Unit 16 - Short A and O Vowel Sounds Okay, hi this is AJ again, welcome to Unit 16 Wow, you're getting close to the end We have more vowel training in this unit, we've got the short A and the short O Let's learn these sounds, starting with the short A This is the sound like Ah, Ah, like hat, wear hat, Ah, ah, ah How you make this sound? Okay first of all, front of your tongue is forward, pushing forward, against your bottom teeth Ah, ah, now as you push the tongue forward, the middle of your tongue will go up But it will not touch, right, we've had some sounds where it's like, where the middle of the tongue touches and stops the air, not this sound The middle of the tongue goes up but it does not touch the top You want to keep the air coming, don't stop the air for this sound Okay, so it's, Ah, ah And then the final thing is, the mouth is very open, okay, so you're gonna really open your mouth a lot as you make this sound, we'll exaggerate it, we'll it super big for practice So here we go, front of the tongue forward, middle of the tongue goes up but just a little bit not all the way and mouth opens a lot, ah, ah, ah Let's some words Ask, ask, ask, ask, ask Very good Class, the middle sound, class, class, class, class Very good Fast, fast, fast, ah, fast, fast, fast Back, back Front and back Ah, back, baa-ack, back, back, back Very good Had, had H-A-D Had, had, had Good Am, I am, am, am, am, am, am Fan, fan, fan, fan Okay that's the Ah sound, which we call the short A Am, ah, ah, ah, ah Now the short O sound which sounds like this, aw, aw, like the word hot, aw, aw, aw Now, the big key to this one is your mouth opens a lot, okay? The back of your tongue is low for this one, in fact your whole tongue stays kind of low The front of your tongue can touch your teeth, your bottom teeth but lightly, you don't have to press it hard, okay? It's kind of similar to the Shwa, sound, remember the Shwa sound is Uh, that very relaxed sound with the vibration, Uh This one is aw, aw In fact, make the sound the Shwa, sound, just that for a minute, Uhhhhhhhh, that was our last unit remember, Uhhhhhhh Now, to change it, I want you to make the Shwa sound but open your mouth even more Watch what happens Uhhhhhhhhhh, Uhhhhhhhhhhh, it changes to a short O if you just open your mouth more, cool little trick, okay? So, aw, aw, aw, aw When you practice this one, super exaggerate, open your mouth as big as you can, okay, let's try it, try some words Box, B-O-X, box, box, box, box And really exaggerate that big open mouth Box, box, force your mouth open Box Not, not, not Stop, stop, stop Imagine you're trying to eat something that's really big, like a big hamburger or something, okay? Shock, shock, aw, shock, shock Father, father, aw, father, father Mom, mom, mom, mom, Hot, hot, hot A lot The second word A lot, lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot Block, block Rock, I rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, roooooock Okay (laughs), very good So, have fun with this, you know, when you're practicing these sounds, especially the vowels, exaggerate as much as possible Make it super super big, see one problem people have with pronunciation when making different sounds in English, is they feel embarrassed or something because in their own language, they don't make this sound And in their own language they don't make these kind of faces So to this, open their mouth really big, some people feel embarrassed because in their language they don't that, it feels uncomfortable Well forget that, doesn't matter if its uncomfortable Just relax and have fun with it and make everything much bigger than normal when you're training, this is very important Make the movements big and strong so that you teach your brain how to them automatically You know what time it is, time to go to the training audio, see you there Unit 16 – Practice Session Okay The course is almost finished So as you train this week, also review rhythm You'll practice that short A and the short O, but also, practice rhythm a little bit too Let's begin I track AJ fast I am shocked at how fast I am I have arrived, and I am not going to stop Nothing can block me I'm hot I rock My mom and father would be proud I lack nothing I have improved a lot, and I am not stopping I have a full tank of gas, and I am rocketing forward Nothing can stop me now I rock I rock I rock Now, medium speed I track AJ fast I am shocked at how fast I am I have arrived, and I am not going to stop Nothing can block me I'm hot I rock My mom and father would be proud I lack nothing I have improved a lot, and I am not stopping I have a full tank of gas, and I am rocketing forward Nothing can stop me now I rock I rock I rock And now, at a faster speed I track AJ fast I am shocked at how fast I am I have arrived I am not going to stop Nothing can block me I'm hot I rock My mom and father would be proud I lack nothing I have improved a lot, and I am not stopping I have a full tank of gas, and I am rocketing forward Nothing can stop me now I rock I rock I rock CLICK HERE