The Focus of This Lesson Is Consonants in English.

In this lesson, we'll explore American English consonants. American English has voiced consonant

sounds and voiceless consonant sounds. We make a voiced sound with our vibrating vocal cords. All

vowel sounds in the previous lesson, for example, are voiced. A voiceless sound occurs when your

vocal cords are not vibrating, and we just make the sound with air, the shape of our mouths, and the

position of our tongues.

For Example:

There are twenty-four or twenty-five consonants in total: the number varies depending on the

researcher. As with the vowel lesson, we will give you the sound with an example word.

Grammar Points

1. Consonant sound in "pin"

2. Consonant sound in "bin"

3. Consonant sound in "toe"

4. Consonant sound in "doe"

5. Consonant sound in "cap"

6. Consonant sound in "gap"

7. Consonant sound in "choose"

8. Consonant sound in "juice"

9. Consonant sound in "main"

10. Consonant sound in "name"

11. Consonant sound in "hang"

Consonant sound in "fast"

- Consonant sound in "vast"

- Consonant sound in "thick"

· Consonant sound in "this"

- Consonant sound in "sap"

- Consonant sound in "zap"

- Consonant sound in "shin"

- Consonant sound in "pleasure"

- Consonant sound in "house"

- Consonant sound in "wine"

- Consonant sound in "rose"

- Consonant sound in "young"

- Consonant sound in "left"

-

Many of these sounds may be familiar to you from your native tongue. However, you may not use

some of these sounds in your language. Pay attention to the sounds that you do not use in your native

language so that you can get used to the tongue positioning of the word.

Be aware that English spelling can be tricky in that the same combination of letters may not always

have the same pronunciation in different words. With some patience and much practice, the

pronunciation will become easier and the words will be less difficult to pronounce. Try exaggerating

the sounds when you practice so that you get a better idea of how to shape your mouth and how to

position your tongue in your mouth.

Consonant sound in "fast"

- Consonant sound in "vast"

- Consonant sound in "thick"

· Consonant sound in "this"

- Consonant sound in "sap"

- Consonant sound in "zap"

- Consonant sound in "shin"

- Consonant sound in "pleasure"

- Consonant sound in "house"

- Consonant sound in "wine"

- Consonant sound in "rose"

- Consonant sound in "young"

- Consonant sound in "left"

-

Many of these sounds may be familiar to you from your native tongue. However, you may not use

some of these sounds in your language. Pay attention to the sounds that you do not use in your native

language so that you can get used to the tongue positioning of the word.

Be aware that English spelling can be tricky in that the same combination of letters may not always

have the same pronunciation in different words. With some patience and much practice, the

pronunciation will become easier and the words will be less difficult to pronounce. Try exaggerating

the sounds when you practice so that you get a better idea of how to shape your mouth and how to

position your tongue in your mouth.

The Focus of This Lesson Is the Pronunciation of Vowels in American English.

In these five lessons, we will explain American pronunciation in detail so that you have a better

understanding of how the language works. As you know, different languages have different sounds,

and sometimes it is difficult to imitate the sound of another language when learning it. Here, we will

try to break down General American English pronunciation so that you can see why you may have

difficulty hearing certain words or why the pronunciation of some words is so odd.

LC: PRO_L1_112410

In this first lesson, we will be looking at the vowels of American English. The twenty-six letter

English alphabet has twenty-six sounds divided into two groups: vowel sounds and consonant sounds.

In this lesson, the first part of our five-part pronunciation series, you'll learn how to pronounce vowels

as we pronounce them in American English. Unlike consonants, which are "closed" sounds for which

we stop the flow of air in some way, vowels are "open" sounds. When we form vowel sounds, the air

is not stopped; rather, it flows freely from the mouth. Every English word has at least one vowel

he English Alphabet Has Five Vowels: "-a,' '-e," "-i," "-o," and "-u"

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While there are only five vowels, there are eighteen to twenty-three vowel sounds depending on the

researcher. We'll take a look at these a little bit further into the lesson.

