Self-Guided Online Accent
Reduction Class

This first course will transform your English pronunciation by learning the most important skill for reducing accent known as American intonation. Most people speak from the melody patterns or rules from their first language causing English to sound too fast, monotone or choppy causing a clarity issue.

You will learn an easy technique called the Speech Stairs Strategy that will give you the framework for how to speak English clearly and with the American rules. The habits from your first language will be minimized or eliminated. You will notice improvement with clarity and confidence in about three weeks.

By the end, the following will be achieved:

• Speaking English clearly using the Speech Stairs Strategy, the American rule for culturally correct and easy to understand English
• Eliminate the habits that cause unclear English such as sounding monotone, or speaking too fast, forceful or choppy
• Implement three real-world strategies for practicing your new skills at work and in the community
• Apply new strategies for speaking in meetings or giving a presentation clearly

Enjoy speaking clearly and grow your executive presence as you express your points by learning advanced American intonation techniques. Increase your leadership persona by eliminating weak vocabulary, use of filler words (a poor American habit), and other behaviors that can minimize your authority. By the end of this course, you will be speaking with American intonation at the conversational level with new skills on how to enhance your leadership image by speaking effectively and with more persuasion.

 By the end, the following will be achieved:

• Speaking with American intonation at the conversational level for complex conversation such as leading meetings or delivering a high stakes presentation
• Identifying the three types of up-speak/question inflection and utilize strategies to eliminate it (This habit may be cultural but it diminishes leadership persona in American business)
• Replacing minimizing vocabulary with more relevant terminology
• Appling strategic pauses to become a more powerful speaker
• Posing questions to sound more like an authority with your subject
• Appling the “cure” to stop “verbal viruses” from discrediting your message. A bad American speech habit of using filler words such as (um, uh, like, so, etc.)

Often due to culture, the voice can sound too high or thin in pitch, or have too much nasality. This course will teach you how to place your voice to speak with tones that are strong, powerful, and can project from your best vocal pitch range.

You will learn American resonance and how to place speech in the center of your mouth and away from the nasal cavity or the wall of the throat. Communication will sound more professional, clear and culturally correct.

By the end, the following will be achieved:

• Speaking from your stronger and more powerful voice
• Accessing the “power spot” in your voice through several approaches
• Eliminating a voice that sounds weak, too high in pitch, or has too much nasal resonance
• Understanding the three types of American resonance and where to place your speech for successful accent reduction
• Communicating with American oral resonance to have more culturally correct and polished English pronunciation

Often accented speakers who come from a language where the speech is mostly monotone or too fast, speak from a shallow chest breath. This can lead to not having enough air to finish a thought or leaving the voice feeling strained at the end of a long conversation. Learning how to speak from a diaphragm breath will give you enough air to finish your thought and be a useful strategy for fast speech. Communicating your valuable points will be more fluid and comfortable from full breaths.

By the end, the following will be achieved:

• Completing the 4-levels on how to achieve diaphragm breathing
• Coordinating diaphragm breathing and talking at the conversational level
• Eliminating short and shallow chest breathing
• Utilizing diaphragm breathing as a strategy for managing speech anxiety
• Increasing vocal power with improved projection

Learn all of the missing or mispronounced sounds from your English. Although it may seem that your accent has a lot of mistakes, having a foreign accent has more to do with incorrect use of American intonation as opposed to missing sounds. Typical accented speakers only need to learn a few sounds such as /th/ since it does not exist in most languages. Sounds that involve lip and jaw movement such as /f, v, w, r, p, b, m/ are often mispronounced since many cultures do not move their lips or jaw enough for what is required for American English. Some cultural groups require help on specific sounds such as /ch or sh/. Regardless of which sounds need support, all American consonants have full video instruction with audio files in this course.

By the end, the following will be achieved:

• Learning how to correctly pronounce all American consonant sounds
• Understanding the common mistakes made with sounds and how to correct each one
• Identifying unique nuances of American English that will further improve clarity
• Applying strategies for pronouncing sounds correctly at the conversational level

Learn all of the American vowel sounds. Understand the differences from front, center and back vowel sounds and how these correlate with American resonance. This course also takes a deep dive into vocalic /R/ and /L/.

Much of what will make vowels better approximate to correct pronunciation is speaking with American oral resonance where sounds are placed in the mouth cavity and not in the lower throat or nasal cavity. This course is very comprehensive with multiple exercises on how to pronounce vowel sounds more clearly and closer to the American style.

By the end, the following will be achieved:

• Learning how to correctly pronounce all American vowel sounds
• Speaking with American oral resonance at the conversational level for culturally correct and professional sounding English
• Understanding how important lip and jaw movements are for correctly pronouncing vowel sounds
• Pronouncing vocalic /R/ and /L/ with improved accuracy

Now that you have successfully reduced your accent, learn how to deliver a presentation that sounds clear, smart, and memorable. This BONUS course will teach you how to apply American intonation in a way that will make you an interesting storyteller. This course teaches how to organize content in a concise manner and organize slides in a modern style that is more visually pleasing for your audience. If delivering a presentation has been undesirable due to struggles with an accent or speech anxiety in the past, you will walk away with many proven physical and cognitive strategies that will increase confidence. Body language techniques are presented for how to look confident and what to do with those hands. By the end of this course, you will be looking forward to your next presentation.

By the end, the following will be achieved:

• Understanding how to be an interesting storyteller for every type of presentation
• Learning how to “ground yourself” to appear confident before saying your first word
• Developing an action plan for combating state fright with proven physical and cognitive strategies
• Organizing slide content according to modern principles (less is more)
• Learning multiple strategies for answering unexpected questions and managing audience expectations
• Applying a variety of body language techniques that demonstrate confidence and authority for both in-person and online presentations