American English Pronunciation: Sound & Word Drills: VOWELS

Understand the difference between vowels and consonants, the three pitch tones for vowels, and the voiced versus unvoiced consonants, as you learn course structure and upcoming drills.

The course explains how to produce English vowels and practice them with interactive sound drills and word drills, focusing on articulation, voicing, and repeating aloud.

Engage with a short quiz that lets you check your answers as you go and retake anytime and have fun. Click the next button to move to the next question.

Explore three pitch tones used in the course and review vowels and the two consonant types: voiced and unvoiced. A short quiz reinforces what you learn.

Practice this course's sound drills by mastering one-syllable consonant–vowel combinations and three pitch tones—vowel peak, short flat, and long drop—to improve pronunciation and intelligibility.

A quick quiz follows. Check your answers as you go along, and see you in the next video.

Take on vowel drills by listening to two or three sounds and practicing with the vowel peak, short flat, and long drop, using your ears as guidance.

Begin the drills with the front vowel sounds EE and IH, guiding tongue position, jaw relaxation, and forward sound, then review IPA symbols and watch encouragement videos after each drill.

Master the ee vowel as in meet by using a front vowel with the tongue behind lower front teeth, a high arch, and a slight smile, sound of letter e.

Master the vowel ih as in bit, a short front sound with the tongue behind the lower front teeth, positioned between ee and eh by slightly lowering from ee.

Learn the spelling rule for one-syllable words, using a two-vowel rule to create long first sounds and a one-vowel rule for short sounds, with key EE and IH exceptions.

Practice the international phonetic alphabet by identifying vowel and consonant symbols and sounds through quizzes, starting with ee as in meet and ih as in bit.

Drill and examine the front vowel sounds ay, eh, and ae, note the ay diphthong, jaw and tongue movement from ee to ae, and apply spelling rules and ipa symbols.

Master the vowel eh as in let, a front vowel sound produced with the tongue behind the lower front teeth, between ee and ae, using example words.

Master the vowel ae as in fast, a front sound with the tongue behind the lower front teeth, flat and low, with a slight smile; practice ash, catch, pat, wax.

Explain the ay spelling rule, where two vowels cancel the second and yield the long a; reveal exceptional patterns with examples like wait, great, they, and neighbor.

Explore the spelling rule for the eh sound with let and other examples, and review exceptional patterns like a, ea, ai, and ie that produce eh.

Explore the spelling rule for the AE sound as in fast, review exceptions like AI and AU, and memorize common AE spellings such as Plaid and laughter.

Practice five front vowels with spelling and IPA symbols, confirm knowledge via quizzes, and begin the project by creating five words and sentences, then download the detailed PDF in resources.

Explore back vowels in American English by arching the tongue to resonate in the back of the mouth, and drill UU, Uu, and OH with spelling and IPA notes.

Master the uu vowel as in boot by arching the back of the tongue high behind the lower front teeth with forward pursed lips; after y it forms letter u.

Master the back vowel Uu as in 'book' with the tongue tip behind the lower front teeth. Lower the jaw and keep the mouth neutral to produce the short U.

master the oh vowel as in boat, a back vowel with tongue behind the lower front teeth and rounded lips, then glide to the short u as in book.

Master spelling rule for uu sound, where two vowels cancel the second and yield a long first vowel, with patterns oo, ou, ew, eau as in suit, boot, you, beauty.

Explore how the uu sound is represented beyond the spelling rule, through 'oo' as in book and boot, single 'u' as in push, 'oul' in could, and 'o' in woman.

Explore the oh spelling patterns, from the two-vowel rule in boat to o as in go, ow in snow, and ough in though, with a concluding spelling quiz.

Move into the next section while reflecting on the sounds and words drilled for uu, Uu, and oh, then revisit your project to choose words from back vowels, ipa symbols.

Drill the back vowel sounds aw and ah, focusing on tongue position, lip rounding, and mouth openness, while mastering spelling rules, IPA symbols, and pronunciation of all studied sounds.

Master the AW vowel as in bought, a back vowel. The tongue sits behind the lower front teeth, with rounded lips and a more open mouth than for oh.

