Improve Your American Accent - The K Method Accent Reduction

• Again you will learn what happened at Stanford, hearing Sargent Shriver, speak, which allowed Andy to hear a GREAT speaker.

• He spoke so beautifully that Andy signed up to go teach in Ethiopia, Africa, to teach for 2 years as a volunteer. He taught in a small village in Eritrea.

• His way of speaking, pointed out to Andy, the beauty of someone speaking beautiful, clear, thoughtful, sounding English.

• This is the way YOU want to talk. The way YOU WILL END UP talking.

• Andy talks about working in Hollywood and how he began to love the way actors were speaking. He will teach you that speaking like an actor is totally connected with speaking without your accent.

• Andy discusses teaching the 4 actors on the Jackie Chan movie, "The Forbidden Kingdom." Each actor improved so much! You will do the same.

• Andy will have you speaking your words like Sargent Shriver, and actors, and the Jackie Chan actors did.

• Andy will have you speaking words and sentences along with him and hopefully start speaking words and sentences without your accent.

• Andy was working in Hollywood for 14 years.

• How would that help you? Everyday on a movie set, Andy started to hear the actors speak. And over time, he loved the way actors talked: slowly and clearly. You will learn to speak that way. It will help make your accent go away.

• Then you will hear about Andy teaching the 4 actors on the Jackie Chan movie. They all had accents and in the movie they spoke with either no accent (Yifei Liu) and just a little accent (Li Bing Bing). The man who played the Emperor of China, Mr. Wang de Shun, who could not speak even one word of English, ended up speaking with absolutely NO ACCENT, in the movie.

  
  

  • Again, you will learn the events that led to the discovery of Andy's accent reduction program.

  • In the previous chapter you heard Andy talk about the great speech by Sargent Shriver which pointed out to Andy the beauty of someone speaking beautiful, clear, thoughtful sounding English. The way YOU want to talk. The way YOU will end up talking.

  • Andy talks about working in Hollywood and how he began to love the way actors were speaking. He will teach you that speaking like an actor is totally connected with speaking without your accent.

  • Andy discusses teaching the 4 actors on the Jackie Chan movie, "The Forbidden Kingdom." Each actor improved so much! You will do the same.

  • Andy will have you speaking your words like Sargent Shriver, and actors, and the Jackie Chan actors did.

  • Andy will have you speaking words and sentences along with him and hopefully start speaking words and sentences without your accent.

Again, you will learn how Andy's life in Hollywood, at the Warner Bros studio started to open his eyes as to how actors were talking  while he was hired extras on 1000's of shows such as: "Pretty Woman", "Rocky IV", "Cheers" and "Mash", while working for Central Casting.

He taught four actors on Jackie Chan's movie "The Forbidden Kingdom" and their accents happily improved so well and so fast! You really need to know how he done it! I was only able to teach Jackie for 3 hours. Not enough time to much more than a 15% improvement. But Jackie really didn't want my class. If he speaks with no accent, it is not the great character he has created!! But the other actors did!

3 weeks, 3 hours and a day. This is how much time Crystal Liu Yifei spent with Andy while learning to improve her American accent. You may know that she is the star of a Disney movie, "MULAN!" Her accent in this movie is quite minimal. How exciting for her to get this great part!! Andy is SO HAPPY for her. She was a very, very sweet, lovely young woman. And so was her wonderful mother!!

3 hours a day for 3 weeks. It was the time that beautiful and famous actress Li Bing Bing took to dramatically improve her American accent while being coached by Andy with the same method.

And while speaking no English at all, again I tell you Andy managed to coach Mr. Wang de Shun who plays the Emperor of China. Amazing! Right? It's all here in this lecture to get you motivated and starting to use this highly effective Accent Reduction method!

• How did Andy find out he could teach accent reduction?

• You will hear how an American movie producer, filming in Vancouver, asked Andy to teach Canadian actors how to speak American, so they could work on American movies and TV, filmed in Vancouver.

You will learn how Andy went to his father to 'figure out' how both of them spoke the same way, as they both spoke San Francisco and Los Angeles American. Because they both spoke EXACTLY the same. Do you speak like someone in your family when you speak to them in your native language? Well Andy spoke EXACTLY like his father. So he and his father figured out that

• we made certain tongue and lip positions with our mouth

• we used those positions to PUSH OUT AIR

• to make EVERY WORD HAVE A LONG VOWEL

By engaging and completing this lecture you will understand how The Accent Reduction's background, word grouping, tongue and lip positions, pauses, and LONG VOWELS, are very simply explained. You will learn and interact with Andy as you watch each power point, and you can practice anytime.

You'll even see how he got his first student from Africa, an actor, with a very heavy French/Benin accent that totally went away after only 3 hours (and he was just observing the class!)

Get ready to practice some of the examples he has built for you in this lecture and enjoy this ride!

• For the first time in my life, I understood how I was speaking American. Before I just spoke it. But now I knew exactly what I was doing.

• This all happened in February 1997, 24 years ago. My dad and I figured out that there were 10 tongue and lip positions. In this chapter, you will be introduced to these positions which are a main part of accent reduction.

• The next day, something happened. A MIRACLE. I started teaching a group of Canadian actors how to speak this American way, so they could get work on American movies and TV shows.

