# American Pronunciation Coach

> Expert English Pronunciation, Accent Reduction & Fluency


## Posts

- [Use Guiding Principles Rather Than Publisher Exercises to Teach Pronunciation](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/teach-from-guiding-principles-rather-than-methods/): After years (and years) of teaching ESL and EFL, I have distilled my knowledge, skills, and experiences into guiding "principles" in a few areas of teaching, and happily, no longer have to search for materials or buy something a publisher has written and mass-marketed.
- [Hear English Accents From Around the the World](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/english-accents-from-everywhere-in-the-world/): Want to hear what English accents sound like in Belfast, London, Ontario, Alabama, Singapore, Delhi and lots of other places?
- [A Bit of Silliness for teachers!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/for-english-teachers-only/): Just being silly!
- [More on Using SoundCloud for Pronunciation](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/more-on-using-soundcloud-for-pronunciation/): One of the features I like about using SoundCloud for pronunciation feedback is the ability to mark a spot on a student's recording, and write a note about the sound, and attach the note to that place on the recording.
- [Using SoundCloud for Pronunciation Feedback](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/using-soundcloud-for-pronunciation-feedback/): I've been playing with different software, looking for good tools that help English learners and practitioners improve their pronunciation.
- [Get Pronunciation Feedback from EnglishCentral.com](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/pronunciation-feedback/): Englishcentral.com offers video clips for English listening and speaking comprehension, and also pronunciation practice-- and the great part is that you get feedback on your pronunciation.
- [English Pronunciation: Strong and Weak Words](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/strong_and_weak_forms/): Angle Heart, a Facebook Page fan, requested more information about strong and weak forms.
- [Words ending in -ture](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/pronunciation-of-words-ending-in-ture/): Today a client encountered an unfamiliar word ending in -ture; I think it was overture. So we had a brief review of the pronunciation of this end syllable.
- [What Are the Rules for Pronouncing "THE"?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/what-are-the-rules-for-pronouncing-the/): Some people say “thee”; some say “thuh”, many people say both! Here is the short answer for why and when we say them.
- [ELLLO.org MIXERS Really Mix It Up](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/elllo-org-mixers-really-mix-it-up/): Fun English for learners website--I especially like their Mixers: 6 different people speaking English, some with accents, discussing the same topic, for example: their worst haircut, or...asking someone to do them a big favor and take care of their pet.
- [Why two pronunciations of "the"?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/why-2-pronunciations-of-the/): The most common pronunciation of the is with schwa, to rhyme with duh. HOWEVER...people do use both. Let's look at examples to understand why.
- [Dance and Sing Your Way to English Fluency](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/dance-and-sing-your-way-into-fluency/): This YouTube video will get your feet moving, your toes tapping, and your spirits soaring!
- [YouTube  Videos--Short, Fun, and Great Vocabulary!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/vocabulary-development-should-be-fun/): Watch Henri the cat's hilarious existential video, discuss the vocabulary, converse on the topics of New Wave dark films, French cinema, dark or black humor, how cultural humor differs, how cultures perceive their pets, parodies, and puns (pas de deux), as well as how French words emigrated to English and stayed, e.g.
- [Teaching with the Case Method](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/the-case-study-handbook/): Case Study Handbook, How to Read, Discuss, and Write Persuasively About Cases, by William Ellet Published by Harvard Business Review Press, this looks like it will fill a gap--a need for a variety of teaching materials using case studies.
- [Looking for New TESOL Research Publications, or Thinking of Publishing Your Own?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/looking-for-new-tesol-research-publications-or-thinking-of-publishing-yourself/): ScienceDirect® is one of the largest online collections of published scientific research in the world.
- [Discourse Intonation Patterns, Revealed!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/discourse-intonation-patterns/): Here's a text that will get you started thinking abut the purposes and dynamics of intonation at a level not usually covered in ESL/EFL books and materials.
