0:00 hello lovely students and welcome back
0:02 to English with Lucy today I have a
0:05 pronunciation lesson for you we're going
0:07 to be focusing on Rhythm but what do we
0:11 mean by rhythm in language if we say
0:14 that intonation that is the way your
0:17 voice Rises and Falls as you speak is
0:20 the melody or the tune rhythm is the
0:24 beat you know the bit you tap your foot
0:26 or click your fingers to and why is
0:28 rhythm so important in English well it's
0:32 key to making your message clear natural
0:36 and fluid today I'm going to show you
0:39 how you can get into the rhythm of
0:41 English and what I'm modeling today fits
0:44 my modern RP accent there are of course
0:47 so many other wonderful varieties of
0:49 English which will all be spoken a
0:52 little bit differently speaking English
0:54 clearly isn't just about Rhythm there's
0:57 also word stress individual sounds
1:01 intonation and so much more I can help
1:03 you with all of these things and if you
1:06 would like to know how you measure up
1:08 when it comes to pronunciation you might
1:10 like what I have just developed I have
1:13 created a free online pronunciation
1:16 level test it's quite in-depth there are
1:19 45 carefully designed questions it moves
1:23 from beginner to Advanced helping you
1:26 discover how clear and accurate your
1:28 pronunciation really is using this test
1:31 you'll be able to pinpoint the exact
1:33 areas you can improve to make your
1:35 English sound even better if you'd like
1:38 to take this test for free all you have
1:40 to do is click on the link in the
1:42 description or scan that QR code right
1:45 there complete the test and we'll send
1:47 you your results straight to your email
1:49 inbox okay let's get started with
1:52 today's lesson the key to rhythm is the
1:55 way we switch between stressed and
1:58 unstressed syllables in a sentence and
2:01 let's just check that you know what a
2:02 syllable is it's a unit of speech with a
2:07 single vowel sound usually cat dog fish
2:12 frog all have one syllable and see how
2:16 we have a vowel sound surrounded by
2:19 consonant sounds each syllable is like
2:22 one beat tiger donkey hamster camel all
2:27 have two syllables or two beats but in
2:31 English not all syllables are created
2:34 equally some syllables are given more
2:38 energy they're often pronounced louder
2:41 and longer did you notice how I
2:44 emphasized the first syllable in all of
2:47 these words tiger donkey hamster camel
2:52 the first syllable is the stressed
2:54 syllable and what happens to the second
2:57 unstressed syllable well I pronounced it
3:00 more quickly and quietly many unstressed
3:04 syllables contain weak vowels and the
3:07 most famous of all is the schah that's
3:12 the very lazy uh uh sound at the
3:16 beginning of about and at the end of
3:20 tiger and hamster I'm going to say some
3:24 more animals now and before I do try and
3:27 identify the stressed syllable in each
3:30 word here we are pause the video if you
3:33 need a bit more time if not let's check
3:37 together elephant and crocodile have
3:41 three syllables and are both stressed on
3:44 the first syllable elephant
3:49 crocodile
3:50 chimpanzee has three syllables but is
3:53 stressed on the last syllable chimpanzee
3:58 there are four vowel sounds in alligator
4:01 so that's four syllables and the main
4:04 stress is on the first syllable and
4:07 finally we have Gorilla with three
4:11 syllables stressed on the second
4:13 syllable got it okay so now we know the
4:17 difference between stressed and
4:19 unstressed syllables let's get back to
4:22 Rhythm rhythm in music is the regular
4:25 repetition of a pattern over a period of
4:28 time in language rhythm is the regular
4:31 repetition of stressed syllables what
4:34 does that sound like repeat after me as
4:37 I read these
4:39 sentences I want to have a
4:44 drink she went to see her
4:50 friend we need to call our
4:55 boss they liked the gift I bought
5:02 okay not too difficult I hope in a
5:05 sentence we usually stress the words
5:08 that carry meaning like verbs and nouns
5:12 in the first sentence want have and
5:16 drink were stressed we don't generally
5:19 stress pronouns like I she we and they
5:24 or other often short grammar words in
5:28 these examples the stressed syllables
5:31 occur at regular intervals one stressed
5:34 syllable and one unstressed syllable
5:37 let's see what that sounds like with
5:39 some longer words repeat after me again
5:42 the song You Heard on Monday made you
5:50 smile that meal you cooked last Friday
5:54 tasted yummy
6:00 the email sent this morning never
6:03 reached
6:08 you don't forget to close the door
6:12 behind
6:17 you and the last one can't they fix the
6:21 problems any
6:27 faster Okay so notice how we have this
6:31 regular alternation between stressed and
6:34 unstressed
