$ 500

Sound School 4.0 VIP

Sound School 4.0 é o único curso personalizado para brasileiros focado na pronúncia e na conversação.

Week 1: Introduction 👋

In Week 1, we will give you an overview of all of the tools and resources that are included in Sound School 4.0 VIP.

You will also get know Alexia & Foster and learn more about the language learning philosophies that drive Inglês Nu E Cru.

Finally, you will do some crazy exercises and be introduced to your first weekly challenge.

Let's do it!

Meet Foster 👋

Meet Alexia! Your support and cobaia 🐷

Our Story: Inglês Nu E Cru 🇧🇷🇺🇸

Our Philosophy - English for Humans 🌍

How to Train Any Sound: Your Language Learning Superpower

Imitation Exercise: How to Overcome Your Language Learning Fears

Imitation Exercise Audio

Week 1: Introduction Challenge!

Foster's Introduction Challenge Video

Alexia's Introduction Challenge

Alexia Intro Analysis Audio

Instructions for feedback 📹

First Weekly Challenge 💪🏻

Course Resources

Hello! In this section, we will cover some of the resources that will help you during the course and continue to help you after.

(approximate time to complete 20-30 minutes)

The idea with this first section of the course is to give you an idea of what to expect from the course and be more familiar with the different aspects of the course structure.

After you have taken a quick look at the resources, it's time to get started! 🙌

Introduction to Sound School Resources

Video-aulas 📹

Pronunciation Beats 🎧

Minimal Pairs 🤔

Most Common Mistakes 💯

Personal Feedback Sessions

Weekly Challenges 💪🏻

Audio explanation of the course structure 🎧

Suggestions for organizing your studies 🤓

Ask Me Anything (AMA)

The Sounds of English E-Book

Week 2: Fixed Vowels

Week 2 is all about vowels!

Vowels are fundamental to fluency. English has a lot of them and the way we pronounce them have no connection with the way we write in English.

In the next two sections, you will find:

Video-classes for fixed vowels ✔️
Video-classes for moving vowels ✔️
Tons of pronunciation beats ✔️
Lots of minimal pair training ✔️
Comprehensive feedback session! ✔️
Awesome challenges ✔️

Let's do this thing! 🙌

Week 2 Introduction Video 📹

Introduction To Vowels - More Than A, E, I, O, U 🤭

Tongue Position: Your new best friend 👅

/EE/ as in me, she, we 📹

Beats: /EE/ 🎧

/AW/ as in law, fought, caught 📹

Beats: /AW/ 🎧

/AH/ as in job, box, father 📹

Beats: /AH/ 🎧

/EH/ as in bed, red, instead 📹

Beats: /EH/ 🎧

/AA/ as in cat, hat, apple 🍎

Beats: /AA/ 🎧

/OO/ as in you, blue, through

Beats: /OO/ 🎧

"The Other U" as in book, could, good, push

Beats: "The Other U" 🎧

Minimal Pairs: /AH/ X /UH/ 🎧

Minimal Pairs: /EE/ x /IH/ 🎧

Minimal Pairs: /AA/ X /EH/ 🎧

Minimal Pairs: /AH/ X /AA/ 🎧

Minimal Pairs: /EH/ X /IH/ 🎧

Most common mistakes: Fixed Vowels

Alexia, Analyzed - Fixed Vowels 💁🏻‍♀️

Feedback Session: Fixed Vowels

Week 2 Challenge: 15 Minute Conversation 🤭

Week 3: Moving Vowels

This week, we are going to talk about moving vowels.

Naturally, moving vowels require movement. So, get your tongue loose and get ready to move! 🕺

Introduction to Moving Vowels 📹

/AI/ as in try, nice, bye, right 📹

Beats: /AI/ 🎧

/OH/ as in no, go, show 📹

Beats: /OH/ 🎧

/EI/ as in hey, say, rain 📹

Beats: /EI/ 1 Syllable 🎧

Beats: /EI/ 2 Syllables 🎧

Beats: /EI/ 3 Syllables 🎧

/OW/ as in now, how, power 📹

Beats: /OW/ 🎧

/OI/ as in boy, toy, choice

Alexia, Analyzed - Moving Vowels 💁🏻‍♀️

Feedback Session: Moving Vowels

Week 3 Challenge: Introduction 🏋️‍♀️

Where are you from? 🌎

I'm from Brazil 🇧🇷

What do you do for work? 👩🏻‍💻

I'm a chemical engineer 👨🏻‍🔬

What did you study in school? 👨‍🏫

I studied business administration 📈

What do you like to do in your free time? 🏄‍♂️

I like to read books, go to the beach, and other things 📕

Alexia, Analyzed - Week 3 Phrases 💁🏻‍♀️

Week 3 Challenge Feedback 🎧

Week 4: Consonants

Introduction to Consonants

So you can think of consonants like the opposite of vowels. With vowels, air flows freely and unobstructed. With consonants, the passage of air is blocked.

