About the course.

The next 8-week course will begin in June 2024.

Course Objective:

Having completed all 32 hours of the course, the student will be able to hear and speak the sounds, intonation, stress and rhythm of American English. The student will be delighted with his/her understanding and speaking abilities and have a template for their continued listening and speaking practice.

How does it work?

This online course will meet twice a week for two hours each day. I will be there in person to demonstrate, teach and encourage you. Half the class will be spent practicing with peers. I will circulate and help every step of the way.

The cost is only $100 per month. For the first 50 students the price will be lowered to $80 or 32 hours of live instruction, practice, and critique for just $5.00 an hour.

The next course will begin the first week in June. When you sign-up and pay for the class you will be asked to choose the days and times that are best for you. The majority will decide and if there are more than 50 enrollments, there may be an option for a second class. You will be asked to make a 2nd and 3rd choice for days and times.

If you are unsure you want to commit, do not register. Instead, send me an email and I will let you know when the first day of class is. You may come to observe and if there is room and you decide to join us, you can pay the fee that day.

Course Syllabus

  • There are 5 vowel letters in the English alphabet, but 15 vowel sounds.. A few words don’t have vowel letters, but all words have at least one vowel sound. Vowel sounds always engage the vocal cords. Pictures and demonstrations will describe how to activate the vocal cords and how to know if they are activated. The tongue, palette, lips, teeth and other parts have different jobs depending on the sound. Students will learn exactly what these parts are doing to make the sound. Students will use mirrors and recorders to see and hear themselves making the sounds and comparing their speech with that of a native speaker. (Voice recordings of a native speaker will be made available for home practice).

  • Consonant sounds are just air; vocal cords are not activated. They are made specifically with the tongue, lips, and teeth. These will be demonstrated, explained and practiced in the same way as the vowels.

  • A syllable is a sound. Most words have between one and five syllables. One or two of the syllables in each word will have a stronger sound than the others. Knowing where and how to stress syllables and words often makes the difference between being understood or not understood when you speak. Some syllables have reduced sound, meaning they are shortened whereas the stressed syllables are lengthened.

  • Thought groups are 2-5 words that form a meaningful picture in your mind. The words “the woman” is a thought group whereas “the” is not.When a speaker pauses at the end of a thought group the listener is then anticipating what might come next. If the speaker pauses in the middle of a thought group, the listener will be confused. Content words are the nouns and verbs. They form the meaning of the sentence.they are the words that are stressed in the sentence and one or two are stressed more than the others.The content words, thought groups, and pauses are what form the rhythm of English.

  • Intonation is the music of a language. In English, our voice usually goes up slightly on the next to last syllable in the sentence and down on the last syllable. If the last syllable is stressed it may start high and then slide down. On questions, the voice goes up on the last syllable?

  • There will be 3 practice and 3 presentation classes. Practice and presentations will include personal critiques from the instructor.