• A man from Africa, Francis, asked to join the class. I almost said, "no," because I didn't think I could teach a man with a strong African accent. But it was very cold outside, so I let him sit, and he began to speak without his accent, by following what I was teaching the Canadian actors to do. It was easy for him and it will be easy for you!!

• So in this chapter you will learn all the tongue and lip positions.

Again, this chapter is most important because it explains in detail the 26 letters of the alphabet + Th and how the K Method has them divided into 10 easy to learn groups: AEIOU BMP CKG DJNT FV H L W TH

Once you learn each position, you can use it to push out the air and make the LONG VOWELS. There are many, many practice sentences to help you master this very important aspect of Accent Reduction.

• In this chapter we will focus on how to make every word have a long vowel. That is the most important way that Accent Reduction, and speaking beautiful English happens.

• You will learn to put the focus on the first letter of each word, and when you take in air, and then force out air, you are able to make the long vowel.

• Watch how Andy uses his hand to make the long vowel.

• At the end Andy introduces you to the 10 main groups of alphabet positions, which you will learn. And learning them will allow you to create the LONG VOWELS.

Again, at the end of this chapter, you will be able to understand why words need to have long vowels. I have designed this lecture as an activity one so you can practice directly while seeing the presentation and with the help of my guidance. So it's a very easy practice and it ill take you just a few minutes to be one step ahead while trying to improve your American accent. Remember to note down the main important things that appeal to you from this lecture. Important: The American accent is a way of speaking that uses TONGUE and LIP positions. Those positions allow you to push out air to make the LONG VOWELS, which make Accent Reduction happen. I don't really want you to speak American, but you need to speak this way to make your foreign accent go away. I have 1000's of comments from my students. They are all true. You  can contact me and I will send you comments from students who speak your native language and have raved about my classes.

• Andy teaches you all the details to make each alphabet group:

• AEIOU BMP CKG DJNT FV H L W TH.

• Every group has exact positions. He explains in great detail, how to make each one. He will show you individual words and then using them in sentences.

• Also he talks about the importance of saying each word slowly.

You can let me and your peers know what results you've obtained from this lecture. Feel free to even tell us how your accent improved just after practicing the things I have prepared for you in this lecture. You can use the discussions area of this course and let me know if you need further guidance.

This chapter goes beyond the 5 main steps, as you have learned:

1. SPEAK MORE SLOWLY

2. So, you have TIME to PUT your TONGUE and LIPS in one of the 10 exact positions

3 and 4. Then you need to TAKE IN AIR and FORCE OUT AIR

5. To make every word have a LONG VOWEL.

• what it means to make your VOICE GO DOWN, to sound more thoughtful. When we think, we pause. The pauses give us time to get into the right position.

• you will learn when to say 1 word. When to say 2, and maximum, 3 words. Speaking this way is not random. It is very exact, which will help you when you try to speak by yourself.

• You will learn that the 10 groups of letters are divided into EASY and HARD letters. They determine when you can say 2 or 3 words. You will read many sentences along with me to start to feel comfortable speaking this way.

• You will learn how to group words.

• In the beginning you will learn how to speak 1 word, or two words, or 3 words only. Never 4, for now.

• In this chapter, you will practice putting a sentence into exact groups. You will not guess how to CLUMP (or group) words

• You will learn when to speak just one word. When do you say 2 words, and when 3 words, or

• Sometimes, you will speak 2 words + 1 word. You will learn the EASY letter AND then the HARD letters.

• Easy are: AEIOU CKG H RSY.

• The hard letters are: BMP DJNT FV L W TH. Knowing these groups will help you speak without your accent.

• Finally you will learn the two times you will only say ONE WORD! You will learn that 80% of the time you will speak 2 words. 10% one word. 10% three words.

• Andy begins to summarize the 5 main points of accent reduction.

• And then he concentrates on what it means to take in air before you say the word.

• By the end of this presentation, you will be able to understand the whole Accent Reduction technique of The K Method and you will be one of the many students that have come to learn, practice and use all the elements Andy has designed to speak without your foreign accent, by using the American accent.

• Again, this chapter includes practice paragraphs, which are grouped to help keep your accent away and has some examples of everyday sentences you might speak.

It is very important for you to use this lecture as a self-evaluation tool and notice what you have learned from this course and what else you still need to practice. So I suggest that you try and speak your NEW WAY as often as you can, using the most important things from the K Method.

I am preparing another presentation with about 150 power points, with different sentences and more detail about the Method. I hope you will check it out and see it as another successful way to make your accent GO AWAY!!

• Andy discusses briefly discuss additional points you will learn in the future such as:

  • every word in accent is like a WEDGE. You will learn to focus on the first letter of each word.

  • You will learn that there are no SYLLABLES in this method.

  • There is also, in the beginning NO INTONATION.

  • Then you will read 2 paragraphs with Andy and he will help you speak the words without your accent. The 2 paragraphs are about BEES and MOZART.

  Each of these paragraphs are clumped or properly grouped.

  When you learn how to group words properly, you can keep your accent away.

  • Finally you will speak some sample sentences that you might speak in real life.

  • Then Andy wishes you good luck and hopes that you have benefited from this course.

In this section, I am giving even more information to you regarding syllables, intonation, speaking and reading paragraphs, speaking to others without your accent. I hope this lesson has given you the confidence to try speaking without your foreign accent. It is using the elements of the American accent, to make this happen. I hope you will write comments and message me with any questions. Thank you so much.