ProNunciation-Workshop-Training-Manual

1、Pronunciation WorkshopThe American dream does not come to those who fall out quick.Session One1. Consonant R2. Consonant WHi, Im your instructor Paul Gruber and welcome to the Pronunciation Workshops-First Training Session.I am very excited that you have taken this first step to improve your English

2、 pronunciation and I do hope that you would enjoy this program and receive great benefits from it. Before we begin I wanna make sure that you have downloaded and printed out the training manual which accompanies this course. If you have not yet done so, please do it soon because youll definitely nee

3、d it.Now you may be wondering how is it that I am going to help you change the way you speak. Well, basically, when you learned English as a second language, you kept many of the sounds and speech rules from your first language and you were continuing to use them when you speak English. This is what

4、 gives you an accent. You were using the sounds and speech rules from your native language instead of the sounds and speech rules of English. And you know why? Well, because when you learned English, nobody ever showed you what the sounds and speech rules of English were until now.Thats why Im comin

5、g . Because I am going to show you and train you on how to use these sounds and speech rules correctly. Knowing in using these rules will help you reduce or possibly even eliminate your accent. Now throughout the program youre often going to see me point to my mouth to show you how to produce a part

6、icular sound. I want you to pay close attention and try to copy exactly what it is I am doing. I would be showing you how to correctly form new sounds by changing the position of your tongue or changing the shape of your lips. These small changes are going to make very big changes in your speech. We

7、re going to practising and I recommend that you use the training manual and try to practise often. When you practise, I recommend that you start out speaking slowly out loud in a strong voice while exaggerating all the mouth movements. What would you be doing is retraining the muscles of your mouth

8、in your tongue to move in new ways, which will produce a new pronunciation patterns. These new speech patterns will slowly and eventually involve into your own spontaneous fast speech, but it is important that you start out going very slow. If you can pronunce words and sentences correctly speaking

9、slowly, well, then youll have no problem in saying them fast.I believe practising is important, but I do not believe its the only key towards success. Being aware of your errors. That s the key. Being aware and also recognizing mistakes when you hear them will probably be the most important factors

10、towards your improvement.Another thing Id like you to keep in mind and Im sure you may have noticed this already is that when most Americans speak you will notice that we seem to open our mouth a lot and there is a great amount of mouth movements. Watch my mouth when I say something like “Wow, was t

11、here really raining on Wednesday!” Did you see how my mouth seemed to move? It wasnt with my lips flat. It wasnt “Wow, was there really raining on Wednesday.” There was a lot of movements. My mouth opened wide, but also my whole mouth moved forward. Now I find many foreign speakers, maybe because of

12、 their language characteristics, they dont move their mouths much. There is very little facial movement. Because of this, to an American listener, the words often sound mumble, making it very very difficult for an American listener to understand what it is you said. One wayto be better understood im

13、mediately is to become more aware of your speech and to really start opening and moving your mouth.Id like to try to observe what Im talking about. When you speak to native-borned Americans or watch TV or movies, notice how when Americans speak, generally our mouths really open big and our lips come

14、 forward. These movements have a lot to do with the sound of American English.I also want to add that Ill often be asking you to repeat words and sentences on these videos. Try to think as if we were both sitting in the same room and I am directly right in front of you. Listen carefully to the words

15、 and sounds that I give you. Listen carefully to my pronunciation and watch my mouth, then repeat the words back to me in your own voice with the techniques that Im showing you as clearly as you can. Now at first you may feel a bit of foolish talking to your computer screen, but really you shouldnt.

16、 Make believe youre speaking directly to me. Youll find this will to be extremely helpful and effective.During the course of this program, I will begin by addressing consonant sounds and then later on well work with vowel sounds. Now vowel sounds, as you know, are A E I O and U, like ahh, ohh, eee,

17、ehh, ihh and ooo. And consonant sounds are basically all the other letters sounds, like b, ch, s, t, f, g, sh, w and of course, there are many many more sounds.The consonants that we are going to cover in this first session are the consonant R and the consonant W. Ok, are you ready? Here we go. Lets

18、 get started. Lets start with the American R.Rs are everywhere. Theyre probably the most commonly occurring consonant sound in English. One reason for this is that Rs affect vowel sounds, especially when an R falls at the end of word or after a vowel sound as in the word CAR, or the word AIR, or the

19、 word TURN.After working with so many non-native English speakers from around the world, I believe the R sound is one of the main causes for being misunderstood in American English. Therefore, this is why Ive chosen to start out with this sound. Now when some languages, like our speaking Spanish, th

20、e R is produced by bringing the tongue forward in the front of the mouth behind the upper teeth and rolling or trilling the tongue, like that. Now when some other languages, like German and French, the R is produced in the back of the throat, but this is not how we produce an R sound in the United S

21、tates. In American English, in order to say a clear R sound, two distinct things hafta(have to) happen. The first thing is that our mouth and lips come tightly forward as if you would be saying the OO sound. Do this with me, say OO and make sure you bringing your lips all the way forward. Say OO. Th

