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  • Hello.

  • My name is Emma, and in today's video I am going to teach you about pronunciation.

  • Today we are going to talk about something called: "Consonant Clusters".

  • Okay?

  • So, you're probably thinking: "What is a 'consonant cluster' or a 'consonant blend'?"

  • That's okay, because in this video I will talk about what these are-they're very common

  • in English-I'm going to talk about mistakes people make when pronuncing-...

  • Pronouncing them.

  • Sorry.

  • And then I'm going to teach you a great way to practice these words.

  • Okay?

  • So, let's first learn about: What are "consonant clusters"?

  • Okay, so I have here the word: "snow", "small", "sleep", and "sport".

  • These have something in common.

  • If you're not quite sure, but you're thinking maybe it has to do with consonant clusters,

  • you're correct.

  • Okay?

  • Just like the name of this video, these four words all have consonant clusters in them.

  • Okay?

  • And I've underlined the part that is the consonant cluster.

  • So, here we have: "sn", "sm", "sl", "sp".

  • So, to better understand consonant clusters, first we should really talk about vowels and

  • consonants.

  • So, vowels, in English, are sounds that contain either: "a", "e", "i", "o", "u", and sometimes

  • "y".

  • So these are our vowels in English.

  • In different languages, vowels are different; in English, these are our vowels.

  • So, we have here: "o" in "snow" is a vowel, the "a" sound in "small", the "ah" is a vowel,

  • we have the "e" sound in "sleep" is a vowel, and the "o" sound in "sport" is a vowel.

  • So, these are our vowels.

  • The opposite of a vowel is a consonant.

  • So, consonants are not vowels; they're pretty much everything else.

  • Okay?

  • So, in English, we have a lot of consonants.

  • "t" is an example of a consonant, "r", "s", "k", "c", "m", "n", "b", "v", "q", "p", "l",

  • and there's so many more.

  • Okay?

  • So, pretty much every other sound that is not these are consonants.

  • So, now we've...

  • So, in this word, for example: "s" is a consonant, "n" is a consonant.

  • In this word: "s" is a consonant, "m" is a consonant, and "l" is a consonant.

  • Okay?

  • And here we have the same; "s", "l", and "p" are consonants; "s", "p", and "r" and "t"

  • are consonants.

  • Okay?

  • Okay, so we've talked about vowels and we've talked about consonants.

  • So now let's talk about consonant clusters.

  • So, consonant clusters are where you have two or more consonants together in your pronunciation,

  • and they...

  • They make, like, one unit of sound.

  • So, for example, we have here "s", which is a consonant, and "t" which is a consonant.

  • So, when these two are together in the beginning or the end of a word, it's a consonant cluster.

  • So, we pronounce this, for example: "stair".

  • So, the "st" is a consonant cluster.

  • Or it can come at the end of a word, like: "last".

  • And a lot of students have trouble with consonant clusters, because they're...

  • They're hard.

  • You're...

  • You're pronouncing a lot of different sounds together.

  • Here's another example of a consonant cluster.

  • So, we have "f" which is a consonant, and we have "r" which is a consonant; together,

  • they're a consonant cluster.

  • We might find this in the word "friend", or maybe a word like "free".

  • Here we have "s" and "q".

  • We'll get back to "r" in a second.

  • We have "s" and "q" together.

  • So, if you think about this: "squirrel".

  • So, "s" and "q" together.

  • I'm just going to remove that.

  • "Squirrel".

  • We have another consonant cluster, because "s" is a consonant and so is "q"; "q" is a

  • consonant as well.

  • And then, finally, another example, we have the "g" sound and we have the "r" sound.

  • Together, for example, in the beginning of "green", these two are both consonants, so

  • they form a consonant cluster.

  • So, I think you're sort of getting the idea.

  • There's a lot of consonant clusters in English, and these are hard to pronounce.

  • So, today we're going to focus on consonant clusters that start with the letter "s" or

  • that are in "s" words.

  • Okay?

  • So let's look at what I mean by this.

  • You might see a word with "sm" in it, so for example: "small" - that's a consonant cluster

  • with "s".

  • You might see "sn", like "snake"; "sw", like "sword"; "st", like...

  • Well, I was going to say "street"; that's more, like, here: "str" is "street".

  • Oh, I remember: "stair".

  • That's a good one for "st".

  • We have "sl", like "sleep"; "sp" - "spirit"; "spr", maybe like the word "spree"; "spl",

  • like "splash"; "sq", okay?

  • "Squiggle", like a squiggly line; "sk", like "skate"; and then we have "sc" and "scr",

  • like "scream".

  • So, my main point here...

  • We'll be practicing these soon, but there are a lot of consonant clusters in English.

  • Okay?

  • So, if you're from...

  • If you speak a different language, these might be difficult for you.

  • So, now let's learn about common mistakes people make when they pronounce these sounds,

  • and ways to practice how to pronounce these sounds.

  • Okay, so let's look at some common mistakes people make when they're trying to pronounce

  • consonant clusters.

  • So, I have here the word "ski", which is a sport where you are on a hill, and you go

  • down the hill and you're skiing.

  • Okay?

  • So, this is a consonant cluster because we have a "s" sound and a "k" sound.

  • So, together, the "s" and the "k" make a consonant cluster.

  • So, how might somebody pronounce this word?

  • Well, some people, because they never see "s" and "k" together in their language, sometimes

  • they might add and "e", and so they might pronounce this like: "eski", which is not

  • the correct pronunciation.

  • Or you might have somebody else who doesn't have an "s" and a "k" together in their language,

  • and they might add a vowel, so maybe they add an "a" here, and they might, instead of

  • pronouncing it: "ski", they might say: "sa-ski".

  • Okay?

  • So they might add an extra sound.

