If you follow THIS 4-part training, you will speak CLEARLY!

Hello, lovely students, and welcome back to English with Lucy.

Please take a look at these 3 statements.

Are any of them true for you?

Number one—I have never found it difficult to pronounce an English word.

Number two—I have never needed to repeat myself because the person I was talking

to didn't understand me.

And number three—I have never avoided

saying a word out loud because I wasn't sure how to pronounce it.

If all 3 of these statements are true for you, then stop watching this video.

But if any of them are false, then keep on watching because I have 4 amazing

techniques that are guaranteed to help you to overcome all these problems.

By the end of today's video, you will be able to communicate in English more

confidently and clearly.

I've also created a free PDF to go with

this video.

In the PDF, you'll find all of the

techniques we cover in today's video plus some bonus tips, and you will also get

access to a secret link with interactive pronunciation activities.

If you would like to download the PDF and

get access to that secret activity, all you have to do is click on the link in

the description box, enter your name and your email address.

After that, you'll automatically receive my free weekly PDFs alongside my news,

course updates and offers.

It's free, you can unsubscribe at any time.

Okay, let's get started with technique number one—flex those facial muscles.

Speaking is a physical activity, so if we want to speak clearly and accurately, we

should warm up our muscles, just like we would before doing exercise!

The jaw, the lips, and the tongue all work together to make the vowel and consonant

sounds that form words.

English has many sounds that require us

to drop the jaw and open our mouths up wide.

So here are some exercises to get those

muscles moving and to keep them in shape.

Begin by simply massaging your jaw and

cheeks try to loosen your jaw.

Once your facial muscles feel relaxed and

you can't feel any tension, it's time to start moving.

Imagine that you have something like bubble gum in your mouth and start chewing.

Begin with small movements, and then gradually open your jaw wider and wider, like...

Then scrunch up your face as tightly as you can, like this.

Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, and then release!

Repeat that as many times as you need.

Then we do the opposite, stretch out those muscles as wide as you can.

You'll be amazed at how wide I can open my mouth.

I like to do this before I record these videos, or if I'm giving a presentation.

It really helps me to speak more clearly.

Let's train our mouths to open up with

some tongue twisters.

We'll begin with a simple /ɑː/ sound.

Repeat after me.

'Arthur's father's aunt is calmer after an

afternoon at the spa.'

Good, now let's add in 2 more vowel

sounds that also need an  open jaw position—/ɒ/, /æ/.

Listen and then repeat.

'I'm glad I got Matt's hat back after it got robbed.'

Your turn.

Feeling flexible, let's move things up a

notch and practise some sounds which blend 2 vowel sounds together: /əʊ/ as in

'go' and /aʊ/ as in 'now'.

My jaw moves as I blend the 2 vowel

sounds together, so this is a double workout for your muscles.

Repeat after me.

'How about Joe goes down to the house

without Rose?/

Great, now we've worked on our jaws, it's

time to move on to technique number two—train that tongue.

Our tongues play such an important role in forming sounds.

For example, to make the /l/ sound, we need to push the front part of the tongue

against the top of the mouth, just behind the teeth.

Other sounds such as /t/, /d/, and /n/, also require this movement.

The tongue also works hard to make the sound /r/ as we need to curl the tongue

back in the mouth, so it's really important that the tongue is strong so we

can switch effortlessly between phonemes.

How can we keep our tongues in shape?

Here are just a few ideas!

One—pretend your tongue is your toothbrush.

Make sure you use your own tongue and not somebody else's.

Rub the tip of your tongue alongside the outside and inside of your top and bottom

teeth like this.

After a few laps, switch direction.

Number two—try to touch your nose with the tip of your tongue.

I can't really get anywhere near with this.

My mum and my husband can do this.

I cannot.

No, no, it's not going to work.

I can, however, fold my tongue in three.

That's one of just many party tricks.

Then imagine that you want to touch your left ear and then your right ear.

Really stretch it out!

Three—can you roll your tongue?

If you can, roll it and stick it out as far as you can, hold it for a few seconds,

and then relax.

Now, let's practise some of the sounds

that are a great exercise for our tongues.

Repeat after me and really exaggerate the

movement to give that tongue a workout.

'Lily loves to take David and Daniel

dancing noon and night.'

Fabulous, we'll do one more with the

sounds /tʃ/ and /dʒ/. 'George and Jane chose a giant chunk of cheese for a budget lunch.'

Okay, can you guess what's coming next?

That's right, it's time to loosen your lips.

Our lips play a vital role in forming sounds accurately.

In fact, we need one of these six lip positions to articulate different sounds.

If your lips are tight and can't move into the correct position, this can have

a negative effect on the quality of your speech.

Let's do some drills to help get your

lips used to all of these positions.

Watch my mouth and exaggerate the lip positions.

No one's watching you, I hope.

Ready? /uː/, /uː/

Round the lips and push them forward.

Repeat after me.

'Who do you usually include?'

Now let's switch between /iː/ and /uː/. Smile

and tense those facial muscles to make the /iː/ sound.

'He needs deep sleep and you do too.'

Now moving from relaxed to rounded. /e/, /ɔː/, /e/, /ɔː/

'Ed, Ned, and Fred bought four more forks.'

Now bring the lips together tightly for

/b/, /p/, and /m/.

'Bill picked me but Peter picked Mary.'

Right, your muscles and articulators should be nice and warm by now.

Now let's work on fine-tuning some of those phonemes.

Are there some words or maybe even individual sounds you still find

challenging to pronounce?

Well, here's the secret:

it's all about repetition, repetition, repetition.

If you want speaking English to feel

automatic and effortless, then you need to repeat those sounds and words so often

that you can make them without even having to concentrate.

One of the best ways to do this is with tongue twisters, which focus on the sounds

you find challenging.

We have time for just two today, but I

have packed loads more into the bonus interactive exercise pack that comes with

the PDF.

Okay, I'm going to need you to show me

your tongue.

I want you to stick it out because we're

going to practise /θ/ and /ð/.

The /θ/ sound is unvoiced, which means you

shouldn't feel any vibration when you put your hand here.

When we add vibration at the vocal cords, /θ/ becomes /ð/, and you should feel

vibration here.

Watch my mouth, repeat after me.

'This mother thought her thistle was thirsty but thankfully it thrives in the earth.'

That was tricky, now you try.

You can repeat that one a couple of

times, start slowly and gradually build up speed as you gain confidence.

Let's try another two tricky phonemes: 'l' and 'r'. To make the /r/ sound, curl the tip

of your tongue back, but don't let it touch the top of your mouth.

To make the 'l' sound, push the blade of the tongue against your gum ridge just

behind your front teeth.

Are you ready?

Let's go.

'Lauren loves riding llamas through

rolling hills and little remote valleys.'

How did you do with that one?

Well, that's all we have time for today.

Let me know what your favourite technique

was in the comments below, and I'd also 

like to hear about what  you found most challenging.

There's lots more practice material available for you in the PDF and in that

extra interactive exercise pack that comes along with the PDF.

If you like learning with me here on YouTube, I think you will love my B1, B2,

and C1 Beautiful British English Programmes.

These are 12-week self-study programmes,

although you can also have feedback from my team of teachers.

In these programmes, pronunciation is a priority.

I weave it through every single module.

You also have a dedicated

pronunciation lessons throughout.

If you would like information, please visit

englishwithlucy.com.

I will see you soon for another lesson!

Muah!