- [American Accent Training, by Ann Cook](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/american-accent-training-by-ann-cook/): Teaching Amerian English pronunciation for the first time? You can only find this used, and you're lucky if you can find it!
- [Philanthropy As It Should Be!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/philanthropy-as-it-should-be/): Even a language teacher can be a global financier! I whole-heartedly support Kiva, and urge you to consider helping the working poor.
- [Knowledge = Power](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/happy-holidays/): WIKIPEDIA: believe...support...learn...nurture...contribute!
- [English for International Negotiations](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/english-for-international-negotiations/): "The role of the teacher becomes that of negotiations coach, facilitator, reference person, and provider of feedback and the classroom becomes a workshop in communication and language skills and cross-cultural awareness development." Drew Rodgers
- [The Best Presentation Skills](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/the-best-presentation-skills/): "Know yourself in order to know other people, comparing your heart with theirs" --- a Chinese proverb which sums up the author's approach to becoming a great presenter.
- [Principles of Politeness](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/principles-of-politeness/): If you've ever lived in another country or with another culture, you quickly realize that politeness rules are not the same.
- [Five-Minute Activities for Business Engish](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/five-minute-activities-for-business-engish/): That's the title of a little book published by Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers.
- [Strategies for working on R and L](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/strategies-for-endemic-pronunciation-problems/): Advanced English learners still struggle with endemic pronunciation problems. Here's a strategy that helps!
- [Rhetoric in Chinese & English Writing](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/rhetorical-differences-between-chinese-english-writing/): Two events converged to bring this paper to my attention. I recently witnessed a Chinese friend's struggles writing his TEFL Master's project.
- [Teaching Comparative Pronunciations to Improve L2 Performance](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/teaching-comparative-phonologies-to-adult-l2-learners/): Thank you for your warm response to my CATESOL presentation on April 24th. I enjoyed speaking to and with you.
- [Rhetorical Grammar](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/rhetorical-grammar/): This book is more than a writing text, and more than a grammar book. Kolln looks at grammar from a rhetorical point of view.
- [What Americans sound like to Italians](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/how-americans-sound-to-italians/): don't try to understand them...it's all gibberish...gotta love YouTube! It really does sound like it should make sense! It's about rhythm.
- [Six Pronunciation Priorities for Beginning Students](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/six-pronunciation-priorities-for-beginning-students/): This is a link to the page where you'll find a pdf of Judy B. Gilbert's contribution to Speak Out!
- [Speech & gesture mutually enhance comprehension](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/2-sides-of-the-same-coin-speech-and-gesture-mutually-interact-to-enhance-comprehension/): A recent post on website Science Codex, 2 sides of the same coin: Speech and gesture mutually interact to enhance comprehension, discusses the connection between speech and gesture, indicating that the two form an integrated system that helps us in language comprehension.
- [5 Ways to Speak Like Obama](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/authentic-text-for-efl-5-ways-to-speak-like-obama-by-sims-wyeth/): We all look for authentic text to use with advanced ESL/EFL students.
- [www.soundcomparisons.com](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/www-soundcomparisons-com/): Want to hear English spoken in every possible regional accent from around the world?
- [trainyouraccent.com](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/trainyouraccent-com/): Understanding the American English accent: conversational English practice.
- [www.manythings.org/pp](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/www-manythings-org/): ESL and EFL. There are quizzes, word games, word puzzles, proverbs, slang expressions, anagrams, a random-sentence generator and other computer assisted language learning activities.
- [www.fonetiks.org](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/www-fonetiks-org/): Fonetiks.org demonstrates different accents in English, as these speakers from all over the English-speaking world pronounce the same words.
- [Magic Dots Stress Pattern Worksheets](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/magic-dots-stress-pattern-worksheets/): Every English word has its own rhythm and stress pattern. Use these worksheets to record words that have the most difficult stress patterns for you!