This means that we use some part of our speech organ, it can be our lips, our tongue, our teeth, whatever.

Sometimes we stop airflow completely, sometimes only partially, the key difference is that we stop the passage of air in some way, shape, or form.

Like vowels, consonants have three key features:

Place of Articulation—where in you stop airflow. For example, if you close your lips completely, then the place of articulation is your lips.

Manner of Articulation—refers to how you produce the sound. Is it a full stop? Is a little bit of air still passing through? For example, for, with the f sound, it is not a complete stop. You still have a little bit of air passing through when your say Foster. fffffoster.

Phonology—is the sound voiced or voiceless? That means do your vocal cords vibrate when you produce the sound. For example, what is the difference between a T and D sound? Voicing.

I know these are complicated linguistic terms, but don’t let them frighten you. We are simply referring to where and how we are stopping air when we produce sounds.

(quick note: in this section we are focusing more on the concept of consonants to make sure you are comfortable with the basics. We will cover more difficult consonants, like the TH & the American R sound, in other sections in the course.)

Let's do this! Good luck 👍

Week 4 - Introduction! 🙌

Introduction to Consonants: English is not that difficult 😅

Voicing: Understanding your voice box 📹

Quick note about consonant pairs...

Consonant Pairs: P & B 📹

Minimal Pairs: B X P 🎧

Consonant Pairs: T & D 📹

Minimal Pairs: T X D 🎧

Consonant Pairs: G & K 📹

Minimal Pairs: G X K 🎧

Consonant Pairs: V & F 📹

Minimal Pairs: V X F 🎧

Week 4 - Feedback session 👨🏻‍🏫

Alexia, Analyzed - Consonant Pairs 💁🏻‍♀️

Week 4 Challenge 🏋🏻‍♂️

Alexia, Analyzed - Vowels vs. Consonants 💁🏻‍♀️

Week 5: The Schwa Sound 🤭

Welcome to Week 5!

In this section, we are talking about the schwa sound.

If you have no idea what the schwa sound is, don't worry. We will explain everything this week. 😀

If you already have some experience with the schwa, get ready for new information, bad jokes, and probably our most difficult challenge yet!

If you have no idea what the schwa sound is, be prepared to learn a lot!

So without further ado, let's get straight into the schwa.

Introduction to the Schwa 📹

Written Representations of the Schwa 📹

Stressed-timed language 📹

Reductions in English 📹

Beats: Schwa Two-Syllable Beginning 🎧

Beats: Schwa Two-Syllable End 🎧

Beats: Schwa Three-Syllable Variations 🎧

Soundtracks: Schwa Dialogue 🎼

Inglês Nu E Cru Rádio - O som mais importante em inglês 🎧

Week 5: Schwa Feedback Session 🙃

Alexia, Analyzed - Schwa Phrases 💁🏻‍♀️

Week 5: Schwa Challenge 🕺

Alexia, Analyzed - Explanation of the schwa sound 💁🏻‍♀️

Week 6: /TH/ Bite your Tongue! 👅

In week 6, we are going to spend an entire week (yes, a whole week!) on the TH sound.

The reason we dedicated an entire week to this one sound is because it is super difficult for Brazilians.

First, this sound doesn't exist in Portuguese. So it is totally new for you. As you will see during the next couple of weeks, sounds that don't exist in Portuguese will usually be the most difficult ones to master.

Secondly, the TH is a crazy sound even for native English speakers. I had a lisp (língua presa) when I was young, so I had to work for years to say the TH sound correctly.

Finally, the TH is super common. Many students think that they will be fine without really training the TH. But if you think about the last sentence I wrote - there were 5 TH's. So, yeah. It's important.

