Onsite Programs - For Foreign Born Professionals
Accent Improvement

Description:

People who participate in this accent reduction program gain increased accuracy in pronouncing individual sounds, rhythm, and syllable stress of American English.

Objectives

• Identify the confusing parts of your pronunciation with an Accent Diagnosis
• Pronounce American vowel and consonant sounds accurately (accent reduction)
• Reduce choppiness caused by pronouncing all syllables of equal length
• Pronounce words, names, and phrases accurately
• Gain increased self confidence
• Distinguish sounds and words that may sound alike to you
• Speak slowly enough to articulate the ends of words clearly
• Improve your grammatical accuracy by pronouncing the ends of words

Methodology

Pre-course accent diagnosis and post-course evaluation; group, paired, and individual exercises; daily practice with Accent Improvement audiotapes/CDs.  Enrollment is limited to 6- 12 participants to increase coaching and personal interaction.

Scheduling

This 24-hour training program is offered in one of the following formats:

• 1 2-hour session per week for 12 weeks
• 1 2.5-hour session per week for 10 weeks
• 1 3-hour session per week for 8 weeks

What You Learn

General

• Identify your articulation errors
• Practice sound discrimination by listening and speaking
• Learn and practice the correct articulatory positions for accurate sound production
• Learn techniques and rules for on-going practice, self monitoring, and improvement
• Practice correct pronunciation for high frequency words in your work environment
• Identify homonyms (e.g. kernel/colonel), which are pronounced the same, and pairs of words that should be pronounced differently (e.g. card/cards) 

Rhythm and Linking

• Practice the rhythm of American English with vowel lengthening
• Apply rules for linking words to create smoother-sounding statements and questions 

Intonation and Stress

• Identify word, phrase and sentence stress
• Diagram sentence and question intonation pattern
• Learn how intonation changes communicate different messages and attitudes 

Reduction

• Learn how vowels and consonants are reduced in informal speech
• Improve listening comprehension of reduced speech

Target Audience
Non-native speakers of English.

To speak with an LSA Expert and learn about training program customization and delivery options onsite at your company, please contact us.