Unit 18 – Long Vowel Sounds Hi This is AJ Welcome to Unit 18 You are almost finished Now, here's some good news This lesson, this unit is easy for most people, certainly easier than a lot of the vowel sounds you have been practicing in previous units So, we're going to learn long vowels, and they're very simple A long vowel is a vowel that says its name So, what are the vowels? A, E, I, O, U How you pronounce those? You pronounce them A, E, I, O, U Simple They say their own name Very easy Now, the key thing to know about long vowels is that long vowels are actually a combination of two sounds They're not just one sound each Each one of them has two sounds Let's learn them A A A The key thing here is that there's a hidden y sound at the end It's soft, but it's there It's not a, a, a That's too short That's only one sound - A, A You have to add a little y sound at the end to make it correct AY, AY, yuh, yuh, yuh You add that little y at the end Then you have the correct pronunciation AY Now, when you practice it as always, exaggerate Make it very strong and big In normal speech it'll be softer, but I want you to exaggerate that y sound The hidden y for each of these vowels that I'm going to teach you AY, AY, strong Y AY, AY Long E It's the same thing It's got a hidden y at the end EY It's not ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee Right? That's too sh- That's too short You have to add the y at the end That strong y Stretch it out EY, Y, Y, Y Hear the y at the end? Just a little bit EY, EY See, it almost sounds like two parts - E-Yee EYee (laugh) Right? EYee, EYee Same with the long I IY, Y, Y Get the y sound at the end IY Again, it's not i, i, i That's too short You're missing the Y sound You gotta get the long, stretched-out y sound at the end of it IYeee, IYeee, IYeee, IY-Yee-Yee-Yee Right? Really exaggerate the y sound for the practice And the final one that has a y sound is U, but it has a y sound at the beginning A little bit different So it's Ya, Ya, Yu Not oo, oo, oo, oo, oo It's YU, YU, YU Get the y sound at the beginning YU, YU Pretty simple, right? Just say the name of the letter and add that little hidden y sound Now O is a little different It also has a hidden sound, but it's not a y It's w The O is easy to make You just make, make an O with your mouth - O, O, O, O, but here's the difference Your tongue is kind of back You pull your tongue backwards, straight back - O, O, O, when you make that O sound - O, O, O Lips, everything makes that little, round O shape, but the big thing is that there's a little w at the end of this sound Wa, Wa, Wa, so we go OW, OW You hear the W at the end? Do you see it? I'm opening and closing at the end of the sound Wa, Wa, Wa Remember the w unit? If you need to review the W unit Review the Y unit So it's OWa You gotta get the hidden w at the end That's the key OWa, OWa, OWa Again, in normal conversation the w is kind of soft, but when you practice it, I want you to make it very strong so you teach yourself to it correctly - OWa, OWa, OWa, OWa All right Now, in this unit's training audio, we're going to a lot of review These sounds are usually quite easy for most people, so we're going to review a lot of our past sounds also, so you're going to be practicing a lot of things in the training audio this time Remember rhythm, right? Never forget rhythm It's so important so practice that rhythm in the training audio You'll be practicing some long vowel sounds, but you'll practice a lot of the other sounds we've practiced, too, so it's going to be a big review Do your best Just continue to improve little by little by little All right See you in the training audio Bye Unit 18 – Practice Session Okay In this training, we are going to review a lot of sounds Also, don't forget about rhythm Do your best Listen carefully Here's slowly I value persistence and consistency, because these values guarantee my eventual success in any pursuit That's why I'll regularly train my English pronunciation I'll never tire I'll never quit I have an iron will I have mental strength I listen to and track interesting content while exaggerating my American accent My skill is going higher and higher while my confidence grows and grows I'm becoming one of the best English speakers in the world I'm a world-class communicator I'm a world-class speaker I'm a world-class learner English training is fun for me now It's entertainment I'm now excited and enthusiastic about my never-ending English improvement I'm inspired, and I'm inspiring others to also be great English speakers And now, at a medium speed I value persistence and consistency, because these values guarantee my eventual success in any pursuit That's why I'll regularly train my English pronunciation I'll never tire I'll never quit I have an iron will I have mental strength I listen to and track interesting content while exaggerating my American accent My skill is going higher and higher while my confidence grows and grows I'm becoming one of the best English speakers in the world I'm a world-class communicator I'm a world-class speaker I'm a world-class learner English training is fun for me now It's entertainment I'm now excited and enthusiastic about my never-ending English improvement I'm inspired, and I'm inspiring others to also be great English speakers And now, a little faster I value persistence and consistency, because these values guarantee my eventual success in any pursuit That's why I'll regularly train my English pronunciation I'll never tire I'll never quit I have an iron will I have mental strength I listen to and track interesting content while exaggerating my American accent My skill is going higher and higher while my confidence grows and grows I'm becoming one of the best English speakers in the world I'm a world-class communicator I'm a world-class speaker I'm a world-class learner English training is fun for me now It's entertainment I'm now excited and enthusiastic about my never-ending English improvement I'm inspired, and I'm inspiring others to also be great English speakers CLICK HERE