
Master understanding spoken English as people spell quickly through a series of drills that improve spelling speed, listening, general English comprehension, and accent reduction.
Understand the purpose of IPA symbols in English spelling, with guidance that you don't need to learn them for this course, but they're provided for reference if you choose.
Group the 26 letters into three categories—vowels, nets, and blocks—and show nets start with vowel sounds while blocks start with consonant sounds, including five vowels a e i o u.
Explore how word and letter connection shapes English spelling, with consonants linking to following vowels and vowel-vowel pairs producing yuh or wuh sounds, through focused drills.
Practice drills that focus on pairs of letters in three steps: say the second sound, drill two syllables, and see and say the letter pair, then repeat short words aloud.
Explore the letter names from a to z and how they form the building blocks of English spelling through concise drill-focused instruction.
Practice English spelling through a focused drill called net plus vowel, reinforcing letter-sound relationships with phonetic sequences and common vowel patterns.
Engage in vowel-focused spelling drills that pair letter patterns with sounds. Practice spellings through examples like sale, same, name, fame, and fast.
Practice vowel-vowel combinations and block-vowel drills through a sequence of sounds, featuring examples like team, zeal, peel, goal, and related vowel patterns.
Practice English spelling through letter-name drills, reinforcing block and net patterns and common words such as brief, brave, dream, great, and crush to boost accuracy.
Have you ever noticed how quickly people spell in English? This mini-course takes the mystery out of how people spell and why it can be so difficult to understand them. By using the interactive drills (you must listen and repeat out loud!), you will not only be able to understand the words that people are spelling, you'll be able to say spelled words yourself in a way that flows naturally and is easy to understand. The drills are useful not just for this specific goal, but for general English comprehension, clear speech, and accent reduction.
Eric Thal is a professional actor in film, television, and stage. He has worked as an acting coach and speech and accent reduction teacher for over 15 years. His teaching material includes Accent Reduction: The Eric Thal Way -- a course that examines the sounds of English. This mini-course targets a very specific topic that he has discussed with some of his private clients -- how difficult it is to understand when people spell a word quickly. This detail is important, because it is not uncommon for someone to spell a word -- either if they are not being understood, or to provide exact information, such as their first or last name or a street name.
The mini course is made up of short interactive drills. Listen and repeat out loud and you should notice a shift in your understanding and abilities immediately. A quick, fun, and informative course! The first five quick videos explain some concepts, including the reason spoken spelled words sound the way they do, and instructions on how to understand and get the most out of the drills. The rest of the course is made up of short drills -- designed with precision to quickly get you understanding and speaking these letter combinations and sounds.