Vowels generally fall into two categories: "long vowels" and "short vowels." We make vowel sounds

in our mouths by positioning our tongue and the lips. We make front vowels with the tongue

positioned in the front of our mouths. We make back vowels in the back of our mouths, and we make

central vowels in the center. A diphthong is when the tongue changes its position and glides from one

vowel sound to another. Instead of getting too technical with the names, we will explain the different

sounds using different words.

Front Vowels

For Example:

1. Vowel sound in "heat" and "leap"

2. Vowel sound in "hit" and "tip"

3. Vowel sound in "met" and "kept"

Vowel sound in "map" and "bat"

Central Vowels

For Example:

1. Vowel sound in "the"

2. Vowel sound in "but" and "tough"

Back Vowels

For Example:

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1. Vowel sound in "loop" and "boot"

2. Vowel sound in "hook" and "put"

3. Vowel sound in "thought"

4. Vowel sound in "lot"

Diphthongs

For Example:

1. Vowel sound in "tow"

2. Vowel sound in "crowd"

3. Vowel sound in "light"

4. Vowel sound in "main"

5. Vowel sound in "coin"

6. Vowel sound in "peer"

7. Vowel sound in "pair"

8. Vowel sound in "lure"

All of these vowel sounds are different and are represented by the five vowels or a combination of the

vowels. So, as you can see, the differences may be slight, but there are many vowel sounds in English.

Sometimes it doesn't matter if you pronounce a vowel differently, but sometimes it does matter in that

it could be an entirely different word. The more you practice your pronunciation, the more you will be

able to hear the different vowels, and the more you'll understand. Good luck with these!

The Focus of This Lesson Is the Top Five Favorite Phrases from the Hosts.

Here are our hosts' top five favorite phrases.

Number One: "I See"

Grammar Points

This phrase means "I am listening to you" and "I understand what you are saying, but it doesn't mean I

necessarily agree with you." It's a compact and useful phrase to know. For example, "I see your point,

but I don't really agree with you" means that the speaker understands but doesn't necessarily agree with

the other person. We can also use it as an exclamation, as in "Oh, I see!" to mean that you understand.

Number Two: "By the Way"

For Example:

This phrase allows you to change the topic of the conversation. We use it to tell the listener that you

are going to go off topic without being rude. It's a common phrase people often utter because it is

convenient and allows the speaker to swing the conversation onto something he or she wants to talk

about. The speaker usually says it in a light tone of voice.

1. A: "Have you had coffee yet?"

B: "No, not yet. Oh by the way, do you know the results of last night's game?"

Number Three: "Give It a Go"

This phrase does not mean to give something or to go somewhere, but it means "to try something" or

"to attempt to do something." If a person says this phrase to you, he or she is urging you to try

something. We can also replace the word "go" with the word "shot," as in "give it a shot."

Number Four: "No Way!"

This is a strong expression. It means "definitely no!" Since it's a strong expression, it usually is

accompanied by the some feeling in the speaker's voice. You can also use it to express disbelief. For

example, the sentence "There's no way you're going outside without cleaning up your room!" sounds

like a parent telling a child that going outside without cleaning is a definite no. Another example is "no

way, the concert was postponed to next week!" In that case, the speaker is expressing disbelief.

Number Five: "Come on"

This phrase has many uses. You can say "come on" when you don't believe something, as in "Oh come

on! I don't believe that!" Or you can use it its literal sense, to tell somebody to come with you, as in

"come on, let's get going." You can also use it when expressing frustration, as in "oh come on! Why

you believe me? It wasn't me!"

won't

So there it is! Five phrases that are useful and common in the English language. Go ahead and try to

use them next time you have a conversation.

The Focus of This Lesson Is the Top Five Tips for Avoiding Common Mistakes in English.

In this lesson, we're going to give you some tips on how to avoid common mistakes made by learners

of English. This is so that you can be aware of certain errors and keep them in mind when you learn.