- [Why the IPA?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/why-the-ipa/): During the last two centuries, many phonetic systems were developed by linguists who wanted to document and compare all the language sounds they encountered in their studies of world languages.
- [Why do Americans pronounce “been” like “bin” but “seen“ not like “sin”?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/why-do-americans-pronounce-been-like-bin-but-seen-not-like-sin/): I have a theory about this. I’ve been teaching English pronunciation a long time, so questions like this come up, over and over. Here’s my thinking.
- [Why Do We Have Different Accents?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/why-do-we-have-different-accents/): If we use our first language sounds, rhythms and tones when we speak the words of another language, this causes “accent”.
- [Is it Comfortable to Say?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/pronunciation-comfortable/): You can call it lazy, or you can call it efficient, but American English tends to eventually reduce or even delete sounds that aren’t really necessary for comprehensibility.
- [Why Do People Pronounce Charles "X-avier"?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/pronunce-javier-vs-x-avier/): the person with the name has decided on a preferred pronunciation and those who know that person use that pronunciation.
- [Why Do I Confuse 'KID' and 'KEY'?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/kid-and-key-pronunciation/): Read Peggy Tharpe's answer to Why do I get so confused pronouncing “kid” and “key”in English?
- [How to Pronounce TH Correctly Every Time!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/how-to-pronounce-th-correctly-every-time/): Read Peggy Tharpe's answer to How can I pronounce “th” in the right way every time, because each time I try to say it, it seems impossible or sounds like S?
- [Open Wide and Say AH](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/letter-o-pronounced-as-ah/): English pronunciation doesn't always match English spelling. Many short words spelled with the letter O actually make a different sound, AH or /ä/.
- [Words That Start With R](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/initial-r-words/): If your first language makes a tongue flick or tap on the roof of your mouth for the R sound, then you are going to be working on the sound of R in English.
- [Common English Words Pronounced with the AE Sound](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/words-with-ae/): The Æ sound in very common in English--many words have it.
- [Phonics & Phonetics, Which is Better?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/phonics-vs-phonetics-better-child/): Is it possible to learn phonetics without having learned phonics first? My son has problem with pronouncing English words.
- [The Difference Between /d/ in Day + /ð/ in They?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/difference-pronunciation-d-d/): These two sounds, D and TH, differ in location—where they’re made, and in manner—how they’re made.
- [Switching Between Languages Pays Off for Bilingual Toddlers](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/switching-languages-pays-off-bilingual-toddlers/): Proficient bilingual toddlers enjoy greater cognitive benefits that their monolingual peers, a new study reports.
- [How much English vocabulary is still Germanic?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/how-much-english-vocabulary-is-still-germanic/): How much English vocabulary is still Germanic?
- [How do stressed and unstressed syllables differ?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/how-do-stressed-and-unstressed-syllables-differ/): Here are the ways stressed and unstressed syllables differ in American speech.
- [Should you use a student's native language when teaching English?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/should-you-use-a-students-native-language-when-teaching-english/): I was teaching elementary school children and used English solely in class. My educational assistant spoke Thai, Lao, and English.
- [How can I figure out the pronunciation rules in US English?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/how-can-i-figure-out-the-pronunciation-rules-in-us-english/): English pronunciation is governed by patterns, not rules. I’ll start with the smallest pieces of sound and work up to larger ones.
- [What is the best way to learn English for kids?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/what-is-the-best-way-to-learn-english-for-kids/): I taught English as a Second Language to children for many years…decades, in fact. Children’s brains are programmed to learn language.
- [I speak too quietly and don't pronounce words clearly. How do I improve my diction? This happens both in English and in Russian.](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/i-speak-too-quietly-and-dont-pronounce-words-clearly-how-do-i-improve-my-diction-this-happens-both-in-english-and-in-russian/): Use your whole body to speak, not just your mouth.
