In this tip today, I'd would like to talk to you a bit about

how we move our jaw and mouth when we speak English

In many other languages like Madarin, Cantonese, Japanese,

Russian and Polish

They use a more closed mouth position than English

In English we move our mouth quite a lot

And we need to open and close our jaw to make many sounds

For example, the sounds "o", "or", and "are"

all have quite an open mouth position

You'll see when I say those, that you can actually see inside my mouth

My teeth open a little bit

Many of my non-native speaking clients

come to me, and they're speaking English like this

They're not opening their mouths, and they're hardly moving their lips

Now, that's very unclear, isn't it?

So what I just said was that many of my non-native speaking clients come to me, and

they're not moving their jaw and they're not moving their lips

And that, in English, is called mumbling

Mumbling, and that's very unclear

A lot of native speakers mumble too

And they are also unclear

So, we need to make sure that you are not mumbling

We need to make sure that you are

moving your jaw and your lips when you speak English

So, over the next few days I'd like you to think about that a little bit more

Shift your awareness to your mouth

Focus on the feeling

The movements of your mouth as you speak

Are you opening your jaw?

Are you moving your lips when you speak English?

Maybe you'll find that you are using the same mouth position

in English as you use when you speak your first language

And that's what we need to change

So, over the next few days

I'd like you to focus on moving and opening your mouth

when you speak English

I have a little exercise for you

Every morning, when you get out of bed

when you are either getting dressed or in the shower

I'd like you to say this phrase five times

moving and opening your mouth, o.k.?

The phrase is:

The phrase is:

I saw sixty-six farmers laughing on the phone

Remember to get your jaw moving, and move your lips!

I saw sixty-six farmers laughing on the phone

So, remember:

Open the jaw, move the lips!

Get your tongue moving!

It's a great way to wake up your mouth, and get it into English mode

Every morning

Ready?

I saw sixty-six farmers laughing on the phone

And again:

I saw sixty-six farmers laughing on the phone

I saw sixty-six farmers laughing on the phone

Do it in front of the mirror

Check your opening and moving

Check that you are not using a Mandarin mouth position

Or a Japanese mouth position

Or a Russian mouth position

Check that you are using good movements for English

Good luck!