  • Or you might have other people who look at this word and think: "Oh god, this is an awful

  • word.

  • I don't want to pronounce it; I'm going to make a mistake", and so they might just not

  • say those kinds of words, and they might avoid or not use consonant clusters.

  • Okay?

  • So, now we're going to actually practice how to pronounce these consonant clusters so you

  • don't make any of these mistakes.

  • So, let's look again at the word "ski".

  • So, for this word: "ski", the first thing we can do is we can break it down into two

  • parts.

  • We have the "s" part and the "ki" part.

  • So, let's start with the first sound which is a "ss" sound, like a snake sound.

  • So, I want you to make the snake sound with me: "ss".

  • Okay?

  • So maybe you could do a couple of practices of that: "ss", "ss".

  • And once you have that "s" sound, which is very important, then I want you to practice

  • the second part of this word; the "k" and the "i" together, which is: "ki", "ki".

  • So, say: "ki", "ki".

  • So, now we've done the "ss" sound and the "ki" sound, so now what we're going to do

  • is we're going to practice putting it together, which is the hardest part.

  • So, one thing that can help you when you practice is to have kind of, like, a visual.

  • Visuals or things you see can really help you with your pronunciation.

  • So, I'm going to teach you something.

  • I don't want you doing this in conversation with people; this is just to do when you're

  • at home practicing these words.

  • So, what you can do is you can make your "s" sound: "ss", and you can just make it go along

  • your arm.

  • "ss".

  • Once you get to the end of your arm, your wrist, what you can do is you can tap for

  • the word "ki".

  • "ss-ki".

  • Okay?

  • So, what we're doing is we're saying both of these parts together: "ss-ki".

  • So, I want you to try this: "ss-ki", "ss-ki".

  • Okay?

  • And now what we're going to do is once you have that, once you have the "ss" sound and

  • you tap for the "ki" sound, you can put it together and say it faster and faster.

  • "Ski", "ski", "ski".

  • Okay?

  • The more you practice this, the easier it gets.

  • And so usually you'll start off slow because your tongue in your mouth is doing a lot of

  • different work, but over time you'll get faster and faster at this, and it will be easier

  • to pronounce.

  • Okay, so that's my trick on how to pronounce consonant clusters.

  • Now we're going to use this trick to practice some more consonant clusters, some different

  • ones than the word "ski".

  • Okay.

  • So, I have a list of 10 "s" words that are consonant clusters, and we're going to practice

  • these words together using that hand technique I just taught you.

  • So, let's practice the first word: "sky".

  • Okay?

  • So, remember the first thing we do is we just make the "s" sound: "ss", okay?

  • And then we make the second part, which is "ky", "ky", and now we add it together: "ss-ky",

  • "ss-ky", "ss-ky".

  • All right.

  • Now let's try to say it faster: "sky", "sky".

  • And the more you practice this...

  • At some point, if you practice it and you try to do it faster and faster, even if you're

  • maybe making a mistake in the beginning, you'll get better.

  • Okay?

  • These things take time, so remember it's a lot of practice to be able to pronounce consonant

  • clusters.

  • "Sky".

  • All right.

  • Well done.

  • Now let's try the next one.

  • So we have the "s" sound and the "k" sound again, so let's start with the "s": "ss".

  • Okay, let's do that again: "ss".

  • And now let's say: "kate", "kate".

  • And together: "ss-kate", "ss-kate".

  • And then as we say it faster: "skate", "skate".

  • Okay?

  • And you might have to practice this more times than what I'm showing you, too, and that's

  • okay.

  • All right.

  • The next word: "sleep".

  • Let's do that one together: "ss-leep", "ss-leep", "ss-leep", "sleep".

  • Okay?

  • "Small": "ss", "ss-mall", "ss-mall", "small".

  • Okay?

  • And now we have the word "snow".

  • So, some of these might be ones that you had problems with before; maybe it's becoming

  • a little bit easier now.

  • So, let's try this one: "ss-now", "ss-now", "snow".

  • And, again, when you're using this in conversation, don't do this hand technique because you'll

  • look a little strange.

  • This is just for what you can do at home when you practice these words.

  • All right.

  • Let's try the next one: "ss-peak", "ss-peak", "ss-peak", "speak".

  • Great.

  • Okay.

  • So, "spa": "ss-pa", "ss-pa", "ss-pa", "spa".

  • Okay?

  • Now we have the word "stay": "ss-tay", "ss-tay", "ss-tay", "stay".

  • And now a very common word, "stop": "ss-top", "ss-top", "stop".

  • Okay?

  • And finally, the last word "sweet", so we have the "s" sound and the "weet" sound: "ss-weet",

  • "ss-weet", "sweet".

  • And, again, the faster you do it, the more it will come together to make the actual word.

  • Okay, so one quick tip.

  • So, I've taught you the hand cue.

  • The last thing I want to say is that it's really good if you actually tape record yourself,

  • maybe on your phone or on your computer, and you listen to yourself pronounce words that

  • have consonant clusters, because a lot of people, again, might say something like: "esweet"

  • or "saweet".

  • And you might be making these mistakes, but you don't realize it.

  • So, even when you're practicing you might be making these mistakes.

  • So it's very important to listen to yourself pronounce these words.

  • Okay?

  • And, you know, so what you can do is you can record yourself while doing the hand motion

  • to really practice.

  • So, thank you for watching this video.

  • I hope you come visit us at www.engvid.com.

  • There, you can actually check out our quiz where I'll have even more consonant cluster

  • words that you can practice pronuncing-...

  • Or pronouncing.

  • Sorry.

  • Pronouncing.

  • You can also subscribe to my channel; I have a lot of great resources there on all sorts

  • of things, including pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, writing, work stuff, and much

  • more.

  • So, until next time, thank you for watching and take care.

Hello.

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