo", "oo".

What does my mouth look more like?

Is it really big, and wide, and spread, or is it small?

Is it like this?

"Oo", "oo".

No. It's not like this.

It's more like this.

Okay? So you don't have a big mouth for this.

These are my lips.

Okay?

If you look at the side: "oo", they're curving upward or they're...

They're coming out.

So if you want an example of this, think about a wolf: "oo", you know, when wolves howl,

they go: "oo", okay?

That can help you with your lips.

So your lips should be curved and rounded.

Okay, now look at the actual size of the hole.

Is it like this or is it really big?

"Oo", "oo".

It's not big.

My mouth...

There's a little, tiny hole so it's more like this.

Okay? So it's...

We have to check it off.

Now, listen to the sound: "oo".

Is it a long sound or a short sound?

"Due", "blue", "Luke".

It's actually a bit of a long sound.

Now, if that's confusing to you, you'll see what I mean when you compare it to other sounds

because some other sounds are very short.

This sound is a little bit longer.

Okay?

So it's long.

Okay, so let's do some practice of this sound, and again, use a mirror as a...

To help you so you can actually look at your lips and see what they're doing to make sure

you're doing it correctly.

Okay, so I want you to repeat after me:

"boot", "oo", "boot",

"new", "new", "new".

So, again, think about the lips, they're not really big.

"Due", "due", "due",

"Luke", "Luke", "Luke", finally:

"too", "too",

and I'm going to give you one more: "blue", like the colour "blue".

Okay?

So, again, your lips are small, but they're protruding outward, they're rounded like a wolf.

"Oo".

Okay, so now let's compare this to another back vowel sound.

Okay, this one: "u".

So we just did this is "oo", "u".