The vowel sound / u: / as in “beauty”.

• Read the instruction to learn how to make the long sound /u:/.

The tongue is in the back part of the mouth. The back of the tongue is raised high in the direction of the soft palate. The soft palate is raised. The tip of the tongue is retracted from the lower teeth. /u:/ is more retracted and close than the English /u/, the distance between the jaws is narrower. The lips are rounded but not protruded, the opening between the lips is smaller and the degree of rounding is greater than for /u/.

• Listen to the target sound and the words and repeat. Look at the mouth diagrams to help you position your lips, tongue and jaw for the target sound. Transcribe the words.

/ u: u: u: /

Spelling variations for the / u: / sound.	Highlighted bold letters are pronounced as / u: /.
oo o ue, oe ui	bloom, food, smooth, loop, school, doom lose, move, do, who, improvement, remove blue, glue, shoes fruit, juice, cruise
Spelling variations for the / ju: / sound.	Highlighted bold letters are pronounced as / ju: /
u ew	tune, tube, music, curious, tulips new, few, Kew, mews

• Read these words with the sound / u:/. Transcribe them.

Fool, shoes, soup, true, moon, do, rude, shoot, crew, group, rule, root, boot, new, too, drew, truth, tool, shoe, lose, who, rouble, threw, move, route, pool, solution, groove, prove.

• Listen to the sentences and repeat. Read each sentence aloud slowly at first, then as if you were telling it to someone in a natural way.

1. Ruth felt in tune with the cool of a June evening and admired the beauty of the moon.

2. There are quite a few music super-stars on the London tube.

3. These new blue shoes look beautiful with a navy blue coat.

4. On our cruise to Bermuda we played snooker with our schooner crew.

5. Coolies are made from juicy fruits and sugar.

6. The music tutor sang a tune on Tuesday for the duke.

7. A few beautiful tulips grew in the school garden in July.

• Listen and copy the intonation and voice modulation on the CD.

I’d a swallow-tail coat of beautiful blue-

A brief which I bought off a booby

A couple of shirts and a collar or two,

And a ring that looked like a ruby!

We sail the ocean blue,

And our saucy ship’s a beauty;

We’re sober men and true,

And attentive to our beauty.

The vowel sound / υ / as in “book”.

• Read the instruction to learn how to make the short sound / υ /.

The whole blade of the tongue is in the back part of the mouth. The back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate. It is raised higher and towards a more front part of the soft palate than in pronouncing the English / o: /, therefore the sound / υ / is defined as more advanced and more close than /o:/. The tip of the tongue is retracted from the lower teeth. The lips are rounded about the same amount as for / o:/ but the mouth is not so open.

• Listen to the target sound and the words and repeat. Look at the mouth diagrams to help you position your lips, tongue and jaw for the target sound. Transcribe the words.

/ υ υ υ /

Spelling variations for the / υ / sound.	Highlighted bold letters are pronounced as / υ /.
u oo, o oul	put, push, full, butcher, spoonful, fulfil, cushion book, look, good, wool, wood, wolf, foot, stood could, would, should

• Read these words with the sound / υ /. Transcribe them.

Look, good, push, sugar, book, pull, foot, look, should, could, full, wolf, took, bush, cook, put, would, puss, wool, butcher.

• Listen to the sentences and repeat. Read each sentence aloud slowly at first, then as if you were telling it to someone in a natural way.

1. Could you put this good Worcester wool in the wooden chest?

2. The butcher saw a wolf looking in every nook for the fallen rook.

3. Our cook couldn’t cook without looking at his cookery book.

4. If I could just get off the hook and get rid of my responsibility to cook.

5. You could easily lose your foothold in the bulrushes by the brook on the way to the “Bull and Bush” pub.

6. If you are preparing a pudding you must have sugar and a good cookery book.

• Listen and copy the intonation and voice modulation on the CD.

Would you take this book!

Could you leave that hook!

Let us walk by foot!

That sounds good!

We could, we would, we should!

