| Did you ever wonder about the history of April | | | | - scoot |
| Fool's Day? Apparently, it's all because of King | | | | - shootShort OO sound: |
| Charles IX, way back in 1564. He decided to | | | | - book |
| change the official calendar of France and move | | | | - shook |
| the New Year celebrations from April 1 back to | | | | - rook |
| January 1. Some rebellious Frenchmen were | | | | - took |
| resistant to the change and continued to celebrate | | | | - look |
| the New Year on April 1. They became known as | | | | - cook |
| "April Fools", and it became tradition over the | | | | - hook |
| years to play jokes on people on April 1. Several | | | | - nook |
| other countries have developed their own unique | | | | - cookie |
| April Fool's Day celebrations. In France, the victim | | | | - foot |
| is called an "April fish" and in England he is called a | | | | - soot |
| "noodle". | | | | - stoodNow try saying these practice sentences |
| And this brings me to the English pronunciation tip | | | | out loud: |
| of the day - dealing with the tricky OO sound, as | | | | Long OO |
| in noodle and fool. Often, the OO sound is long, as | | | | The fool tried to look cool on his way to school. |
| in those words and words like school, room, boot, | | | | Use a tool to scoop the dirt. |
| moon, and goose. But occasionally, it has a | | | | A goose is loose in my room. |
| shorter sound, as in book, took, look, cook, foot, | | | | Stay cool! A moose is nearby. |
| and cookie. How do you know which pronunciation | | | | You cannot see the moon at noon. |
| of OO to use when you see it in words? | | | | Oh, shoot! The poodle is eating my noodles. |
| I have come up with a rule that works in most | | | | I need to scoot this plant away from the tree |
| situations: | | | | root. |
| In general, if "oo" is followed by a K, it is short, | | | | Short OO |
| and otherwise, it is long. | | | | I took a look at the book in the nook. |
| Exceptions: foot, soot, and stood, which use the | | | | The cook dropped a cookie on his foot. |
| short sound. | | | | The rook was covered in soot. |
| Try saying the words below out loud: | | | | The fish hook caught in her foot. |
| Long OO sound: | | | | He shook the box of books. |
| - fool | | | | Combined Sounds |
| - tool | | | | Look at that fool eating a cookie at school. |
| - school | | | | Put your foot in the boot before you leave the |
| - cool | | | | room. |
| - scoop | | | | The moose shook his head at the moon. |
| - room | | | | The goose stood on the book at noon. |
| - boot | | | | Be careful! Don't shoot yourself in the foot. |
| - goose | | | | Scoot your poodle away from the nook full of |
| - loose | | | | tools. |
| - moose | | | | Now you've had the chance to practice the OO |
| - moon | | | | sounds. Keep working on them until they feel |
| - noon | | | | natural to you. That way, the English pronunciation |
| - poodle | | | | of the OO sound won't fool you on April Fool's |
| - root | | | | Day or any other day! |
| - noodle | | | | |