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Having a ‘whoop’ of a time thinking about ‘whoops a daisy’!

Have you seen the movie ‘Notting Hill’? Have you seen the scene where Hugh Grant keeps saying ‘whoops a daisy!’?

 

‘Whoops a daisy!’ is an expression of surprise or dismay, as shown by Hugh Grant when he fails to climb over the garden wall. The modern-day equivalent is thought to probably be ‘Doh!’ The term has been shortened to “whoops” and some people think it may be related to the expression “to whoop,” as in giving “whoops of joy.”
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With regards to the historical background of “whoop” as a verb, it relates to a falconer who whoops his hawks and dates back to the early 1400s.  If you cried ‘whoop’ during a hunt this would indicate to your fellow hunters that your quarry, your target animal, or game, was dead.
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Whoop also appears in slang, for example ‘to whoop it up’  which means to have a jolly good time, or to ‘live it up’. “Making whoopee” arose in the US around 1927. Plus, something not so pleasant, for us Brits the term “whoopsie” is apparently a child’s word for excrement. So for anyone who mixes American and British English you must be careful to be clear between making whoopie, and making whoopsie! Things could go really wrong!
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Finally, yes people really do say this! Well… I do, and so does Hugh Grant!
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“Oo” vs. “W” – Especially for my Japanese students!

This topic is one that doesn’t seem to be a problem for some people when learning English, but I’ve seen that it can be especially difficult for Japanese learners. Because most Japanese learn with カタカナ(katakana), some of the sounds are not exactly right.

For example,

ウ is the English sound for “oo,”  as in “blue,” “chew,” or “do.”

Unfortunately, sometimes theウ sound is also understood to be the “w” sound as in “would” or “winter.” Actually. these “w” sounds do not exist in the Japanese language. It will take some extra training to learn how to move your mouth to pronounce this sound. You can do it!

oo

Above is a picture of pronouncing “ウ” or “oo,” that most of you know how to do.   Simply make a small circle with your lips when you are pronouncing the sound (find the full lesson here).

w

This picture, however, is more difficult to do. Try to focus on closing your lips a little more, and bringing them in closer to your teeth. Also, the “w” sound is not a whole syllable like the “ウ” sound, it is only the first part of a longer sound. So, say it quickly.

Try to pronounce these words without using the “ウ” sound:

Winter.
Weather.
Where.
Win.
Sweet.
Rewind.
When.
Why.
While.

Did it sound different from the “ウ” sound? If not, try again and listen to the lesson here. Keep trying until you get the sound you want, practice makes a better English speaker!

“Oo” vs. “W” – Especially for my Japanese students!

 

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TONGUE TWISTERS

Try reading this out loud…

TONGUE TWISTERSDearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation — think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough –
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!

 

JANET’S PROFILE

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Intonation and Speed of Speaking

Intonation
Many people from different countries have improper intonation because their teacher had improper intonation. In many situations, being monotone is better than having bad intonation. The worst is when someone goes up and down too much on every word. Another thing you should avoid is to end high at the end of a sentence.

To correct improper intonation, you need to remember to start high and end low. You cannot do it any other way. I recommend going to the interview section and listening to one of the audio files provided by a native speaker. You will hear proper intonation. After listening to the audio, record yourself and listen to it. Does it sound the same? If not, then find the areas that are dissimilar and make the necessary corrections.

This advice is very trivial, but intonation is relatively easy to correct. You can fix your intonation with only a little effort. If you have a friend who is a native English speaker, you can usually fix intonation in a couple of lessons. Recording yourself and listening to yourself might be tedious, but having correct intonation can go a long way.

I have had many students who fixed their intonation after 2 small sessions. The advice I gave them was the same as the one above. This will work, and if you want to speak with proper intonation, please follow this advice.

Speed of speaking
A common mistake of people who obtain English fluency with improper pronunciation and intonation is the speed in which they speak. Because they do not have perfect pronunciation and intonation, it is difficult to understand people who speak too fast. This is the biggest problem I have seen from people who gain confidence in speaking.

In order to improve your communication, and to hear “excuse me” less often, it is important to have the correct speed of speaking. For people with confidence, my advice is to slow down and to speak clearly. Don’t blend words together too much and make sure to separate words with a small pause for words that are difficult to pronounce.

This and more helpful articles from http://www.talkenglish.com/

LINDA’S PROFILE

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It’s only English, how many accents could there be!?

While English has become the most widely used language in the world, the definition of “Standard English” is not always so clear.

This video is one of my favorites for helping English students see the variations between accents and dialects in spoken English. Surprisingly, English accents vary greatly; and if a student has learned American English in school, for example, he/she could have a very hard time understanding someone speaking Australian English.

Because listening to various English accents is “easier said than done,” I recommend learning the fun way- with movies! Here is a great website that can help you learn all kinds of English accents by watching movie trailers and clips. Watch and re-watch until you can understand, and don’t hesitate to ask questions or look up some of the phrases being said. Also, I would advise taking on one accent at a time until you can better understand it, then moving on to the next one. Good luck, and don’t give up!

http://kelseysensei.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/its-only-english-how-many-accents-could-there-be/ 

 

 

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Lets Learn aLL about *L’s*

How difficult was that sentence to say? If you are like most ESL learners, it wasn’t so easy. Below are some of my favorite resources on how to pronounce the English *L*.

l_sound

Start with this lesson from pronuncian.com. It will explain in detail the mechanics, or step-by-step movements, of how to move your mouth in the sound of an L.

Next- I have a really fun video to watch. This is Amy Walker, who is not an English teacher but a professional actress who has excellent accent skills. In this video she clearly explains how to practice the L sound, and also does a warm-up for the first minute or two. It may seem silly, but warm-ups and practice are the key to mastering English!

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One Direction

Pronunciation

British: One Dye-rection

American: One Der-ection

Australian: One Da-rection

Chinese: Wan Da-re-shun

Irish: Wonder-Action

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YouTube

YouTube is an AMAZING tool for language learners! YouTube combines visuals and audio to really stimulate the senses.  Much more entertaining than the standard old grammar book!

#1 Browse

Search for videos about things that interest you. If you are interested in cooking, watch some videos about cooking in English. Check out different accents from around the world– it can be really fun (even for native speakers)! Search for keywords: ESL, Learn English, British English, Grammar, English Pronunciation

Spend sometime and find the channels that you like.

#2 Subscribe

When you find a channel that you really like, click on subscribe.

subscribe

Every time you are on your YouTube homepage, videos from the channels that you subscribe to will be featured.

#3 USE IT

As with learning anything, practice makes perfect. The more you hear English, the more you are going to understand it. Listen to a video and repeat what you hear. Try to mimic the sounds that you are hearing perfectly. I tell my students to repeat what they hear and look in the mirror.

EVERYDAY set some time aside for YouTube. Your English is not going to magically improve overnight. It takes time and practice– but using a tool like YouTube can make it fun and interesting. The best part about YouTube is that you learn other things while you are improving your English (like how to make a chocolate cake!)

Beginner tip! If you are a beginner, search for videos in your native language and turn on English subtitles.  Try this out and then move on to videos with English audio and English subtitles.

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