One-to-One Coaching
Online
Please contact me to see if I have any availability.
In person
Unfortunately, in-person sessions are currently suspended.
Problems
- Speech is fast, complex, and largely automatic. We can do it because we spent years ‘wiring’ our mother tongue into our minds and bodies. Other accents and languages don’t have this advantage.
- Foreign languages are taught primarily in their written form, and pronunciation teaching is often minimal.
- Typically, learners pronounce foreign words with the wired-in habits of the mother tongue.
Challenges
- If (like many actors) you enjoy copying accents, you may only need help with accuracy and consistency. But most people find it hard to change habits.
- You need to care about distinctions that don’t matter in your mother tongue.
- Your articulators may have to go outside their comfort zone. The right sound may feel wrong.
- Often it’s the most familiar words that need the most work!
The process
- In class, we go through differences between your current habits and your target accent.
- We develop your ability to notice your old habits while speaking, inside and outside class.
- When possible, you correct the mistakes that you notice, on the spot.
- You begin to anticipate and to ‘correct’ issues before they happen.
- New habits are established. More