Vowel sounds of American English, front vowels. You know that vowel sounds are sounds that come out of your mouth very smoothly. Your tongue doesn't touch anywhere in your mouth when you say them. All vowels are voiced or produced with your vocal cords vibrating. In this lesson, we're going to practice vowels that are made with your tongue pushed toward the front of your mouth, or front vowels. These are the vowels we'll practice in this lesson, /iy/ as in beat, /I/ as in bit, /ey/ as in bait, /e/ as in bet, and /a/ as in bat. The first sound is /iy/ as in beat. Your tongue is very high in the front of your mouth and fairly tense. When we write, some of the most common spellings for this sound are the letters ea as in each, ee as in tree, e with a final silent e as incomplete, ie as in piece, or sometimes just the letter e as in me. Let's say these words, each, tree, complete, piece, me. Now practice these words and sentences with e, teacher, trees, receive, machine, believe, guarantee. I need to meet Mr. Green at three o'clock. I believe Steve planted three green trees. The next sound /I/ as in bit. Your tongue is high in the front of your mouth and more relaxed than when you say i. The most common spelling for this sound is the letter i, as in sit or picture, or sometimes y as in in mystery. But sometimes we see strange spellings like in the words building or business. Let's say these words, sit, picture, mystery, building, business. Now practice these words and sentences with /I/, city, wind, busy, sister, gym, assistant. The businessman visited six cities last month. Libby likes to listen to different kinds of music. The next sound is /ey/ as in bait. Your tongue starts out a little lower than for /e/ and then it moves higher. Your tongue is a little tense. When we write, some of the most common spellings for this sound are the letters ay as in say, ai as in plain, a with a final silent e as in made, or just the letter a as in favor. There are also some unusual spellings like the word eight. Let's say these words, say, plain, made, favor, eight. Now practice these words and sentences with /ey/, make, remain, famous, neighbor, rate, relation. The bakery makes tasty birthday cakes. Maybe we can take a vacation by the lake. The next sound is /e/ as in bet. Your tongue is at a medium height in the front of your mouth and it's relaxed. The most common spelling for this sound is the letter e as in red, but sometimes it's spelled E-A as in bread. Words spelled with A-R-E or A-I-R often have an /e/ sound too, like care or fair. There are also some unusual spellings as in the word said. Lets say these words, red, bread, care, fair, said. Now practice these words and sentences with /ey/, best, letter, elephant, airplane, healthy, textbook. Betty didn't forget yesterday's lesson. Terry read for ten hours to prepare for the test. The next sound is /a/ as in bat. Your tongue is low in the front of your mouth, and your mouth is wide open. The most common spelling for this sound is the letter a as in hat, apple, application, and demand. But there are a few words with different spellings like laugh. Let's say these words, hat, apple, application, demand, laugh. Now practice these words and sentences with /a/, happy, plastic, activity, algebra, salary, fascinating. I'm so happy that I passed the grammar exam. Did you put apples and radishes in the salad? In this lesson, we've practiced the vowel sounds in these words, beat, bit, bait, bet, and bat. Thank you for practicing.