• Practice reading the tongue twisters as quickly as you can. Be careful not to mispronounce the target sound / υ /.

1. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck

If a woodchuck could chuck wood?

He would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck

If a woodchuck could chuck wood.

2. Booker Woolsey Cookbook.

Booker Woolsey was a good cook. One day, he took a good look at his full schedule and decided that he could write a good cookbook. He knew that he could, and thought that he should, but he wasn’t sure that he ever would. Once he had made up his mind, he stood up, pulled up a table, took a cushion and put it on a bushel basket of sugar in the kitchen nook. He shook out his writing hand and put his mind to creating a good, good cookbook.

• Listen to the tongue twister. Learn it by heart. Practice saying it as quickly as you can. Be careful not to mispronounce the target sound.

How many cookies could a good cook cook

If a good cook could cook cookies?

A good cook could cook as much cookies

As a good cook who could cook cookies.

• Listen to the words with sounds / u:/ and / υ / in contrast and repeat. Look at the mouth diagrams to help you position your lips.

/υ /	/u: /	/υ /	/u: /
could foot full look put should	clue food fruit loose pool shoes	good wood book took rook soot	glued wound boom true rouge soon

• Listen to the sentences and repeat. Read each sentence aloud slowly at first, then as if you were telling it to someone in a natural way. Mind the highlighted letters.

1. The wounded wolf couldn’t move his foot and soon fell asleep under the bush.

2. Worcester wool would suit beautifully for my new blue suit.

3. Natural foods contribute to a good diet.

4. Behaving loosely could be seen as foolish and wouldn’t improve your look.

5. Good books usually fulfil people’s lives.

• Read the following sentences. Mind the right articulation of the sounds / u: / and / υ /.

2. That cook couldn’t cook if she didn’t look at a cook book.

3. Sue knew too few new tunes on the flute.

4. The cook pushed the crooked stick with her foot.

5. The cookies are good.

6. The poor rabbit hit the bushes.

7. Put the book on the wooden table.

8. My ruler is at school too.

9. Chew your food, Ruth.

10. My shoe is in the pool.

11. Does the moon shine into your room?

12. It’s very cool this noon.

• Listen to the dialogues. Intone them. Learn and reproduce, paying attention to the pronunciation of the sounds / u: / and / υ /, intonation and tempo.

Dialogue 1

- Who would he choose?

- He’d choose you.

- He wouldn’t choose me. I’m much too young. He doesn’t think I could do it.

- Well, if he wouldn’t choose you, who would he choose?

- He’d choose Wood. Wood’s very good.

- Mm. Much too good to be true.

Dialogue 2

- We should be there by two.

- Yes, it’s a full moon and the route’s good.

- I’d put the things in the boot.

- The boot’s full.

- What is that fool put in the boot?

- I wouldn’t look if I were you.

- Or should I say – who’s he put in the boot?

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XI. Learn the following graphical rules:

• Vowel / u: / is represented in spelling by:

1. The letter “u” in open syllables (tune)

Note: It sounds /u:/ preceded by “j, r, l” (June, blue)

2. The digraphs “eu” and “ew” - /ju:/ (neutral, few) BUT: Jew, crew, flew

3. “ui” (suit)

4. The digraph “ou” in words of French origin (group, wound)

5. “oo” (moon, root, pool), “you” (you, youth)

Rare Spellings: beauty, queue, who, whom, whose, do, to, too, two

• Vowel / υ / is represented in spelling by:

1. The diagraph “oo” followed by “k” (book)

2. The letter “u” after “p, b, f”, sometimes “s” (pull, bull, full; sugar)

Irregular Readings: but, bus, butter

Rare Spellings: could, should, would, bouquet, woman, wolf

XII. Find Ukrainian equivalents to the proverbs and sayings, learn them:

/ u: /

10. No news is good news.

11. Bad news has wings.

12. That’s where the shoe pinches.

/ υ /

1. A good beginning makes a good ending.

2. A good cook never cooks while looking into a cookery book.

3. Look before you leap.