- [If a person can pronounce every word accurately, can he be fluent in connected speech?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/if-a-person-can-pronounce-every-word-accurately-can-he-be-fluent-in-connected-speech/): Connected speech is a skill that is learned once you can pronounce words accurately.
- [Why is the pronunciation of “X” different in the words "exist" and "maximum", in terms of British English rules?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/why-is-the-pronunciation-of-x-different-in-the-words-exist-and-maximum-in-terms-of-british-english-rules/): I can try to answer this from an American English perspective.
- [Why do people pronounce "turmeric" as "tumeric"?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/why-do-people-pronounce-and-spell-turmeric-as-tumeric/): That is a crazy question to ask! Here is the answer.
- [I am insecure about my English. How do I get over this?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/i-am-insecure-about-my-english-how-do-i-get-over-this/): The problem: People tell me I use too many big words! What can I do to sound better?
- [How can I identify the main concepts when reading a chapter in a textbook?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/how-would-you-be-able-to-identify-the-concepts-when-you-are-reading-the-chapter-from-the-textbook-provide-an-example-can-think-of-academ/): Identifying the concepts or main ideas in a chapter of academic text can be challenging in a second language.
- [Are You Having Trouble Understanding English Speakers in Conversations?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/english-intonation-native-speakers/): Do you have trouble following English speakers when you hear them speak?
- [What is the difference in pronunciation between the 2 'th' sounds at the end of words?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/th-sounds-at-end-of-words/): What is the difference in pronunciation between the 'th' sounds, theta and ð, at the end of words?
- [What is the best activity to learn English in an English-speaking country as lonely tourist?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/what-is-the-best-activity-to-learn-english-in-an-english-speaking-country-as-lonely-tourist-2/): My answer to What is the best activity to learn English in an English-speaking country as lonely tourist?
- [What is the difference between phonology and pronunciation?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/what-is-the-difference-between-phonology-and-pronunciation/): My answer to What is the difference between phonology and pronunciation?
- [Best way to learn English in English-speaking country as lonely tourist?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/what-is-the-best-activity-to-learn-english-in-an-english-speaking-country-as-lonely-tourist/): My answer to What is the best activity to learn English in an English-speaking country as lonely tourist?
- [When is the best time for a child to learn English?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/when-is-the-best-time-for-a-child-to-learn-english/): My answer to the question: "When is the best time for a child to learn English?"
- [How Can I Improve My Pronunciation and Intonation?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/improve-pronunciation-intonation/): If you are an advanced student of English and you'd like some help improving your sound in English, contact me here: peggy@AmericanPronunciationCoach.com I help people work on things as small as vowels and consonants, and as big as public speaking--and everything in-between, like stress, rhythm, and intonation.
- [Do English learners make sentences too complicated?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/making-english-sentences-complicated/): Read Peggy Tharpe's answer to Why do many English learners make sentences and phrases more complicated than they need to be?
- [The English Word O.K.'s Origins & Uses](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/english-word-o-k/): [bctt tweet="Check out the origins and uses of the word 'O.K.'" username="peggytharpe"] Theories Abound About the Origins of the English Word 'O.K.'
- [TESOL TEACHER BOOTCAMP!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/tesol-teacher-bootcamp/): Here's the Slideshare on my TESOL Teacher Bootcamp--a course I just put up on Udemy about teaching Vowels! Vowels are the Core of English.
- [TESOLTEACHER PRONUNCIATION BOOTCAMP](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/tesol-pronunciation-teacher-bootcamp/): You can get this course for 50% off right now, for a limited time. Do you teach pronunciation? I do. That's all I've been doing for the past 9 years.
- [Inogolo: pronounce everything from dog breeds to Oscar nominees](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/inogolo-for-pronunciation/): [bctt tweet="Find out how to pronounce anything...from dog breeds to Oscar nominee names on Inogolo."
- [Teaching Pronunciation: 5 Principles](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/5-principles-pronunciation/): Before you begin...this is not a quick read, so if you'd like the e-book version of this post so you can read it later, click here.