Common errors are different for different language backgrounds, but we'll try to touch upon the

general differences.

Tip Number One: Watch Your Spelling!

One thing to be careful of is your spelling. When writing something in English, a single spelling error

could ruin the whole piece of writing. English words are tricky in a sense that the spelling does not

always match the way we pronounce a word. Be sure to use the spell checker on your computer, and

even then double check with your eyes for the correct spelling of heterographs, which are words that

sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. Be careful with American spelling and

British spelling: use one or the other and don't change them around while writing. It's also a good idea

to double check the spelling of somebody's name, because that is a common mistake.

Tip Number Two: Watch Your Language!

Although English is relatively casual compared to languages that have levels of formality, you still

have to choose your words according to the company you find yourself in. In other words, language

that you might have learned from music or movies may not always be appropriate in professional or

proper situations and could well offend someone. If you're going to be in polite company, you might

want to reassess some of the words that are in your vocabulary bank. Words that are most likely safe to

use are from newspapers or the news on TV. Keep political correctness in mind as well-in other words,

be sure not to use terms that may offend certain groups of people. For example, the word "stewardess"

has been replaced by "flight attendant." It is better to stay safe and watch your language.

Tip Number Three: Watch Your Nouns

Nouns are easy when you learn them. They seem pretty straightforward, but some of them may be

tricky. We can divide nouns into count and non-count nouns. We can make the count nouns plural by

adding an "-s" or "-es" to the words, depending on the word. We cannot make non-count nouns into

plurals by adding an "-s." For example, we can pluralize the word "song" by adding an "-s," as in "that

is his favorite song" or "those are his favorite songs." However, we don't usually pluralize the word

"music," for example, by adding an "-s": "that is his favorite musics" is not used. We put something in

front of it to make the noun countable, which in this case would be "pieces of music" or "types of

music."

Tip Number Four: Know Your Vowels

Vowels in English are tricky. There are five written vowels: "-a," "-e," "-i," "-o," or "-u," but there are

many different ways to pronounce them. Depending on the combination with other vowels and

consonants, the sound of the vowel may change. People with different accents will also pronounce the

same vowel in a word differently, whether or not they speak it as a first or second language. So if

you're coming from a language with flat vowels, this might be a tricky thing to catch. A good way to

practice this is by shadowing native speakers and by better understanding the positioning of the

tongue. This way, you will not only become a clearer speaker yourself, but you will also be able to

catch the sounds that you didn't hear before.

Phrases Your Teacher Might Never Teach You

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For Example:

Grammar Points

"Ain't" stands for "hasn't," "haven't," "aren't," "isn't," "am not," "don't," "doesn't," and "didn't." You'll

hear people replace all those words with "ain't." The word came after a contraction of "am not," which

changed to "an't," then finally to "ain't." This word is good to know rather than to use, since people

may view someone as uneducated if he or she uses it with the wrong company. However, people use it

from time to time, so next time you hear it, you'll understand its meaning.

2. "My Bad"

1. "Say it ain't so!" meaning "Say it isn't so!"

2. "We ain't done yet" meaning "We aren't done yet."

"My bad" is a light apology and means the same as "I'm sorry." Since it's less serious, we often use it

casually.

For Example:

1. A: "Stop playing around!"

B: "My bad."

2. A: "You stepped on my foot!"

B: "Oops, my bad."

3. "Call"

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This word in this case has nothing to do with a telephone call and does not mean to shout out to

somebody. Instead, it means "decision."

For Example:

1. "Good call" means "Good decision"

2. "It's your call" means "It's your decision"

We can also use it to mean that something almost happened but didn't.

For Example:

1. "That was a close call!"

4. Words to Call a Friend or Partner

The Focus of This Lesson Is to Learn Some Useful Phrases for the Classroom in English.

Here are the phrases from the lesson.

1. "Are there any questions? "/"Is everybody okay?"

You might hear your teacher ask you this question from time to time to make sure you understand the

lesson. If you don't understand or if you have a question, there's no better time to ask than now. Don't

be shy with your questions, even if you feel that the teacher has already gone over the subject.

