A long vowel sound is a sound which is the same as the letter name of the vowel (a, e, i, o, u). These sounds should take slightly longer to speak than the short vowels (with the exception of the short A sound which is also spoken fully). You may need to practice moving your lips or jaw (in exaggerated motions) in order to make clear sounds.

American English has strong vowel sounds. If any of these sounds is incorrect, it is immediately noticed. Time spent mastering these sounds will result in improvement in your pronunciation of American English.

Long A as in “late” -- able, bake, came, great, lay

Fay and Jake like to play at the lake. One day, they made a maze in the hay. The same day, they had rain and hail, so Fay and Jake ran back inside to play games.

Long E as in “need” -- appear, clear, eat, feel, people

Steve had his pet monkey, Eve, in his jeep. Eve is keen on keys, so Steve gave Eve a set of keys to keep.

Long I as in “hi” -- drive, find, high, kind, tie

Jim likes to ride his bike and hide by the lake. Today he rides his bike five miles.

Long O as in “no” -- boat, fold, know, order, snow

Joe likes Rose, so he tells her jokes. Rose does not smile at the jokes. "Woe is me," moans Joe. "I have no hope. I will be alone, with no Rose."

Long U as in “due” -- amuse, cute, excuse, huge, June

Judy has a jukebox in her room. Luke likes to play with the jukebox, but he will not pay. "My jukebox is not free," says Judy. "If you want tunes, you must pay."

Discussion Questions:

l. Why are you learning to speak English?

2. Besides attending this class, what else are you doing to improve your conversational English?

3. What do you find easy or difficult about conversational English?