American English Pronunciation Blog » speak american english

Improve Your English Pronunciation with Popular Songs

susan — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 10:53:38 +0000

Using songs is an effective and fun way to improve your spoken English. This is a fun and energizing way to improve both listening and pronunciation.

One thing that I like to do in my American English pronunciation classes is sing popular songs with the students. This helps them with English rhythm, linking and intonation.

Carolyn Graham’s Jazz Chants®: Student Book is an excellent way to improve pronunciation.

Click here to see one of the websites I use for using songs to teach English pronunciation.

Make Your American English Sound More Natural

susan — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:21:00 +0000

In spoken English consonant and vowel sounds change depending on their location in a word or phrase. Learning some of the rules or patterns for these types of sound changes can make your pronunciation sound more natural.

Here is one pattern. When a /d/ sound is followed by a /y/ sound the result is a /dʒ/ sound. This sound occurs between these words:

could you sounds like couldjew
would you sounds like wouldjew

When a /t/ sound is followed by a /y/ sound the result is a /tch/ sound

can’t you sounds like cantchew
won’t you sounds like wontchew

Don’t think that articulating every sound exactly as it is written will improve your accent. In spoken English the letters in the alphabet take on different characteristics according to their position in a word or phrase.

American English Pronunciation-The Past Tense “ed”

susan — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:00:17 +0000

Many people don’t realize that the past tense “ed” has three different sounds in spoken American English. These sounds are /d/ as in the word loved, /ed/ as in the word wanted, and /t/ as in the word stopped.

Correct pronunciation of these grammatical endings is extremely important if you want to improve your American English pronunciation. If you pronounce the “ed” incorrectly your speech will have an accent (it may even mark you as uneducated).

Read this article in my Accent Reduction Classroom to see the 3 RULES for pronouncing “ed” in American English and start using this technique right away!

Use Idioms to Practice American English Pronunciation

susan — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:30:38 +0000

There are lots of sites on the web these days where you can find idioms with audio files. Click the link to find a comprehensive site that features 423 English idioms. This is a great tool for practicing your American English pronunciation!

Practice American English pronunciation with Idioms.

American English Pronunciation-How to Pronounce S & Z

susan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:52:30 +0000

The sounds of the letters S & Z are often confusing for students of American English pronunciation. Here are a few tips for pronouncing these sounds correctly.

Tongue position

The /s/ and /z/ sounds are made with the same tongue position. The tip of the tongue is behind your upper gum ridge. The tongue is pointed and slightly curved up.

Voicing

The /s/ is a voiceless sound. Your vocal chords are relaxed when you make the /s/.

Here are some common spellings for the /s/ sound.

s: some, yes, must

ss: class, discuss

c: cent, city, nice, place

sc: science, scenery

The /z/ is a voiced sound. Your vocal chords vibrate when you make the /z/.

Here are some common spellings for the /z/ sound.

z: size, prize, quiz

s: busy, because, easy, visit

se: these, cause, lose

s: plays, goes, does, girl’s

Notice that the /s/ sound is often spelled with a C. The /z/ sound is often spelled with an S.

You can read more about voiced and voiceless sounds in my Accent Reduction Classroom.

Learn Medical English-Listening & Speaking Activities

susan — Sat, 09 May 2009 13:30:25 +0000

Project Care is a website for high-intermediate to advanced English language learners who want to learn medical English. The site provides lessons that help English learners improve their communication with medical personnel and patients.

The website provides audio and video for listening practice, vocabulary development and more.

I have recommended this resource to several of my colleagues who teach nursing classes and they were very pleased with the quality of the content.

Accent Reduction Strategy-Learn to Use Syllable Stress

susan — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:06:41 +0000

In order to improve your American English pronunciation you must learn English syllable stress correctly. That’s because Americans listen for syllable stress patterns in order to identify words.

Here is a common syllable stress pattern:

In English words with two or more syllables, one syllable always receives strong stress or emphasis. Here is a common syllable stress pattern: 90% of two syllable English nouns are stressed on the first syllable. That means that you should pronounce the words TEA-cher and STU-dent with strong emphasis on the first syllable. The second syllable is reduced.

Syllable stress is KEY for comprehensible English and accent reduction!

Vowel Sounds in American English

susan — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:18:33 +0000

Many people have emailed me during the past two weeks asking for websites that have American English vowel sounds with audio. I found this site, developed by Dr. Emily Chen, that has sound files for both vowel and consonant minimal pair exercises. It’s quite good because it contrasts all the difficult vowel and consonant sounds. Minimal pair exercises like these will really help you hear the difference between the sounds so that you can pronounce them correctly!

Learn American English Pronunciation Using Obama’s Speeches

susan — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:55:50 +0000

Across Japan students have been using the speeches of President Barack Obama to improve their English communication skills. They are using the speeches to learn the intonation of American English. Watch the short video here.

Students Practice American English Pronunciation