- [How to Use Metronomes For English Rhythm and Stress](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/english-rhythm/): One of the hardest things to learn about English is rhythm and stress.
- [Teaching English Phrasal Verbs - A Global Approach, by Rita Baker](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/a-global-approach-to-teaching-phrasal-verbs-efl-magazine-2/): Do you read EFL Magazine?
- [Bilingual Toddlers Enjoy Greater Cognitive Benefits](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/switching-between-languages-pays-off-for-bilingual-toddlers/): Bilingual babies are smarter than monolingual babies, in some ways.
- [Pronunciation Made Easy: English for Portuguese Speakers](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/pronunciation-made-easy/): Pronunciation Made Easy, an e-dictionary that bridges the sounds of Portuguese to the sounds of English, is intuitive and learner-friendly.
- [English Laboratory Explodes! (with a hot new fluency program)](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/english-laboratory-explodes-with-a-hot-new-fluency-program/): English Laboratory has put together a fantastic English fluency program for Spanish speakers.
- [English Speaking - 5 Steps to Fluency](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/5-steps-to-improve-pronunciation-fluency-efl-magazine/): Teaching English pronunciation and intonation is a challenging job. And learning it is even harder.
- [Here's how 'Thank you' sounds to Chinese ears - Business Insider](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/heres-how-thank-you-sounds-to-chinese-ears-business-insider/): My Chinese friends say they notice that Westerners use lots of pleases (qi?ng) and thank yous (xiexie) when speaking Chinese.
- [Mothers' melodies teach babies lyrics of language](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/mothers-melodies-teach-babies-lyrics-of-language/): For 10 years, Fernald and her colleagues and students have traveled worldwide to record mothers interacting with their babies, bringing the tapes back to Stanford for detailed acoustical and linguistic analysis.
- [Sound As Touch - Ann Fernald and RadioLab](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/sound-as-touch-ann-fernald-and-radiolab/): Ann Fernald: "Sound is kind of like touch at a distance."
- [How Babies Form Foundations for Language](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/kuhl-constructs-how-babies-form-foundations-for-language-ei-balance/): In her 2011 TED talk, “The Linguistic Genius of Babies,” Doctor Kuhl discusses how babies under 8 months of age from different cultures can detect sounds in any language from around the world, but adults cannot do this.
- [Hard to Understand = Hard to Remember](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/hard-to-understand-harder-to-remember-eurekalert-science-news/): Recent studies suggest that content delivered in heavily accented speech may be harder for listeners to remember.
- [3-Syllable Word Rhythms](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/1-american-english-pronunciation-coach/): 3-SYLLABLE WORD RHYTHMS Words Ending in -TION, -SION, -CIAN Sharing one of the graphics that will be in Part 2 of English Pronunciation Guide for Japanese Speakers, in the Chapter about Word Rhythms.
- [Vennglish!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/vennglish/): Judy Thompson's interesting Venn diagram showing the mismatch between English' Latin-based script system, and English' phonetic sound system. Our poor students!
- [EPA Vowel Color Chart | Thompson Language Center](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/epa-vowel-color-chart-thompson-language-center/): Teach Pronunciation? Dump the IPA!
- [How bilinguals switch between languages -- ScienceDaily](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/how-bilinguals-switch-between-languages-sciencedaily/): Source: How bilinguals switch between languages -- ScienceDaily [bctt tweet="People know languages use different words + different grammars, but they also use different sounds."
- [What happens in the brain when you learn a language? | Education | The Guardian](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/what-happens-in-the-brain-when-you-learn-a-language-education-the-guardian-3/): When presented with English words containing either of these sounds, brain imaging studies show that only a single region of a Japanese speaker’s brain is activated, whereas in English speakers, two different areas of activation show up, one for each unique sound.
