American English: Important Sounds for Perfect Pronunciation

Learn to Speak Like a Native

This course is designed for the high-intermediate to advanced English speaker who wants to improve their pronunciation of spoken English. It continues to build on concepts learned in the “5 Days to a Better Accent” course. While the "5 Days" course focused on the more rhythmic and melodic aspects of spoken English, this course focuses on individual sounds that can be problematic. The class was created specifically to target the most frequent and characteristic sounds of American English that are typically difficult and/or unknown for non-native English speakers: the schwa, ER, R colored vowels, R, short i, long e, L, ED endings, S, Z and S endings. Focusing on the most high frequency problematic sounds allows you to more quickly and effectively make changes in your pronunciation.

Included in the course is a 70 page downloadable workbook full of practice activities. You will be actively learning in this class. You will find auditory discrimination activities to train your ear to hear key sounds, practice with the International Phonetic Alphabet, and individualized practice. There are activities involving songs and video clips, popular sayings, jokes and American culture, so you will not only learn, but also enjoy your practice sessions. Words used in class examples are taken from English high frequency lists, so you will hear and speak words that you will likely use on a daily basis. In addition, your practice is personalized, using words from your own personal high frequency list, to make your training as relevant and effective as possible. Take the pre and post tests to hear the difference in your speech as a result of the course.