22、ats it. You see how your lips are forward? Thats what you wanna do. This is the position your mouth should be in when you producing an American R, like that, and Ill bet you know whenever I told you that. Now, the second thing is that your tongue moves back in your mouth. It doesnt come forward. Its

23、 pulled back. This is probably the opposite of what youre doing right now. So, for example, in the wordRock, notice how my lips are coming forward and my tongue moves back in my mouth and I push out the R sound. Watch this:RRRock. Do with me and exaggerate the R:RRRock. Watch with my head turn:RRRoc

24、k. You see that? See how the whole bottom of my face came forward. Dont be afraid to do this. This forward mouth movement is what is going to give you an American R sound. Its not and its not Rock with your lips flat. Your whole mouth really hasta( has to ) come forward. Now latter I recommend that

25、you practise doing this in front of a mirror while watching your mouth. Really push out the R and remember to pull your tongue back. Now one way of checking if youre doing this correctly with your tongue is by actually putting your finger around an inch into your mouth while saying an R sound. Watch

26、 this,RRRock, like that. You should be able to take the tip of your finger and feel the tip of your tongue. If you do these two simple things-bringing your mouth forward and pulling your tongue back. Im telling you your speechs going to be clear and youre going to sound so much better.Ok, we re goin

27、g to start out with Rs at the beginning of words. Here we go. Repeat after me.Rock Rip Reach Road Rain Rich Rome Raise Robe RiceVery good. Now repeat this sentence.Theroundroosterrushed into thewrongroad.Very good. Now pronuncing Rs like this may feel a little weird to you, but if you notice this is

28、 how most Americans talk.Ok. Now lets do Rs at the end of words or after a vowel. When a foreign speaker produces R which at the end of word of follows a vowel, its usually very weak-gets not really heard and leaves the word opener unfinished, like in the word CAR. Now you may say CARending with the

29、 A vowel. But it s not CAR. Its CAR/r/. Your tongue hasta pull back. CAR. And also your lips close a little bit in the front. The R needs to be very strong and you need to close the word. CAR. Lets practise these words. Repeat after me.Car Far Star Door Bear Four Air Year( now has a high vowel sound

30、 EE.Year.) Turn PoorVery good. Ok. Now lets discuss Rs in the middle of words.In the word Very, for example, which is a frequently used word in English. The R occurs in the middle of the word. Its not a D sound. The word is not Vedi, or Vehi, its Very. Make sure that the R sound is strong and your l

31、ips are coming forward. Your tongue is back and you push out the R: Very, like that. Practise these sentences with me nice and slow. He is Very Very nice, like that. See how my lips arecoming all the way forward? Next one. She is Very Very tall. Here aresome more practice words with R in the middle.

32、 Repeat after me.Direction Arrange Erase Correct MarryGarage Original Hurry Zero MarineBerry Operation Caring Arrive EveryoneOk. Very good. Now, Rs are often combined with other consonants and form what we call R Blends. It is important to understand that the R sound is the stronggest sound of the b

33、lend and your lips often come forward before you even say the word. And example of this is the wordGrape. Now notice how my mouth comes forward before I even say the word.Grape. Did you see that? And notice in the wordGrape the R sound is strongger and you even hear it more than the G sound.Grape. H

34、ere are some practice words with R Blends. First at the beginning of words. Here we go.Training Trust Trip Great Tropical BringPrint President Product Cracker Crawl BreakOk. Now in the middle of words.Subtract Waitress Nutrition AustraliaIntroduce Compress Oppression BetrayVery good. Ok now lets pra

35、ctise R sounds in sentences. These sentences are filled with Rs. Keep the R sound strong. Dont forget to bring your mouth forward and pull your tongue back. Say these sentences with me. Here we go.The story heread on theradio was incorrect.Hercareerin the law firm is permanent.Richard andBrooke took

36、 aride in theirbrand newRangeRover truck.Everyone willrespect theRoyal Family when they arrive at the airport.(Be shorter close to the word Air. Its not airport. Its Air, Airport, like that with strong R sound.)Thetrip to theRocky Mountains will berescheduled onFriday.Very good. Ok now lets talk abo

37、ut W sounds. W sounds are very similar to R sounds. The major thing to keep in mind is that in English when you see a W, it always has a W sound. Like in the wordWhat. Again notice how my mouth moves forward. One way to make sure you were doing this correctly is to first say oooo with your whole mou

38、th forward, oooo, like that, and then, open and close your lips to make the W sound, like this, ooooWaWaWa. Thats how you produce a W.Wa, like that. Its never a V sound, /v/,or youre like biting down on your lower lip, never. Well be going over V sounds in the fourth session. The reason I mention th

39、is is because many foreign speakers, especially the German speakers say, for example, Vhat with V for the wordWhat. Instead of saying “Whatwillwe do?”, which is correct. They may say “Vhat vill ve do?” And that is not right and many people may not understand you. Bring your mouth forward on those W

