Anne Boynard:
"The Clear Talk level 1 course mainly focuses on the pronunciation. In this course, we first learn how to perfectly pronounce consonants and vowels. We also learn the rules to achieve the perfect spoken American. Around the middle of the training, we do some conversations and presentations, which gives new knowledge in both communication and diction. This course is a combination of theory and practice at the same time, which is the best way to improve.
In this course I improved a lot my pronunciation. For the first time, I know how to correctly pronounce all short and long vowels but also some consonants such as ‘r’, ’s’ that are very difficult to pronounce for foreigners. These courses have increased my intelligibility considerably. I now try to listen to myself while speaking and am careful to pronunciation but also to voice volume and pitch. I am now much more confident and understandable in most situations such as on the phone, in meetings and in presentations and I understand much more people speaking.
I highly recommend the Clear Talk level 1 course firstly to anyone who needs to learn the perfect American pronunciation and then to anyone who needs to participate in meetings, presentations and phone conversations. I would like to emphasize that all lessons need to be attended and a minimum of personal training has to be done so that the course is worthwhile."
LingLing Dong:
I did appreciate the classes from Dr.Johnson for I really gained very useful knowledge to work toward to clear talk of English.
First of all, I have learned the correct way to say each vowels and consonants, including sounding position, voice vibration/not, and duration. This is the essential elements to make pronunciation.
Secondly, syllable rules tell us how to split a word into several syllables correctly, so that we know a vowel should be long or short sound in a syllable.
The speech strategies also guide us to use proper level of voice, project the consonants in a noise environment, clearly say each syllable.
Mastering all the skills definitely makes a clearer talk.
The tips I would like to share with new classmates are:
1> learn a right way to start
2> practice the skills until you get it right
3> deliberate practice,and self-correction
4> more practice until it easily comes out in daily life