New! (Haptic) English Accent and Pronunciation Course!

Better, confident pronunciation in three months 

• Course dates: October 3rd ~ December 18th (10 Lessons)
• Created for students who really want to improve their accent or pronunciation but do not have the time or schedule to attend a regular course--and are pretty good at studying on their own. 
• Fees: $300 USD ($420 CAD) - First two lessons are FREE!

Features of the course:

• Designed for post-secondary-age, nonnative English speaking learners
• Haptic (makes extensive use of body movement, gesture and touch)
• Materials provided'
• 80% attendance required to receive certificate
• Oral interview required to take the course.
• The course is based on the latest neuroscientific research on how the brain and voice and body  must work together for optimal performance and memory

Weekly (online) schedule:

• Thursday, anytime – view 30-minute recorded lecture.
• Daily homework of 20-30 minutes.
• The following Wednesday (at 9 a.m. PST or 6 p.m. PST) attend live, feedback class on Zoom. (You can also view the recorded session, beginning Friday morning.)

For additional information or to schedule an enrollment interview email: wracton@gmail.com.

Bill Acton, PhD, is an internationally recognized expert in the field of pronunciation teaching. His unique style of teaching pronunciation, developed over the last 40 years, the KINETIK Method, makes  leaning and changing pronunciation more efficient, memorable--and fun! For more about Bill's research and publications goto his website: www.actonhaptic.com. 

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Some Definitions:

• Accent could use improvement: Makes you difficult to understand sometimes when you speak quickly or are a little stressed!
• Pronunciation needs improvement: Makes you difficult to understand sometimes, even when you speak slowly.

SO . . . how does this work? How can this work? 

The key is something close to full-body engagement in the process, very much in the spirit of the Lessac method which featured both embodied speaking and extensive oral reading during homework. This course is primarily focused on "hacks," as opposed to "widgets," which come in only the last couple of lessons. Hacks encourage improvement indirectly, the usual stuff of homework, applied outside of conversational interaction, like rhythm exercises or word lists. Widgets, on the other hand are techniques we can use to alter or enhance our speech, moment by moment, without interfering much with thinking or coherence, like slowing down your rate of speaking or modifiing your posture, etc. 

Most of the work in this course involves various types of embodied oral reading, that is text that is synchronized with especially designed. gesture and touch, called Movement, tone and touch techniques (MT3s). MT3s provide an extraordinary quality of ongoing attention and emotional engagement that should strengthen  the learner's ability to change articulation of sounds and sound patterns and recall that later, plus integrate change improvement into their spontaneous speech. In addition, most of the readings involve confidence-building routines and and related voice resonance techniques. 

*Group, class and school rates available.