6:36 syllables now in English we absolutely
6:40 love this steady Rhythm we get by
6:44 switching from stress to unstressed
6:46 syllables but there's a problem which
6:50 you may have already noticed not many
6:54 sentences follow this precise pattern of
6:57 one stressed syllable and one unstressed
7:00 syllable take a look at this sentence
7:03 that I said to my husband will earlier
7:06 today well I say this to will most days
7:09 to be honest do you think we should take
7:11 Diego for a walk before it starts to
7:15 rain it rains a lot in
7:18 England between each stressed syllable
7:21 we have one two or three unstressed
7:24 syllables it's all over the place so
7:27 what do we do to try and keep the Rhythm
7:29 them simple we just say the unstressed
7:33 syllables more quickly to squeeze them
7:36 in listen and
7:37 repeat do you think we should take Diego
7:41 for a walk before it starts to
7:45 rain what do you notice about those
7:48 unstressed syllables do you think we
7:50 should take Diego for a walk before it
7:53 starts to rain that's right most of them
7:56 are pronounced with the schah do you but
8:00 becomes or J 4 a becomes fur and two
8:07 becomes T now we wouldn't be able to
8:09 keep the English Rhythm if I pronounced
8:11 these full strong versions of these
8:14 short grammar words listen to what
8:16 happens when I try to do this do you
8:19 think we should take Diego for a walk
8:23 before it starts to rain it's very hard
8:26 for me to do this it doesn't feel
8:28 natural I naturally want to follow that
8:30 English Rhythm and that was in the
8:32 English Rhythm as well so contractions
8:35 and weak forms with the schah are key to
8:38 English Rhythm let's practice squeezing
8:41 those unstressed syllables in between
8:44 the stressed ones now I'll start with
8:46 the content Words which will be the main
8:49 beat then I'll gradually add in more
8:52 function words they'll squeeze in
8:55 between the content words are you ready
8:59 make make dinner now I'll make dinner
9:04 now I'll make some dinner now I'll make
9:10 some for dinner right now we followed
9:12 the beat it was the same speed but we
9:15 fitted the function or grammar words in
9:18 let's try another live House Road he
9:23 lives in a house down the road he's
9:27 living in a house down the road
9:30 he's been living in a house down the
9:32 road from me so here we can see that in
9:35 English the length of time it takes to
9:37 say something often depends on the
9:40 number of stressed syllables rather than
9:42 the total number of syllables Isn't that
9:46 cool should we try a few more see if you
9:48 can Shadow me and speak along with me
9:52 okay send text
9:55 home send a text when you're home
9:59 send me a text when you're home can you
10:03 send me a text when you're home okay
10:06 last one let's do it try and Shadow me
10:09 now order pizza
10:12 go order a pizza to go could you order a
10:18 pizza to
10:19 go I'll be ordering that pizza to go
10:24 someone should make a remix out of that
10:26 uh now obviously we don't always speak
10:29 like like this it's not always going to
10:31 be possible or particularly comfortable
10:34 to keep this steady Rhythm but I
10:38 encourage you to try and notice the
10:40 rhythm of common phrases you hear and
10:43 copy it to sound more natural let's
10:46 practice that now I've marked the
10:48 stressed syllables try to speak along
10:51 with me I haven't seen you for
10:54 ages do you fancy a quick coffee shall
10:58 we head to that place on the corner I
11:02 went there last week and it was great
11:05 put your phone away it's my turn to pay
11:08 other great ways to pick up and practice
11:11 English Rhythm are of course through
11:13 songs and poems and in fact I'd like to
11:16 end today's lesson with a limmerick
11:19 limericks are short usually funny poems
11:23 of five lines in Total Lines one 2 and
11:26 five usually have three stretch
11:29 syllables and lines three and four
11:33 usually have two here's an example
11:36 Shadow me if you can there once was a
11:38 teacher named Lucy who taught with a
11:42 sense of Duty her grammar was slick her
11:46 accent did click and her lessons were
11:48 simply a beauty I would love to see your
11:52 very own examples of limmer in the
11:55 comments bonus points if the last words
11:58 in lines one two and five rhyme have a
12:02 go I really look forward to reading
12:04 through them okay that brings us to the
12:06 end of today's lesson I hope you enjoyed
12:08 it and remember the rhythm of speech is
12:12 the key to sounding more fluid you see
12:16 with stress and the schah you'll go very
12:19 far now use it to sound more
12:22 RP I very much enjoyed that lesson I
12:25 hope you did too I will see you soon for
12:27 another one mAh
12:29 [Music]
12:45 [Music]
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