#TBT “Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!” And the /W/ Sound in English

Posted on Aug 13 2015 - 11:00am by PopESL

It’s throwback Thursday! Did you ever watch “Wow! Wow! Wubbzy” on Nick Jr? It’s the animated show that premiered in August 2006.  Wubbzy was a fun, lovable cartoon character who loved to play and was very silly.  His friends were Widget, Walden and Daizy. Who was your favorite?

We use /w/ consonant sound to pronounce his name, Wubbzy. When speaking this voiced sound in English, keep in mind you will need a lot of lip rounding.  It’s similar to the /oo/ sound in “zoo”. You make the /w/ sound on your lips. They are open like an “O” shape and move outward. Here’s a helpful video with instructions.

Keep in mind the /w/ sound has several common spellings:

w– with, wild, worm, weekend, we

  • Be careful about “wr” pronounced as “r” like in “wring” and “wrap.”

wh– what, while, when, whip, white

  • Be careful about “wh” followed by “o” that usually makes an /h/ sound like “who” and “whole.”

qu- quake, quiet, queen, question, liquid, frequent

  • The /w/ sound follows a /k/ sound in these words.

Here are some practice sentences to practice your /w/s:

When watching the throwback Wow! Wow! Wubzzy, who will you see? We’ll see Wubbzy and his friends, Widget, Walden and Daizy acting wild and weird. They will run around in their wacky world with each other and wallow in fun. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s watch!

And if you’re curious about Wubbzy check this out!

 

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