40、words.Whatwillwe do. Say with me.Whatwillwe do. Very good.Now as I said the W and the R are similar, both of them are made with your mouth in the forward position and your tongue pulled back. Your mouth should be a little bit tighter when youre saying an R. Listen to the similarities and differences

41、 between these R and W words.Rick WickRight WhiteIts not Vhite with V. Its White with W.Very good. Also be aware that the W sound occurs in some words beginning with the letter O, like in the words:One,Once. You might not be aware of this. Practise the W words with me. Well start out with W at the b

42、eginning of words. Dont forget to bring your mouth forward at the beginning of each word.Why Which When What Wipe Wish Weight WingVery good. Ok now W in the middle of words.Always Away Beware Awake SomeoneRewind Halloween HollywoodNow practise these W sentences.Thewind from thewestwas verywet. (Reme

43、mberVery starts with the V sound followed by a strong R. -Was verywet. Very good.)Wewoke up andwashed thewhitewashcloth.Wewaited for thewaitress to give uswater.We had awonderful time inWashington andWisconsin.Very good. Now while we are talking the W sounds, Id like to mention Q sounds. How are Q s

44、ounds related? Well, Q sounds are made with the K/k /sound and the W sound/w/ put together. You may have known that. So, for example, the wordQuick is pronunced with the K and the strong W sound.KWICK, like that. Repeat some of these words beginning with the Q sound.Question Quiet Queen QualifyQuit

45、Quebec QuiltAnd also in the CH word ChoirVery good. Ok, here now is a paragraph which contains many R and W sounds. You may wanna practise reading this paragraph a few times . Notice how my lips come forward and all my Rs and Ws. Try to do the same thing and dont forget. Do not roll your R. Dont do

46、that. Here we go.Ray was born in Russia. He dreamed of building the perfect roller coaster at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. He had a friend named Fred who lived in Norway. Freds profession was designing railroad tracks and his career involved traveling all around the world. Ray thought it would be pe

47、rfect if Fred designed his roller coaster ride. Fred was creative, brilliant and worked well with railroad tracks. He would be the perfect engineer for the project. The ride took two years to construct and was painted red and white. Everyone really wanted to ride the brand-new roller coaster.Very go

48、od. Now if you strongly push out those Rs and Ws when you practise eventually your Rs and W sounds are going to be clear and your speech will be much easier to understand.If you have the time watch the session again and practise your pronunciation along with me, then take out your training manual an

49、d practise on your own. All the word lists and reading passages that are on these videos are in the munual as well. I hope you enjoy our first session together. Fell free to watch this session again. Im Paul Gruber with the Pronunciation Workshop and Ill see you next time.Session Two 1. Voicing2. Co

50、nsonant pairs3. Consonant S4. Consonant Z VoicingHi, welcome back. Again my name is Paul Gruber and this is the Pronunciation Workshops-Second Session. I hope things have been going well since we last met. I would like to just mention again there are literarlly hundreds of languages around the world

51、 and every language has its own set of characteristics. What I ve done in this program is to address the most significant pronunciation errors made by most foreign speakers that you may find that not every lesson pertains to you individually pronunciation problem. If thats the case, well, thats grea

52、t cause youll get less to work on. But I hate you to miss out anything important. Therefore, I still do recommend that you watch all of the sessions in chronological order from the first session to the last session to get the most out of this program and latter on if you feel you meed more practice,

53、 review the sesions which you feel may need more attention.Ok. Lets get started with todays session. In this video, were going to talk about Voicing. Well also talk about Consonant Pairs and what they are and then well cover S sounds and Z sounds. Ok, here we go.Voicing. Youre going to hear me say t

54、his word a lot and you need to understand what it is what Im talking about. All speech sounds , all of them are either voiced or unvoiced. Now, what did that mean? Well, first, lets take a look at this video. It may look a little bit disgusting . Do you have any idea what it is. Its look like someth

55、ing that is opening and closing. Ill give you a hint. Youve got pair of these and you use them when you speak. Any idea? Those were vocal chords. Vocal chords are those tiny muscles that are right here when your throat that vibrates quickly and creat sound and that sound is your voice that you can e

56、asily make you vocal chords vibrate by just saying AH. Thats it. Thats voicing. Voicing is when your cocal chords are vibrating, producing a sound, and you can feel the vibrations if you put your hand right here on your throat. Do this with me. Put your hand on your throat and now lets loud say AH.

57、Do you feel the vibration? Those your vocal chords vibrating. Now all vowel sounds are voiced A, Oh, OO, AE, EE. You can not produce a vowel sound without voicing it. Nothing would come out. You see? You need voicing. AH. So all vowels are voiced. Now, consonants are completely different story. Some consonants are voiced and some consonants are not voiced. And many consonants are what we call paired. So, lets talk about Paired Consonants. Lets look at the sound. The letter P makes /p/p/p/- thats the sound of the letter P. Are y