Speech Modification SMART American Accent Training

In this listen and repeat shadowing practice, we use common phrases with should have (should've), would have (would've) and could have (could've), as well as the negatives shouldn't have (shouldn't've), couldn't have (couldn't've) and wouldn't have (wouldn't've). Practice integrating these contractions into fluent speech in short phrases.

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One of the error patterns which is common for non-native speakers of English is to say an extra syllable in certain words. This usually occurs because the spelled word looks like it should have additional sounds/syllables, or the root word has a different syllable pattern.

Here are some words to work on, written so you can see the syllables:

Different DIF rint

Difference DIF rinss

General GEN rul

Groceries GROS(H) reez

Vegetables V...

In this shadowing lesson, we work on intonation for verbs with and without phrasal verbs.

Here are the phrases we cover in this lesson:

That's where she ran. That's where she ran into it!

They play soccer after school. Just play along with it for now.

He walks to work every day. Let's walk through the notes.

I don't know where to look. She will look out for her younger brother.

She reads books before bedtime. Le...

In this advanced mix and match practice, we work on integrating vowel schwa and vowel /ɑ/ into phrases. Many speakers struggle with differentiating vowel schwa and vowel /ɑ/ as in "nut" and "not." In this listen and repeat practice, we use common phrases with these vowels to help you master the vowels in fluent speaking.

For more basic practice and learning these two vowels, check out this video: https://youtu....

In typical intonation patterns, we stress the last content word in a phrase, which is sometimes the verb. But in a phrasal verb, the meaning is contained in the preposition which follows the verb, so it gets the stress instead of the verb.  For example, we stress play in the phrase I like to play. But we stress out the phrase Let's see how it plays out.

Phrasal verbs covered: run into, play along, walk through, look out for, ...

Sometimes, an L at the end of the word functions as a syllabic L.  That is to say, it functions as a full syllable (a vowel and a consonant).  It sounds like /əl/ or /ʊl/, with a the vowel being very short and reduced.

One strategy for making syllabic L sound natural is to practice using words with ʊl to shape the syllabic L.  For words with ble, try saying bull, then shorten and reduce the vowel to "bl." For exampl...

Learn and practice the correct intonation patterns for compound nouns. Stress the first syllable or first word in a compound noun phrase.

repeated phrases: I need the, it's in the, where's my did you see the, what happened in the, what about the, see you by the

compound nouns: toothbrush classroom bookshelf waterfall football raincoat headache pancake moonlight newspaper jellyfish toothpaste hairbrush sunlight doorbell bac...

In this fluent speaking practice, we work on phrases with Flap T plus /ər/, like "better, water, lighter, and tighter." Listen and repeat everyday phrases with these words in this mix and match practice.

phrases: getting, it's been, it's gotten, I'm feeling

targets: better wetter water sweeter greater flatter tighter lighter

Video for this lesson: https://youtu.be/cd8lrclnOp4

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Words that begin with the letters CON usually say /kɑn/ "KAHN" when they are stressed, and /kən/ "kn" when they are unstressed. For example, "content" the noun sounds like "KAHN tent" and "content" the adjective sounds like "kn TENT."

We'll do a mix and match listen and repeat practice with this set of verbs, adjectives and nouns:

consider, concerned, convey, concludes...