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Rhythm for English Speaking (How British People Really Speak English)
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hello lovely students and welcome back
to English with Lucy today I have a
pronunciation lesson for you we're going
to be focusing on Rhythm but what do we
mean by rhythm in language if we say
that intonation that is the way your
voice Rises and Falls as you speak is
the melody or the tune rhythm is the
beat you know the bit you tap your foot
or click your fingers to and why is
rhythm so important in English well it's
key to making your message clear natural
and fluid today I'm going to show you
how you can get into the rhythm of
English and what I'm modeling today fits
my modern RP accent there are of course
so many other wonderful varieties of
English which will all be spoken a
little bit differently speaking English
clearly isn't just about Rhythm there's
also word stress individual sounds
intonation and so much more I can help
you with all of these things and if you
would like to know how you measure up
when it comes to pronunciation you might
like what I have just developed I have
created a free online pronunciation
level test it's quite in-depth there are
45 carefully designed questions it moves
from beginner to Advanced helping you
discover how clear and accurate your
pronunciation really is using this test
you'll be able to pinpoint the exact
areas you can improve to make your
English sound even better if you'd like
to take this test for free all you have
to do is click on the link in the
description or scan that QR code right
there complete the test and we'll send
you your results straight to your email
inbox okay let's get started with
today's lesson the key to rhythm is the
way we switch between stressed and
unstressed syllables in a sentence and
let's just check that you know what a
syllable is it's a unit of speech with a
single vowel sound usually cat dog fish
frog all have one syllable and see how
we have a vowel sound surrounded by
consonant sounds each syllable is like
one beat tiger donkey hamster camel all
have two syllables or two beats but in
English not all syllables are created
equally some syllables are given more
energy they're often pronounced louder
and longer did you notice how I
emphasized the first syllable in all of
these words tiger donkey hamster camel
the first syllable is the stressed
syllable and what happens to the second
unstressed syllable well I pronounced it
more quickly and quietly many unstressed
syllables contain weak vowels and the
most famous of all is the schah that's
the very lazy uh uh sound at the
beginning of about and at the end of
tiger and hamster I'm going to say some
more animals now and before I do try and
identify the stressed syllable in each
word here we are pause the video if you
need a bit more time if not let's check
together elephant and crocodile have
three syllables and are both stressed on
the first syllable elephant
crocodile
chimpanzee has three syllables but is
stressed on the last syllable chimpanzee
there are four vowel sounds in alligator
so that's four syllables and the main
stress is on the first syllable and
finally we have Gorilla with three
syllables stressed on the second
syllable got it okay so now we know the
difference between stressed and
unstressed syllables let's get back to
Rhythm rhythm in music is the regular
repetition of a pattern over a period of
time in language rhythm is the regular
repetition of stressed syllables what
does that sound like repeat after me as
I read these
sentences I want to have a
drink she went to see her
friend we need to call our
boss they liked the gift I bought
okay not too difficult I hope in a
sentence we usually stress the words
that carry meaning like verbs and nouns
in the first sentence want have and
drink were stressed we don't generally
stress pronouns like I she we and they
or other often short grammar words in
these examples the stressed syllables
occur at regular intervals one stressed
syllable and one unstressed syllable
let's see what that sounds like with
some longer words repeat after me again
the song You Heard on Monday made you
smile that meal you cooked last Friday
tasted yummy
the email sent this morning never
reached
you don't forget to close the door
behind
you and the last one can't they fix the
problems any
faster Okay so notice how we have this
regular alternation between stressed and
unstressed
syllables now in English we absolutely
love this steady Rhythm we get by
switching from stress to unstressed
syllables but there's a problem which
you may have already noticed not many
sentences follow this precise pattern of
one stressed syllable and one unstressed
syllable take a look at this sentence
that I said to my husband will earlier
today well I say this to will most days
to be honest do you think we should take
Diego for a walk before it starts to
rain it rains a lot in
England between each stressed syllable
we have one two or three unstressed
syllables it's all over the place so
what do we do to try and keep the Rhythm
them simple we just say the unstressed
syllables more quickly to squeeze them
in listen and
repeat do you think we should take Diego
for a walk before it starts to
rain what do you notice about those
unstressed syllables do you think we
should take Diego for a walk before it
starts to rain that's right most of them
are pronounced with the schah do you but
becomes or J 4 a becomes fur and two
becomes T now we wouldn't be able to
keep the English Rhythm if I pronounced
these full strong versions of these
short grammar words listen to what
happens when I try to do this do you
think we should take Diego for a walk
before it starts to rain it's very hard
for me to do this it doesn't feel
natural I naturally want to follow that
English Rhythm and that was in the
English Rhythm as well so contractions
and weak forms with the schah are key to
English Rhythm let's practice squeezing
those unstressed syllables in between
the stressed ones now I'll start with
the content Words which will be the main
beat then I'll gradually add in more
function words they'll squeeze in
between the content words are you ready
make make dinner now I'll make dinner
now I'll make some dinner now I'll make
some for dinner right now we followed
the beat it was the same speed but we
fitted the function or grammar words in
let's try another live House Road he
lives in a house down the road he's
living in a house down the road
he's been living in a house down the
road from me so here we can see that in
English the length of time it takes to
say something often depends on the
number of stressed syllables rather than
the total number of syllables Isn't that
cool should we try a few more see if you
can Shadow me and speak along with me
okay send text
home send a text when you're home
send me a text when you're home can you
send me a text when you're home okay
last one let's do it try and Shadow me
now order pizza
go order a pizza to go could you order a
pizza to
go I'll be ordering that pizza to go
someone should make a remix out of that
uh now obviously we don't always speak
like like this it's not always going to
be possible or particularly comfortable
to keep this steady Rhythm but I
encourage you to try and notice the
rhythm of common phrases you hear and
copy it to sound more natural let's
practice that now I've marked the
stressed syllables try to speak along
with me I haven't seen you for
ages do you fancy a quick coffee shall
we head to that place on the corner I
went there last week and it was great
put your phone away it's my turn to pay
other great ways to pick up and practice
English Rhythm are of course through
songs and poems and in fact I'd like to
end today's lesson with a limmerick
limericks are short usually funny poems
of five lines in Total Lines one 2 and
five usually have three stretch
syllables and lines three and four
usually have two here's an example
Shadow me if you can there once was a
teacher named Lucy who taught with a
sense of Duty her grammar was slick her
accent did click and her lessons were
simply a beauty I would love to see your
very own examples of limmer in the
comments bonus points if the last words
in lines one two and five rhyme have a
go I really look forward to reading
through them okay that brings us to the
end of today's lesson I hope you enjoyed
it and remember the rhythm of speech is
the key to sounding more fluid you see
with stress and the schah you'll go very
far now use it to sound more
RP I very much enjoyed that lesson I
hope you did too I will see you soon for
another one mAh
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