So let's get ready to bite our tongues until they bleed (joking), and start training this crazy sound! 👅

Introduction to the TH 📹

The TH in practice 📹

Beats: /TH/ at the beginning of words 🎧

Beats: /TH/ in the middle 🎧

Beats: /TH/ at the end of words 🎧

Beats: /THR/ 🎧

Minimal Pairs: /TH/ X /F/ Minimal Pairs 🎧

/TH/ Phrase Training #1 🏋️‍♀️

/TH/ Phrase Training #2 🏋️‍♀️

Soundtracks: TH Dialogue 🎼

Week 6: Feedback Session: /TH/ 👍

Alexia, Analyzed - TH Sound 💁🏻‍♀️

Week 7: How to speak in the past like a native 👍

In this section, we are talking about the past.

The past is confusing, I know. We have so many different tenses, participles, etc.

But with a little pronunciation training, you can simplify the past significantly.

So, without further ado, let's travel into the past.

Introduction to the past sounds in English 📹

The /ID/ Sound in English 📹

Beats: /ID/ 🎧

Beats: /T/ 🎧

Beats: /D/ 🎧

Soundtracks: Speaking in the past #1 🎼

Soundtracks: Speaking in the past #2 🎼

Feedback Session: Speaking in the past 🏋️‍♀️

Alexia, Analyzed - Speaking in the Past 💁🏻‍♀️

Week 7 Challenge: What did you do yesterday?

Alexia, Analyzed - What did you do yesterday? 💁🏻‍♀️

Week 8: The 3 T's of English

Hey guys! So in this week’s lesson we are talking about the Three T’s of English.

So most people think there are just one T, but in reality there are at least three, maybe more depending on the way you count it.

And I know the difference between T sounds, seems a little unnecessary, but it is super important. First, we are getting more advanced, so we can focus on the minor details and the nuances.

Secondly, the we use these three T sounds all of the time in English. And English speakers will really notice when you use them incorrectly. You need to have the capacity to produce them very naturally.

Finally, these different T sounds give you the ability to speak much faster. You know when you hear English speakers speaking extremely fast, and you are thinking, “Why are they talking so fast?” It is probably because of these T sounds.

So, in this section we are going to divide them into three T sounds: the true T, the flap T, and the stop T.

OK, that is enough of me talking in this introduction. Let’s get started with the true T.

Introduction: The 3 T's of English

The True T 📹

The Flap T 📹

The Stop T 📹

Beats: The 3 T's of English 🎧

Feedback Session: 3 T's of English 🙌

Alexia, Analyzed - The 3 T's of English 💁🏻‍♀️

Challenge: Which T is it? 🤔

T Challenge: Answer Key 👍

Week 9: The American R Sound 🤭

In this section, we are talking all about the American R sound.

The R sound is one of the most difficult sounds in English because it is a very difficult sound with a variety of different representations. Depending on where you are from in Brazil, this sound might be easier or harder for you.

Regardless of your place of birth, the American R sound is fundamental for fluency, so let's dive straight into it!

Intro to the American R 📹

How to Produce the Beginning R Sound 📹

Ending R and R Colored Vowels 📹

Beats: R Sounds 🎧

Soundtracks: R Dialogue 🎼

Feedback: The American /R/ 🏋️‍♀️

Alexia, Analyzed - /R/ Variations 💁🏻‍♀️

Challenge: Tongue-twisters to train the /R/ sound 👅

Alexia, Analyzed - /R/ Tongue Twisters 💁🏻‍♀️

Week 10: Final M & N 🙊

In this section, we are talking about the Final M & N sounds in English. Although these sounds seem simple and should be easy to correct, bad habits are hard to break.

Final M & N Introduction 📹

Introduction: Final /M/ 📹

Introduction to Nasal Vowels 👃

Final N Introduction 📹

Beats: /M/ One Syllable 🎧

Beats: /M/ Two Syllables 🎧

Minimal Pairs: /M/ X /N/

Beats: Final /M/ Phrases 🎧

Week 10 Challenge: Ask me Anything 🤔

Alexia, Analyzed - Final /M/ & /N/ 💁🏻‍♀️

Feedback: The Final /M/ and /N/ 💪🏻

Week 11: Questions? 🤔

When you are learning English or any new language, questions are your best friend. And learning how to ask questions is an art.

You have to use the right words, the correct pronunciation, the appropriate intonation.

Questions are so important because they continue the conversation.

Introduction to Questions 🤔

Types of questions 🤔

Questions: Where? 🎧

Questions: When? 🎧

Questions: Do? 🎧

Questions: Are? 🎧

Questions: What? 🎧

Questions: How? 🎧

Questions: Have you ever? 🎧

Questions: Could 🎧

Questions: Would? 🎧

Feedback: Any Questions? 💪🏻

Challenge: Creating your script 📖

Creating your script instructions

Alexia, Analyzed - Script Creation 💁🏻‍♀️

Week 12: The Dark L

In this section, we are going to take an in depth look into one of the most difficult sounds for non-native speakers in English: the Dark L.

