درسنامه اصلی

Hi this is AJ, and welcome to our next unit. In this unit we’re going to learn two more vowel sounds. The short o-o and the long o-o. Let’s talk about how they sound and then how to make them.

First, the long o-o. They’re very close sounds, there’s just a small little change that will make the difference. So let’s talk about the long o-o. It’s the sound in food, ooo, ooo, food, food, right. Blue, the color blue, ooo, ooo, ooo. It’s that ooo sound, long o-o.

How do we do it? First of all, look at my lips. It’s got those kissing lips again, right? So very tight together, tight little small circle for your lips. Like that. Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo. Inside, you can’t see it, but the back of my tongue goes up a little bit. Ooo. The back of the tongue, not the front. The back of the tongue comes up. Ooo-ooo-ooo.

And altogether it’s a very tight-feeling sound, right? Face, lips are very tight as you make the sound, tongue comes up. Ooo, ooo, ooo. One more little tip. There’s a vibration happening again in the throat.

Try to keep the vibration low. Try to keep the vibration in your throat, and even down in your chest if you can do it. You do not want the vibration up in your nose, your head, no no no no no. You want kind of a lower vibration. It’ll be in your throat mostly but even try to push it down into your chest. This might help too.

Ooo, foo, ooo, ooo, ooo. Let’s practice some words with this sound.

Food, food, food.

Blue, blue, blue.

Move, move, move.

Choose, choose, choose.

Smooth, smooth, smooth.

Mood. How do you feel? Mood, moo-ooo-ooo, mood, mood, mood.

Knew, I knew it. Mood, knew, knew. I knew it. Knew, ooo-ooo-ooo, mood, knew, mood, knew.

All right, and one more: Room, room, r-o-o-m, room, room.

All right, now the short o-o. It’s very very similar. Your lips will look basically the same. They’ll look the same. They’ll have the same kind of kissing position, small little o. The tongue is basically the same, the back of the tongue still comes up. So what’s the difference?

Okay this one sounds like this: euh, euh, euh, euh.

Like wood, w-o-o-d or w-o-u-l-d, same pronunciation, wood, euh, euh, euh, euh.

So what’s the difference from the long to the short? The difference is you’re making a circle with your lips, but relax your lips. So you’re gonna push em forward, make the circle, but not too tight. It’s less tight.

It’s a more relaxed feeling in your face. That changes the sound, okay. So it’s like this, Euh, euh, euh. Same vibration, same tongue position, euh, euh, euh.

Same basic shape in your face but more relaxed, less tight, euh, euh.

In fact, let’s practice. You can go between these two sounds, one to the other, just by relaxing or tightening your face. So make this position. Let’s start with the long o-o first, ooo, ooo. And continue making the sound and then just relax your face a little bit.

Watch how the sound changes.

Oooouh, oooouh, ooooeuh, ooooeuh.

I’m just relaxing my lips a little bit, even relaxing the feeling in my tongue a little bit. It’s just a little less tight. That’s the only difference in these two sounds. You just relax a little bit, and it becomes a short o-o.

Let’s practice some words with a short o-o.

Wood, wood, euh, wood, wood.

Should, should, should.

Good, very good, good, goood, good.

Look, look, euh, look, look.

Book, read a book, euh, book, book, book.

Cook, cook food right? Cook, cook, cook.

In fact, let’s do those two together because we get the short one and the - we get the short and then the long one.

Cook food. Cook food.

So, it’s the first word, cook, same position but a little relaxed. And then for the second word, food, you’re just gonna tighten. You’re gonna push your lips out a little more, tighten your face a little more, and it’ll change the sound.

Cook food. Cook food. Coook foood. Cook foood. Cook foood. Cook food.

All right, that’s it. You’re getting near the end of the course. Congratulations. Again, this is a difficult one because the change is very small, so practice slowly first each day. You’ve got five days with this unit.

Practice the differences in the sounds, slowly first. Be patient, let yourself gradually improve. Don’t worry if it’s difficult for you, no problem. Gradually improve, getting a little better, a little better. Key thing is to keep training every five days following the five-day process.

See you in the training one.