Teachers usually like questions!

2. "Please turn to page 106."/"Take a look at page 106."

If you're using a textbook in class, your teacher will tell you to go to a certain page. You'll hear this

phrase. Note that many people will probably say "one-oh-six" as opposed to "one hundred and six."

3. "Who would like to read the instructions?"/"Can somebody read the instructions?"

Your teacher probably doesn't want to always call on people to do things, so if your teacher says this,

go ahead and volunteer. Even if you're not the best reader or the strongest speaker in class, this is your

chance to take the lead!

4. "What do you mean?"

If you ask a question and the teacher can't seem to understand, the teacher might ask you this. If he or

she does, try to rephrase what you said. You can even ask for help from a classmate if you need it!

5. "Okay, let's carry on."/"Okay, let's continue."

This is a signpost phrase, meaning that the subject at hand is to be left and a new topic is about to start.

If you have any questions at this point, now is a good time to jump in and stop your teacher. You can

usually just interrupt and get the teacher's attention.

Top Five Useful Tools for Learning English

1. A Good Dictionary

Here are some great tools to aid you in your English studies:

Grammar Points

A good dictionary is a necessity when learning languages, whatever your mother tongue may be. An

online dictionary that is helpful is Wordreference.com. This dictionary gives definitions in Spanish,

French, Italian, German, Russian, and English. It's a good online dictionary because it has a discussion

forum where you can ask questions if you're not sure about how the word is used in context. Even for

those whose mother tongues are not included, the English definitions also have discussion forums.

http://wordreference.com/

2. Urban Dictionary

If you frequently wonder about certain words that you hear and notice that they're not in the dictionary,

then this may be the dictionary to go to. Urban Dictionary gives definitions of slang, buzzwords, and

phrases that you might not find in a regular dictionary. It gives the definition and a sample sentence for

each word or phrase. The dictionary contains profanity as well.

3. BBC Learning English

The BBC website has a Learning English page that offers articles, quizzes, listening practices, blogs,

and more geared toward the English learner. This is a good way to study English in the news or for

businesses purposes. The articles are short and come along with audio for you to listen to. Be careful if

you're studying American English, though, since the pronunciation tips as well as the spelling will be

in British English.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

4. Guide to Grammar

This site helps you with grammar questions you may have. It has an index that you can use to look up

your grammar question and also a search engine so that you may type in and search for your grammar

question. It also contains quizzes that you can take to improve your grammar.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm

5. Text Twist

Improving your vocabulary once you hit a certain level may be hard for many. Everybody will

appreciate having some fun while they are learning, though. You can play a simple word game,

Twist, online or download it from the web to help improve your vocabulary. The object of the game is

to create words by rearranging the given alphabet letters. If you can figure out the longest word,

then

you go to the next level. It's simple enough to do without too much concentration, but at the same time,

it'll make you want to know much more vocabulary than you currently do.

Top 5 Things to Know about Pop Culture in the United States

Popular Music

As popular culture changes quickly and drastically, this lesson is focused on the most recent pop

culture. Please keep in mind that this lesson was written in 2010.

Radio stations across the United States play pop music every day, and people quickly download it off

the Internet into the music players of consumers everywhere. American pop artists are also well known

all over the world. Some recent famous names include Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas, the Red Hot

Chili Peppers, Beyonce, Taylor Swift...and the list goes on. Other more iconic and historical artists

include Madonna, Jimi Hendrix, the Beach Boys, the late Michael Jackson, and many others.

Music has a big influence on society, especially among younger groups, because an identity is

associated with the type of music they listen too-something that is probably true for all music lovers

around the world. Music and the artist who produces it also influence fashion. This makes consumers

buy music and listen to an artist not only for the tune, but also for the image. An underlying theme to

much of this music and fashion is the idea of being cool and hip, which people find both fun and

superficial.