The Dark L is really hard for a variety of reasons. It doesn't exist in Portuguese. It is actually not just one sound but a collection of movements. Even some native English speakers have problems with the Dark L.

But don't worry, we will take it one step at a time.

Strap on your seatbelts. Let's do the Dark L.

The Dark L Introduction 📹

What is the Dark L? 📹

How to Produce the Dark L 👅

Dark L Minimal Pairs & Variations 📹

Beats: Dark L Words 🎧

Beats: P & B + L Combination 🎧

Beats: T + L Combination 🎧

Beats: R+L Combination 🎧

Phrases to train the Dark L 🗣

Feedback: Dark L Phrases 🙌

Week 13: The scary /IH/ sound

This week, we are talking about the intimidating /IH/ sound. This is a tricky sound for most Brazilians, but we promise after some training you will have it! Good luck!

Introduction to the /IH/ Sound

Comparison of the /EE/ X /IH/ sounds

Minimal Pairs /IH/ X /EE/

Minimal Pairs: /EH/ X /IH/

Como pronunciar o som do /IH/ em inglês

Como pronunciar o som do /IH/ em inglês (worksheet)

Feedback: /IH/ Phrases 😬

Challenge: Face your fears 😎

Week 14: Intonation & Imitation

We are going to start addressing some of the finer points of pronunciation in the next few sections.

This week, our focus is intonation.

Intonation refers to the actual pitch of the sounds we make. Or more simply, the up's and down's in language. I like to think of intonation as the "flow" of the language.

Not many people focus on intonation because it is hard to teach. As you know by now, this is not your normal English course.

So, let's dive straight into intonation 👅

What is intonation and why is it important? 📹

Why is intonation important: Clarity 😌

Why is intonation important? Connection 💏

Why is intonation important? Communication? 📢

How to train intonation? 🤔

Training intonation - The man in the arena 🎩

Focused listening 🎧

Shadowing 🎤

Feedback: Integration

Challenge: Improvisation 💯

Week 15: Intonation Patterns

Ok, so now that we have an idea of what intonation is, we can start using it to our advantage.

There are certain situations where we typically use the same intonation patterns in English.

There are circumstances that happen a lot in English, where we generally use the same types of ups and downs.

And if you can identify these situations and make them automatic, I promise your life will be a lot easier.

So in this section we have 7 different situations where you can find these patterns, and we are going to train each one in more detail.

So let’s do it.

Patterns - An introduction 📹

Patterns - Asking questions 📹

Patterns - Making Statements 📹

Patterns - Lists 📄

Patterns - Stress 😧

Patterns - Contrast 📹

Patterns - Emotions 😬

Patterns - Tag questions

Patterns - Challenge 🏋️‍♂️

Week 16: Habits 💪🏻

This week is a little different than other weeks, in the sense that we are not going to talk directly about English. Instead, we are going to talk about you, and more specifically, your habits.

So, at first, this might seem a little strange, but I promise it will be worth your time and attention. And honestly, this is something that I see so many of our students having problems with and it is something that we should have probably talked about a long time ago.

So before we talk about your specific habits, we need to have a good understanding of what habits are. So, what are habits?

So, the most simple way we can think about habits is habits are behaviors that we perform automatically, with little to no thought.

So this can range from making coffee in the morning to brushing your teeth. So, these automatic actions end up accounting for a lot of our lives. They simply become part of who we are and what we do every day.

What are habits? 📹

Why are habits important? 🤔

4 steps to habit formation ⓸

How to create good habits for your English 👍

Better English in 15 minutes a day 😲

Challenge - Your 15 minutes 🙉

Week 17: Tools & Techniques - Simple Concepts

Hey guys, so for the next couple of weeks we are going to continue this English course by not focusing on English.

I know that sounds crazy, but this is not your normal English course and I promise all of this will make sense in time.

So, for the next few weeks we are going to focus on what I like to call, “Tools and techniques.” To summarize, these are ideas, strategies, exercises, etc. that will help you continue to improve your English, by yourself, forever.

So, the idea is that with the right tools and techniques, you will continue learning and improving your English without me or Alexia or without any teachers or courses or anything like that.

And I think this is super important for two reasons:

1) Learning a new language is a never-ending process. There will never be one day when you wake up and say, “Oh, I am fluent in English now.” That will never happen. Learning a new language and culture is a lifelong activity and is a constant work in process.

