Accent Modification Toronto
Speak Clearly and with Confidence!
Accent modification—is it for you? The English Circle private 1-on-1 tutoring program will help you reduce your accent –whether your goal is accent modification to speak clearly or to sound more like a native Canadian speaker.
Our certified teachers or linguistics specialists will examine your accent, intonation, pronunciation, voice quality, and word connections and teach you what you need to do in order to speak with a standard Canadian accent.
The word “accent” simply refers to the way someone pronounces a language. You may speak English with a ”foreign accent’ because English is not your first language. Generally speaking, you are only aware of your accent when you sound different from the local people around you. When you embark on a program to change your accent, this is known as “accent modification” or “accent reduction.”
Do You Have Communication Difficulties?
Sometimes people may have communication difficulties because of their accent. For example, there is cause for concern when:
• People frequently don’t understand you
• You feel frustrated when you are asked to repeat yourself
• Your accent is a source of concern and embarrassment
• Your accent is negatively affecting your chances of promotion or advancement at work
• It seems that people notice or comment on your accent more than they pay attention to what you are saying!
These types of communication problems may negatively affect self-esteem, and it is not unusual for a person with an accent to feel uncomfortable in social and work situations. Other than clear speech, what other problems are there? Well, this is very subjective—but some accents may be perceived as more pleasant or unpleasant than others. Whatever your native language, you don’t want to hear that people perceive you as having an accent that is described as “heavy”, “strong” or “thick.” At worst, if you use a foreign intonation when speaking English, you may be perceived as rude, aggressive or just irritating.
How Can You Improve Your Speech?
Accent modification training does require hard work, practice, and the help of a qualified teacher to coach you. It is possible to change your speech and modify your accent. You copy your teacher as you learn to speak clearly and reinforce learning by getting lots of practice.
The English Circle will give you everything you need to speak clearly, listen to and hear yourself and hear others. Understanding the “music” and rhythm of the English language is important if you want to improve pronunciation skills. It is essential to know how to pronounce all the vowel and consonant sounds– but this is only the beginning! Our successful approach is to focus our instruction on the general way the English tongue should sound, such as general speaking habits, volume, stress, rhythm, and intonation. Accent Modification 1-on-1 tutoring will help you:
- Identify and produce the sounds of Canadian speech
- Improve your confidence when speaking
- Pronounce the sounds of English as individual sounds (vowels & consonants), and in words, sentences, and in conversation
- Develop correct stress, intonation and rhythm
Develop Self Confidence
Impress your employer, colleagues, clients and job interviewers with clear English. Many people realize that good English can have a positive impact on their work performance and communication with others. They want to perfect their spoken English as much as possible by speaking with a more neutral accent . Working with a private English tutor and coach is the best way to improve your speech so that you feel more confident in the workplace.
A Description of the Accent Modification Course
The accent modification course is an introductory course which will assist you in developing your pronunciation skills. The course can be completed in 13 weeks (2 hours of lessons per week) or in 25 weeks (1 hour of lessons per week). Every week, students will have 105 minutes of homework.
1. Individual Sounds
Through a series of challenging exercises, students will gain a thorough understanding of the manner and place of articulation for various sounds including the “th”, /v/, /w/, /r/, /ɚ/, /ɝ/, dark /l/, schwa /ə/, and flapped /t/ sounds.
2. Stress
Students will learn the importance of stressing the right syllables and reducing vowel sounds in order to maintain the correct rhythm.
-word stress
-sentence stress
-stress in numbers
-stress in compound nouns
-stress in two-, three-, four-, and five-syllable words
-vowel reduction and the schwa sound
3. Connected Speech
Students will learn to connect sounds in order to sound more natural.
-Strong/Weak forms
-Linking consonants to vowels
-Linking consonants to consonants
-Linking vowels to vowels
-Contractions
4. Rhythm
Students will learn how the timing of a sentence with only a few words is the same as a sentence which has more words.
-Stress-timed languages vs. Syllable-timed languages
5. Thought Groups
Students will also learn how pausing can affect the meaning of a sentence and improve clarity.
-Pausing
-Chunking language
6. Intonation
Intonation refers to the pitch changes produced by the rise and fall of the voice. Students will learn to use intonation to sound more interesting during oral presentations.
-Final (Rising-Falling)
-Final (Rising)
-Non-final (Rising-Falling)
-Continuation rise
-Tag Questions
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