Explore the ah vowel as in father, a back vowel with tongue tip behind the lower front teeth and the back of the tongue lowered, distinct from ae across languages.

Explore the AW sound and its spellings in English, including AW, AU, AUGH, OUGH, O, and AL. See examples such as law, bought, caught, walk, and the mnemonic sentence.

Explore how the ah sound in father is spelled, covering the one-vowel rule, exceptional patterns like watch and calm, and silent l words such as palm and almond.

pull out your project and take three actions to advance vowel drills: create keyword phrases for the five back vowels, revise sentences, and annotate target sounds with ipa using charts.

Master the er sounds in american english, including 'bird' and the unstressed 'er' in 'paper.' Start drills with two-syllable words and learn about syllables and multi-syllable spelling in section nine.

Explore the er vowel as in bird, with the tongue raised toward the upper gum ridge, a buzzing airflow, and progressive practice using words like nurse, word, and bird.

Master the vowel er as in paper, a middle sound with relaxed lips and a tongue tip toward the gum ridge, shorter and unstressed like in bird.

Explore the er sound in American English pronunciation, focusing on common spellings across er, ir, ur, or, ear, ere, and yr, with notable exceptions such as were and colonel.

Complete section seven by crafting words and sentences for the two middle vowels, annotating with IPA symbols, and revising back vowel sentences, then prepare to record yourself.

Drill and spell the last two middle vowel sounds—the 'uh' in about and the 'er' in paper—highlighting the 'uh' in unstressed syllables, with word drills and section nine spelling preview.

Master the schwa, the vowel 'uh' as in about, the most frequent English sound. Learn its neutral, relaxed mouth position and how it differs from cup's 'uh' and father's 'ah'.

Explore the schwa 'uh' in unstressed syllables, including when to use 'er' versus 'uh', spellings for A, E, I, O, U, and OU, and a preview of multi-syllable word stress.

Explore the spelling rule for the UH sound and its exceptional spellings, including love, son, sun, won, ton, young, rough, and double, with a follow-up spelling and IPA quiz.

Move back into your project to drill the last two middle vowels, craft keyword sentences with IPA, then record all 14 sentences and complete the self-assessment worksheet.

Complete section eight and review your progress with the self-assessment worksheet. Identify areas to improve and recognize what you’re doing well, supporting ongoing course success.

Drill the IY vowel sound and review the five short and long vowel sounds, then examine spelling rules for multisyllable words to predict pronunciation of unfamiliar words.

Explore the diphthong iy as in bite. Learn the mouth movement: start with a front vowel between ae and ah, then rise to ih for a smooth iy.

Explore the iy spelling rules, the long first-vowel pattern, and exceptional spellings like i, igh, y, uy, eye, and eigh.

Explore how English spelling patterns apply to multi-syllable words, focusing on unstressed syllables, the schwa (uh) and er sounds, and how stress determines pronunciation.

Learn how roots, prefixes, and suffixes govern pronunciation in multi-syllable words, with stress on the root and examples like bigger, biggest, remind, plus schwa and ear sounds in unstressed syllables.

Recap the gap between English spelling and pronunciation and celebrate your progress in studying and learning, recognizing the knowledge you've gained through dedicated practice.

Practice and review the diphthongs iy as in bite, ow as in proud, and oi as in boy, learn their spellings and letter combinations, and apply them to your project.

Master the ow vowel as in proud by forming the ah to uu diphthong, with a flat tongue and relaxed jaw, to produce a single ow sound.

Master the vowel OI as in boy, tracing the diphthong from AW to IH with rounded lips and a relaxed jaw.

Learn how the ow sound, as in proud, is spelled mainly with ow or ou, and how au makes the ow sound in sauerkraut, with examples: how, cow, now.

Explore how the sound oi is spelled with oy and oi, with examples like joy, toy, boy, noise, choice, coin, oil, and the unusual uoy in buoyant, plus practice quizzes.

Finish this section by applying two actions to the diphthongs IY, OW, and OI: create a keyword and a sentence for each, then annotate target words with IPA using resources.