2) And reason number two, you are the only one that can learn a new language. I can give you tips and ideas, I can make corrections, but I cannot transplant my knowledge of the English language into your brain. It does not work like that. At least not yet.

So until we have the technology for me to inject my English into your head, for now, all of the responsibility is on you. That means you need things to help you stay motivated, tools to make sure you a continually improving, and techniques to guarantee that you are on the right path.

So that is what the next few sections are going to be about: tools and techniques. I hope you will like it and find it useful. I’m sure you will. So without further ado, let’s get started with our first week of tools and techniques.

Introduction to tools and techniques 🛠

How NOT to get stuck in English ✔️

Simple Concepts Part I 😊

Simple Concepts Part II 😊

Week 17: Simple Concepts Challenge 🏋🏻‍♂️

Week 18: Tools & Techniques - Complicated Conversation

Complicated Conversations 😲

Explainers 🤔

Explainer Video Examples

Radiohead 🎸

Complicated Conversations: Challenge 🏋🏻‍♂️

Week 19: Tools & Techniques - Music

Introduction to learning with Music 🎸

Learning with music - the process 🥁

Resources for Musical Learning 🎶

Shape of You - Analysis 🙇‍♂️

Shape of You 60% Loop

Shape of you 75% Loop

Shape of you 85% Loop

Shape of you 100% Loop

Week 19: Feedback

Week 19: Challenge 🏋🏻‍♂️

Week 20: The End of Sound School

Sound School - Week 20 - Review

Sound School - Cheat Sheet

Fixed Vowels Review

Moving Vowels Review

Consonants Review

Week 20 - Private Coaching with Foster

Schedule Private Coaching Session with Foster 👨🏻‍🏫

Ask Me Anything Archive

In this section, you can find all of the Ask Me Anything (AMA) questions. We will continue to update this section as we receive new questions.

What is the difference between laughed and left? 🤔

Is the US a perfect place to live? 🇺🇸

Why is it so difficult to have conversations in the beginning? 😲

Why don't more people know about Inglês Nu E Cru? 🙃

Why are R sounds so difficult in English?

How to improve phrasal verbs? 🙀

Are smartphone apps good for language learning?

Why does Inglês Nu E Cru not have a YouTube Channel?

Subtitles or no subtitles?

What should I do when native speakers talk too fast? 🏃‍♂️

How did you choose your profession?

Am I too old to speak English fluently?

How did you and Alexia meet? 💕

How to improve your writing skills? ✏️

Where should I start my travels in USA?

What does lose well mean?

What do I need to come in university in USA?

How do you organize your studies?

How do you start with a new language?

How do you create long sentences in English?

What are you favorite countries?

What countries do you want to visit?

What do you love about travel?

Accent & Pronunciation are the same thing?

Do Foster has any embarrassing moments when trying to speak Portuguese?

5 words to describe yourself, do you have it?

If you could change the world, what would you do?

I'm an introvert, what should I do?

What should I do when I dont have much money to invest in my English studies?

When you have Language Blocks

Music and Foster, what are his favorites?

I need help with the difference between the TH X GH sounds!

Why funerals in the USA are so different?

Do Americans believe in God?

What did you search last on your phones?

Where is Foster on social media?

Slang - informal and formal vocabulary

Qual é a diferença na pronúncia entre SEE e SEA?

Você precisa de um speech therapist para te ajudar com a pronúncia?

Quais são os conectores mais comuns em inglês?

Vocês acham o Google Translator uma boa ferramenta?

Quais são as diferenças de pronúncia entre TO, TWO e TOO?

Você gosta de usar flash cards para estudar?

O processo de aprendizado de uma terceira língua é mais fácil que a segunda?

Quais são as diferenças entre Degree, Certificate e Diploma?

Como que eu faço para deixar de traduzir palavras para português e como melhorar o processo de repetição para entender o real significado de uma palavra?

Como fazer para entender nativos de inglês que não sejam o Foster?

Past Perfect & Present Perfect.mp3

Live Coaching Recordings

In this section, you will find audio recordings from our weekly live coaching sessions.

Why is the pronunciation of the article "a" different?

Should you watch movies and TV shows multiple times?

How can you improve your grammar without studying with the traditional methods?

I have problems talking about my background?

How do we use the expression "ain't?

Live intonation exercise!

Inglês Nu E Cru for kids?

Sound School Live Class - 03/12