Day 6

American Accent Builder – Sample Week 1 Day 6

American Accent Builder – Day 6

Step 1 – Prepare Your Response

Answer the following question.

Your answer should last between 30 – 60 seconds. Be sure to include details, reasons, and examples when appropriate. Try to structure your response like a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Here is the question.

Where did you go on your last vacation?

Take 15 seconds to plan your response. You can probably answer this question fairly quickly, but try to think of ways to extend your answer when it is time to speak. Remember, you have to speak between 30 – 60 seconds.

Now take 15 seconds to prepare your response.

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Step 2 – Record Your Response

Preparing and Recording Your Response

This will be uncomfortable at first, but record your voice using an app on your phone or this link to Online Voice Recorder

When you are ready, begin to speak.

You can stop and re-record if you would like. However, do not record the same response more than three times (after three times, you will start getting annoyed).

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Step 3 – Analyze Your Response

Analyzing Your Response

Listen back to your response and answer the following questions:

1. What two words, phrases, or parts of your response are you happy with? (try not to say ‘nothing’)

Write your response in your Workbook

BAD RESPONSE: My example was good.
GOOD RESPONSE: My pronunciation of the phrase “reason for” sounded more like a native speaker. I also did a good job in linking the sounds in the phrase “to the”.

2. What two words, phrases, or parts of your response do you feel you need to improve? (try not to say ‘everything’)

Write your response in your Workbook

BAD RESPONSE: All of my content was wrong.
GOOD RESPONSE: I need to improve my pronunciation of the phrase “this is why”. I also need to get better at being able to say “he” or “she” correctly in the moment.

3. On a scale of 1 – 10, ten being the best score and one being the worst score, what score would you give yourself?

Write your response in your Workbook

BAD RESPONSE: A 2 because it was terrible.
GOOD RESPONSE: A 5 because I spoke for a good amount of time and I answered the question, but I feel like there were a lot of grammatical mistakes in my speech.

4. Write down any additional thoughts, ideas or notes you have about your speaking.

Write your response in your Workbook

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Your Secret Weapon – Voice Typing

“I figured I’d go through with you really quickly how to use Voice Typing, your secret weapon. You’re going to use it to analyze your response. A lot of students complain that they don’t have a teacher to analyze their speaking all the time so Voice Typing is a great alternative to that and I wanted to show you what that looks like…”

The Explore Section

“Welcome to the Explore Section, the section that most agree is the most difficult part of the course. I’m going to show you exactly what you need to do, so you have nothing to worry about. This part of your everyday reps takes the most active thought and participation but the goal here is to fix stubborn grammar and pronunciation mistakes…”

Step 4 – Youglish Hunting

How to Explore Youglish

Directions: In the previous section, “Analyze Your Response”, you identified one or two words and phrases you would like to improve. Search these above words and phrases on Youglish. Pick two sentences for each of the words or phrases you need to improve and write them down below. Shadow the speaker’s delivery on Youglish (think of other phrases if you can not find it on Youglish).

For example (pronunciation): “this is why”

Example 1: This is why I call motivated reasoning “soldier mindset”. – link
Example 2: This is why it’s so painful when we experience disconnection. – link

For example (grammar): “telling the difference between ‘he’ and ‘she’”

Example 1: Now one of the things he talked about in your TEDx talk… – link
Example 2: It might be awkward if he or she is in the room… – link

Where did you go on your last vacation?

After you repeat the same pronunciation and grammar point, move on to the next section where you will practice using it.

Write your response on a piece of paper

Where did you go on your last vacation?

***Listen back to the examples on Youglish and try to match their pronunciation of the word or phrase you are struggling with.

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Step 5 – Sentence Building

Sentence Building

Directions: Reading is easy but speaking in the moment is a challenge. Think of ways to combine the spoken grammar or pronunciation you are having trouble articulating in a new sentence.

Start simple. Let’s imagine that your problem is subject-verb agreement, for example, you might say, “He like dogs”, instead of the phrase “He likes dogs”.

Step 1: Write the sentence on a piece of paper and then turn it over. Say it. (He likes dogs.)

Step 2: Now, expand on the simple sentence. (My older brother likes dogs.)

Step 3: Write it down, turn the paper over and say it aloud.

Step 4: Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have 1-2 sentences that include more than 15 words.

Some people believe that dogs are man’s best friend. I never liked dogs, but my older brother loves dogs because they are cute.

***Bonus Step: Say the sentence aloud (without reading), and time yourself. Continue to re-record until you can utter the same sentence two seconds faster than the original recording.

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Step 6 – Answer Again

Directions: Now that you have identified a few of your spoken errors, it’s time to practice responding again. Focus on fixing the “mistakes” you made in the original response.

The goal is to improve on your weaknesses, NOT respond to the question perfectly.

Where did you go on your last vacation?

Provide a response between 30-60 seconds.
Recording is optional.

You want to focus instead on your weaknesses and overall feeling about your progress.

Step 7 – Identifying Thought Groups

What Are Thought Groups?

Sometimes referred to as chunking, thought groups are utilized by native speakers to organize information into comprehensible chunks that the listener can easily understand.

Below, you will see a transcript of a North American’s response to this same question. Pause after each sentence and try to identify just 1 or 2 thought groups per sentence.

For this exercise, only 1-2 instances of thought groups have been identified in each sentence. We have NOT identified every single thought group. The goal is NOT to be 100% correct all the time (and that would be really boring!). The goal is to for you to get used to the typical North American speech patterns. Over time, you will acquire a sense of the speech music of North American English and speak in the same manner without even thinking about it.