- [What happens in the brain when you learn a language? | Education | The Guardian](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/japanese-to-english-brain-circuitry/): [bctt tweet="For Japanese, hearing, producing differences between English sounds require rewiring of brain circuitry."] Read more here.
- [English Laboratory | Thinking and Dreaming in English](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/english-laboratory-thinking-and-dreaming-in-english/): Source: English Laboratory | Thinking and Dreaming in English [bctt tweet="While you are drifting off to sleep, tell yourself 'tonight I will dream in English.'
- [Help Teaching Initial & Final R](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/heres-help-teaching-initial-r-and-final-r/): Click on the image to view the video and see how Peggy helps students master the pronunciation of initial and final R sounds in English.
- [The Art of Teaching Pronunciation - 2](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/the-art-of-teaching-pronunciation-2/): This is how one can learn to be an expert teacher...invest your time at the start of your career in learning how to do something really well. Focus on it.
- [Pronunciation Guide for Japanese Speakers now available!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/english-4-japanese/): Hi All, I 'm very excited to announce that I've uploaded Part 1 of the AMERICAN ENGLISH FOR JAPANESE SPEAKERS, A GUIDE TO TEACHING PRONUNCIATION.
- [The Art of Teaching Pronunciation - 1](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/the-art-of-teaching-pronunciation/): I believe that teaching is an art, and I've strived my whole life to perfect my craft, which now is teaching pronunciation.
- [Never Give a Presentation Without Being Really Clear About...](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/never-give-a-presentation-without-being-really-clear-about/): I'm working with a client on giving presentations in English, his second language.
- [Giving a Presentation? Speak to 4 audiences.](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/presentation-4-audiences/): In 1998, I began learning everything I could about public speaking and bought The Presenter's Fieldbook: A Practical Guide, by Robert Garmston.
- [My AHA Moment That Changed How I Teach Pronunciation](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/my-aha-moment-that-changed-how-i-teach-pronunciation/): During a "mastermind weekend" at colleague Jennifer England's home in L'Albi Spain last fall, someone asked if I remembered a moment that changed how I teach.
- [English Pronunciation - How to Say Brand Names and Acronyms](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/pronunciation-of-brand-names-and-acronyms/): I just discovered something wonderful! The National Library Service of the U.S.
- [The Sounds of Halloweeeeeeen](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/the-sounds-of-halloweeeeeeen/): I've heard it said that a single page of text can be used to teach all the pronunciations and intonations of English.
- [Forgetting is a Good Thing](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/forgetting-is-a-good-thing/): I have a few "principles" that guide my teaching and planning. One of them is this: Disequilibrium is a good thing."
- [Pronunciation Guru, Dr. Olle Kjellin](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/olle-kjellin/): Dr. Kjellin is a leader in the study of auditory processing and second language learning.
- [Never Stop Trying to Learn Another Language. Your Brain Will Thank You.](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/never-stop-trying/): Even if you never reach fluency and never sound like a native speaker, keep studying...the benefit to your brain is measurable and remarkable!
- [Babies Are Statistical Analysts, Processing Language Sounds](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/babies-are-statistical-analysts-processing-language-sounds/): This is an amazing TedTalk.
- [The Birth of a Word, and What It Means for Pronunciation Teachers](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/the-birth-of-a-word-and-what-it-means-for-pronunciation-teachers/): I teach pronunciation so I'm always interested in how speech and language develops in L1 and L2 (first languages and second languages).
- [Countdown sale for Pronunciation Guide begins June 27!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/countdown-sale-for-pronunciation-guide-begins-june-27/): I'm having an E-BOOK SALES PROMOTION on Amazon.com for "English For Arabic Speakers, A Guide to Pronunciation".
- [Nonverbal Behaviors in International Negotiations](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/nonverbal-behaviors-in-international-negotiations/)
- [On SlideShare, the Table of Contents for Pronunciation Guide](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/on-slideshare-the-table-of-contents-for-pronunciation-guide/): I just uploaded the Table of Contents for my new pronunciation guide.