Along with popular music comes censorship. In the corner of some CD covers, there is a little square

with the words "Parental Advisory, Explicit Content." This means that the RIAA or Recording

Industry Association of America has decided that the lyrics of the music are profane. Parents who still

have control of what their children buy can immediately see this. 

Movies are a part of a casual, relaxing evening in the United States for many people, whether they

choose to go to a movie theater or they sit at home with their own entertainment system. Movies and

actors and actresses get much attention from the media in the United States, often becoming symbols

of beauty and luxury.

The film industry generates billions of dollars every year, with people always talking about the latest

and the best movies to watch. Hundreds of movies are produced every year, and many box office hits

go overseas and are translated into the respective languages of various countries. Award shows like the

Oscars are held to celebrate the best movies and the best actors and actresses who star in them.

Rental shops are also changing the way they do business by allowing people to rent movies online so

they receive a movie in the mail.

Though the audience is smaller, foreign films also receive much attention. A movie in a different

language allows a glimpse into a world that is miles away, and movies make this possible.

Popular Television

Television also fuels the life of pop culture in the United States. With home entertainment systems

advancing, TV is very different today compared to twenty years ago. TV programs range from game

shows to talk shows to dramas. Some popular titles include "Desperate Housewives," "Lost," "Family

Guy," "Grey's Anatomy," and so forth. TV is also changing in that many shows can now be watched

online whenever the viewer wants. TiVo is also popular, and it is a digital video recorder that allows

people to watch their favorite shows any time they want. TV no longer needs to be watched at a certain

time or in a certain place anymore. Foreign shows are also making it onto American TV, such as soap

operas in Spanish and Japanese anime.

Top 5 Important Holidays During the American Calendar Year

The United States has many important national holidays. These holidays range from days that the early

settlers celebrated to days that different cultures celebrate. Here, we have picked five holidays that we

consider to be the biggest, and we will talk about them in reverse order.

Number Five: Super Bowl Sunday

The fifth most important holiday is Super Bowl Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday is not an actual holiday

in America, but since it falls on a Sunday, it is widely observed. It is the championship game of the

NFL or the National Football League, the major professional football league. The game draws one of

the biggest, if not the biggest, audiences of any TV event each year, and even people who are not

usually football fans will tune in. People will usually throw barbecue parties with a lot of food and

beer and play football in the street during halftime. Since the audience is so big, many companies

make special commercials for the event. These are popular and many people talk about them the next

day at work.

Number Four: New Year's Eve

The fourth most significant holiday is New Year's Eve and not New Year's Day. People like to

celebrate New Year's Eve with parties or at bars with friends and family. There's usually a lot of

drinking involved and games as well. The highlight of the night is the countdown to end the year,

when people gather, usually around the TV, and count down the last ten seconds together. When they

reach zero, they yell out "Happy New Year!" People then will kiss a loved one or a complete stranger

to celebrate the new year. You can see people rush around at the last minute trying to find the right

person to kiss.

Number Three: Independence Day

The third most important holiday is Independence Day, the fourth of July. It's a day to remember

America declaring its independence from Britain. America was a group of British colonies, and after

much frustration over the treatment they were receiving from the King of England, the colonists had

Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. These days it is celebrated

with games, picnics, and barbecues in backyards, at parks, and on beaches. Fireworks are also a main

event on this day, and people gather to watch public firework displays.

Top 5 Things You Need to Know about American Society

Major Cities

San Francisco

Society is a very broad topic and is hard to summarize in a single lesson. That's why we're narrowing it

down to the top five most important aspects of American society: America's major cities, family, work

culture, the economy, politics, and general trends!

Located in northern California, San Francisco is known for its thick fog and steep hills. There are an

estimated 776,733 people living in the city of San Francisco, in which a little under a quarter are from

twenty-five to thirty-five years of age. Many of the buildings are Victorian style and modern as well,

so you get a little bit of both old and new, like many other cities in the world that have done a good job

of preserving the old while advancing. The famous Golden Gate Bridge goes over the San Francisco

Bay, where it opens up to the Pacific Ocean.