And welcome to this English pronunciation video.

I'm gonna help you make these vowel sounds /ɪ/ and /i:/.

I really want you to be able to hear the difference and to pronounce them correctly.

It is very important for you to know the IPA spelling.

Watch how I move my mouth.

And always repeat after me in this video.

I know that you can master these vowel sounds.

Let's get started.

First, let's try to make the sound /ɪ/.

So when you pronounce, it your tongue is a little higher in your mouth, closer to the

front.

/ɪ/ Stretch out your lips a little.

And it's a short sound.

/ɪ/ Repeat after me.

/ɪ/ /ɪ/

/ɪ/ Let's now practice with the word, sit.

Repeat after me.

sit sit sit Good guys.

Let's now practice the second sound, /i:/.

So the tongue has the same position.

It's a little bit higher, closer to the front.

But, when you say /i:/, you stretch out your lips a little more.

And it's a long sound.

/i:/

Your lips should feel a little tighter, too.

/i:/

Repeat after me.

/i:/

/i:/

/i:/

Let's practice with the word, seat.

Repeat after me.

seat seat

seat Good guys.

So we're going to use minimal pairs.

They're words with very similar sounds, but the actual vowel sounds are different.

And they're a very good way to practice these vowel sounds.

So let's now practice together.

First, just the sounds.

Watch my mouth.

And repeat after me.

/ɪ/ /ɪ/

/ɪ/ /i:/

/i:/

/i:/

/ɪ/ /i:/

/ɪ/ /i:/

/ɪ/ /i:/

Can you see my mouth?

Okay let's now practice with the words.

sit sit sit seat

seat seat

sit seat sit seat sit seat Good job guys.

So let's first practice how to make the sound /e/.

So your tongue is in

a middle part of your mouth.

/e/ Watch my mouth.

How it moves.

/e/ Can you watch my mouth and repeat after me

now?

/e/ /e/ /e/.

Okay let's now practice with a word, 'bed'.

Can you repeat after me?

bed bed bed Good job.

Moving on to the sound /ɪ/.

Now your tongue - it's a little higher than for the /e/ sound.

And you should stretch out your lips a little.

And it's a short sound.

/ɪ/ So let's practice.

Repeat after me.

/ɪ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/ Let's practice with a word, 'bid'.

Watch how my mouth moves and repeat after me.

bid bid bid Okay guys, let's now use minimal pairs -

same words only the vowel sounds change.

They're a good way to practice these sounds.

But first just the sounds, so just watch how my mouth moves

and repeat after me.

/e/ /e/ /e/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/ Let's now take the words 'bed' and 'bid'.

Repeat after me.

bed bed bed bid bid bid

bed bid bed bid bed bid Good, guys.

*************************** First, let's learn how to make the sound /e/.

So your tongue is in the middle part of your mouth.

Okay, and your mouth and doesn't move.

Can you repeat after me?

/e/ /e/

/e/ Let's now practice with a word please.

Repeat after me.

let let

let For the sound /eɪ/.

It's a little bit trickier.

It's what we call a diphthong.

So it's actually two vowel sounds combined.

So as you can see, your mouth moves and your tongue goes up a

little as you produce the sound /eɪ/.

Can you repeat after me?

/eɪ/ /eɪ/

/eɪ/ With the word 'late'.

Repeat after me.

late late

late Great job!

Let's now use minimal pairs.

Words that are extremely similar but the vowel sounds change.

They're a very good way to practice your vowel sounds.

First let's just practice the sounds.

So watch how my mouth moves and repeat after me.

/e/ /e/

/e/ /eɪ/

/eɪ/ /eɪ/

/e/ /eɪ/

/e/ /eɪ/

/e/ /eɪ/

Let's now use our words 'let' and 'late'.

Repeat after me.

let let

let late

late late

let late

let late

let late

Excellent job.

First, let's try to make the sound /æ/.

So your tongue is very low in your mouth.

/æ/ Can you repeat after me:

/æ/ /æ/

/æ/ Let's now use the word, 'ran'.

Repeat after me.

ran ran

ran And now let's produce the sound /ʌ/.

/ʌ/ Your tongue is in the middle part of your

mouth.

Please repeat after me.

/ʌ/ Let's now practice with the word 'run'.

Repeat after me.

run run

run Good guys.

Let's now use minimal pairs.

Words that are very similar, but the vowel sounds change.

A very good way to practice the vowel sounds.

First, just the sounds.

Repeat after me.

And watch how my mouth moves.

/æ/ /ʌ/

/æ/ Let's now use the words 'ran' and 'run'.

Please repeat after me.

ran ran

ran run

run run

ran run

ran run

ran run

Great guys.

First, let's make the sound /əʊ/.

/əʊ/ is actually a diphthong.

So it's two vowel sounds /əʊ/.

So as you pronounce it, as you can see, my mouth is quite round.

It moves and it becomes smaller.

/əʊ/ Let's practice.

Repeat after me.

/əʊ/-/əʊ/-/əʊ/ Let's practice now with the word 'so'.

Repeat after me.

so - so - so And now for the sound /ɔ:/.

As you can see my mouth is round as well but it's doesn't move.

And the sound is a tiny bit longer.

/ɔ:/

Let's practice.

Repeat after me.

/ɔ:/

/ɔ:/

/ɔ:/

Let's take the word 'saw'.

Please repeat after me.

saw - saw - saw Good.

Let's now use minimal pairs.

Words that are very similar but the vowel sounds change.

They're a very good way to practice these vowel sounds.

First, let's just practice the sounds.

Watch how my mouth moves and repeat after me.

/əʊ/ - /əʊ/ - /əʊ/ /ɔ:/