What the song is about

This song is a guided pronunciation lesson. A calm voice tells you how to move your tongue, lips and breath. Then it says single words slowly so you can hear and copy each sound. Between the exercises, a short chorus reminds you to shape the air and listen closely.

The sounds you practice

  • Soft TH /θ/ (no voice, just air): think, thing, three, thumb. Put your tongue between your teeth and breathe out.
  • Hard TH /ð/ (with voice, you feel a vibration): this, that, these, those.
  • TH versus T: tree, time, tall. Compare think – this – tree. For T, the tongue touches the top of the mouth, not the teeth.
  • Short I /ɪ/ versus long EE /iː/: ship – sheep, sit – seat, lip – leap, fit – feet. Pairs like these differ in only one sound. They are called minimal pairs, and changing the sound changes the meaning.
  • W versus V: for W, round your lips (wet, west, wine, wait). For V, your top teeth touch your bottom lip (vet, vest, vine, very). Compare wet – vet and wine – vine.
  • The letter A: one letter, many sounds: cat (short, flat), car (deep, open), cake (long, like a smile), call (round). English spelling does not always show the sound. Learn each word with its pronunciation.

Useful words and expressions

  • Listen carefully / listen close – pay attention with your ears.
  • Breathe out – push air out of your mouth.
  • Compare A with B – look at how two things are different.
  • Round your lips / bite your lip – mouth movements.
  • Practice makes perfect – a common saying: if you do something many times, you get better at it.

Grammar

  • Most lines are imperatives (instructions): Listen. Breathe out. Round your lips. Compare them now. The imperative is just the base verb, with no subject.
  • Let's + verb makes a suggestion for the group: Let's practice the sounds.
  • Listen to takes the preposition to: Listen to the difference.

Watch out

  • "Listen close" is informal. In careful writing, say "listen closely".
  • "Feel the rhythm on the ground" is there mainly to rhyme with sound. It does not have a clear meaning, so don't copy it as a real expression.
  • "Listen to the shape of the mouth" is poetic. Normally you look at a shape and listen to a sound.
  • The labels in brackets, like (Short), (Long) and (Short flat A), are notes about the sounds, not normal sentences.