***This exercise has been designed for you to guess the answers first. However, if after practicing for a few weeks you find this task dull or easy, then you can skip it and simply shadow. No matter how you decide to practice, be sure to stop after each sentence and shadow, paying careful attention to pausing between thought groups.

Listen to the audio at the link below.

Where did you go on your last vacation?

Transcript

So, my last vacation was to Costa Rica, / and while I did work a little, / I had a lot of free time and we did a ton of the, you know, / usual tourist activities. For example, / one of my favorite days was when we went swimming in a local spot in a river, / then we went out to dinner / at a restaurant on a mountain and the view was just amazing! I will always remember that day. Costa Rica is a great vacation spot / because the weather is fantastic / no matter where you go and there is just always something to do.

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Step 8 – Identify the Stress

What Is Stress?

In English, when we talk about stress, we mean the words and phrases that are expressed stronger than others within a given clause or sentence. When you speak, you will put more stress on words that are important. Stress is crucial to help the listener understand the intent of your message.

For this exercise, only 1-2 instances of stress have been identified in each sentence. We have NOT identified every single stressed word and syllable. The goal is NOT to be 100% correct all the time (and that would be really boring!). The goal is to for you to get used to the typical North American speech patterns. Over time, you will acquire a sense of the speech music of North American English and speak in the same manner without even thinking about it.

Listen to the audio at the link below.

Where did you go on your last vacation?

Transcript

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Step 9 – Identify Reduced Sounds

What Are Reduced Sounds?

Americans tend to speak a bit faster when compared to the British. We bring words together and reduce sounds. This is particularly true for articles (a, an, the), prepositions (on, in, at), and conjunctions (and, or, but). Unless these words are crucial to understanding the message of a sentence — as we discussed in the stress section — they are usually reduced and pronounced together with their surrounding words.

For this exercise, only 1-2 instances of connections have been identified in each sentence. We have NOT identified every single connected word and phrase. The goal is NOT to be 100% correct all the time (and that would be really boring!). The goal is to for you to get used to the typical North American speech patterns. Over time, you will acquire a sense of the speech music of North American English and speak in the same manner without even thinking about it.

Listen to the audio at the link below.

Where did you go on your last vacation?

Transcript

So, my last vacation was to Costa Rica, / and while I did work a little, / I had a lot of free time and we did a ton of the, you know, / usual tourist activities. For example, / one of my favorite days was when we went swimming in a local spot in a river, / then we went out to dinner / at a restaurant on a mountain and the view was just amazing! I will always remember that day. Costa Rica is a great vacation spot / because the weather is fantastic / no matter where you go and there is just always something to do.

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Step 10 – Identify Intonation

What Is Intonation?

Intonation is a change in the pitch of your voice. Like in stress, you change intonation to signify a shift in mood or attitude. Intonation often happens at the end of a sentence. A downward intonation implies certainty while an upward intonation implies curiosity. Most of the time, you will end sentences with a downward intonation, and when you see a comma in the middle sentence, your intonation will be upward.

For this exercise, only 1-2 instances of connections have been identified in each sentence. We have NOT identified every single point of intonation. The goal is NOT to be 100% correct all the time (and that would be really boring!). The goal is to for you to get used to the typical North American speech patterns. Over time, you will acquire a sense of the speech music of North American English and speak in the same manner without even thinking about it.

Listen to the audio at the link below.

Where did you go on your last vacation?

Transcript

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Step 11 – Shadow a North American’s Response

What Is Shadowing?

Listen to this response to the same question by a North American speaker. Stop every sentence or two and repeat what he or she said. Be sure to try and match the same stress, rhythm, and flow of the speaker.

DO NOT WORRY if you are struggling to speak the same way, that’s why you are here. Just do your best and note down any weaknesses you notice.

Listen to the audio at the link below.

Where did you go on your last vacation?

Transcript

Three Ways to Practice

“You started shadowing, you’re probably getting excited that these are the types of things that you wanted to practice, you wanted to dissect a little bit about how a North American speaks. Right now, we’re going to talk about three different ways for you to practice analyzing thought groups, stress, reduced sounds, and intonation…”

The Right Answer Is Overrated

“The correct answer is overrated. What do I mean by that? When we obsess over getting the correct answers, like we do in school, we forget about getting used to the moments in which we have to speak. That’s why I say the correct answer is overrated…”

Step 12 – Re-record

Now that you have thought about this question A LOT more, try to answer it again.
When you are ready, begin to speak.

Be sure to keep in mind the “weaknesses” you mentioned in the beginning and some of the speaking patterns you learned while analyzing the model response.

Where did you go on your last vacation?

Take 15 seconds to plan and then record your response.

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Step 13 – Reflect on Your Progress

Reflect Again… Seriously

Every class ends with a couple of short reflective questions that will take just two minutes to answer. Take the time to complete it in order to get the most important points from this lesson to stick in your memory.

1. What are two things you learned about your pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, or overall manner of speaking?

Write your response on a piece of paper

2. Write down one sentence you want to say “perfectly”.

Write your response on a piece of paper

3. Write down one specific word, phrase or sentence you still need to work on.

Write your response on a piece of paper

And that’s it, you are done for the day!

See you tomorrow 😉

Answer Key

Where did you go on your last vacation?

Extra Resources

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