"Fifty, nifty United States from thirteen original colonies; Fifty, nifty stars on the flag that billows so beautifully in the breeze!"

These are the first lines of a song I learned and LOVED way back in second grade. It's one of those that sticks with you. Even though I'm now 43, I...

Homophones are words that sound the same but have a different meaning, spelling or both!

Some homophones are pretty common and known, such as too/two or there/their.

Others homophones are more surprising. 

In this lesson, we'll practice 15 pairs you may not be aware of so you...

**Click here to grab the practice PDF that goes along with this lesson.**

Which shoes should I choose? Maybe we could each purchase a pair and share?

Whew! Those CH and SH sounds can be TRICKY and may sound very much the same to you.

This makes it difficult to...

**Click here to grab the practice PDF that goes along with this lesson.**

Sometimes you just need to spell things out. L-I-T-E-R-A-L-L-Y.

Especially when sharing personal information like your name or address. Especially when sharing this type of info over the phone.

...

Last week, I helped student in The Clear English Academy who had a vowel stuck in her nose!

Not quite the same amount of drama as that time when I was 8 and my cousin Mitch got a pea stuck up his nose... 

But still something that needs attention!

In this lesson, I'll show you how...

As if English pronunciation isn’t tricky enough, did you know there are actually hidden sounds in many words?

I know!

Specifically, I’m talking about hidden /y/ and /w/ sounds that often occur between syllables.

If there’s a particular word that, no matter how much...

An S Cluster?

What the heck is an S Cluster?

As I stood on stage my head began to spin and a strange feeling spread through my stomach. I suddenly struggled to stay upright.

A description of a serious case of stage fright AND a sentence full of S-Cluster words.

An S Cluster word is a word...

When we think of confusing English words, ENTREPRENEUR definitely comes to mind.

This word has come up several times recently with my Clear English Academy members, and I wanted to share how we break down the pronunciation of this word to make it so much easier to say. :)

...

With everything happening in the world right now, this word is heard and spoken daily: WAR.

It's a tough topic and it can be a challenging word to pronounce.

There are only 3 letters. It seems like it should be pretty straightforward. But some of the actual sounds in this word...

We added a new fur baby to the family this week!

She is seriously precious and hilariously curious.

I'm not sure our older pup agrees, but she's being gracious!

Precious, gracious, curious, hilarious, serious... each of these words ends in IOUS yet the...