- [Now Published! American English Pronunciation for Arabic Speakers](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/now-published-american-english-pronunciation-for-arabic-speakers/): I've just published the first in a series of pronunciation books on Amazon.com. I'm very proud and excited about sharing it!
- [Otterwave App for Pronunciation Feedback](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/otterwave-app-for-pronunciation-feedback/): If my pronunciation students have iphones or ipads, I recommend they try out Otterwave, available in the Itunes Store (it's not free).
- [Announcing Our New Radical English Website!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/announcing-our-new-radical-english-website/): Radical English is a mastermind group of ESL/EFL experts that I belong to. We are unveiling our new website today, May 5, 2014.
- [CONtract + conTRACT, Shifting Stress](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/contract-contract-words-that-shift-stress/): There are English words that can be nouns or verbs, depending on their stress.
- [Eligible, Legible, and Illegible](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/eligible-and-illegible/): For Arabic speakers, the pronunciation of these 3 words can be confounding.
- [What Motivates Adult Learners](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/what-motivates-adult-learners/): Knowles' theory, stated simply. I hope I've done him justice.
- [Support Materials for Upcoming E-book](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/support-materials-videos-for-upcoming-e-book/): In a couple of weeks, I'll be publishing an e-book on Kindle and Amazon: I hope you'll find it helpful and informative.
- [Effective Pronunciation Teaching](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/effective-pronunciation-teaching/): Students must learn how the new sounds feel and sound, and build habits with concentrated practice.
- [Audacity, a Free Audio (and visual) Recording Tool](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/audacity-for-recording/): I use Audacity just about every week, to record myself and to record my students.
- [Pronouncing the sound /ae/ in English](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/pronouncing-english-ae/): First, go to the Sounds of Speech website: Find the front vowels, and study the /ae/ sound, noting what the jaw movement and back-of-tongue movement.
- [Unpredictable Pronunciations of Vowel+R in English](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/unconventional-pronunciations-of-vowelr-in-english/)
- [Pronuncing 'a' in 500 Common English Words](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/pronun-of-a-in-500-words/): Learn the pronunciation of the vowel in the stressed syllable, as well as how the 'a' in pronounced. I recommend using m-w.com to hear American pronunciation.
- [Pronunciation-based Listening Exercises](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/pronunciation-based-listening-exercises/): He wants to sell/sail his boat. Show me your bag/back. He loves sweet yams/jams.
- [PREDICTING the Pronunciation of "a" in English Words](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/predicting-the-pronunciation-of-a-in-written-words/): A+L = ah (always, plural, usually, numeral, fall, general, wall, tall, already, signal, equal, decimal, capital, mammal) (except prefixes that change meaning, e.g.
- [How Does Arabic Influence the Pronunciation of English?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/how-does-arabic-influence-the-pronunciation-of-english/): When we learn to speak another language, we must acquire some new sounds and strategies. We may also have to reset how and when we employ stress and timing.
- [Will English or Chinese be the future lingua franca?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/will-english-or-chinese-be-the-future-lingua-franca/): Harvard's Tsedal Neeley discusses our future lingua franca, and advises business leaders on ways to prepare for it.
- [Gestures Aid in Learning English Pronunciation](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/gestures-aid-in-learning-english-pronunciation/): For a few years now, I have been doing empirical research in my one-to-one courses teaching English pronunciation.
- [Psych. Today article supports the Disequilibrium Principle...huh?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/psych-today-article-supports-the-disequilibrium-principle-huh/): If you've scrolled through earlier blogposts, you may have run across my "teaching principles"---realizations I've come to, after decades of teaching ESL and EFL, that have made my teaching of pronunciation (and student learning of it) more effective, more efficient, and more systematic.
- [Anytune, for Controlling Voice Recordings](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/anytune-for-recording-and-controlling-voice-recordings/): With the anytune app you can control the speed of a spoken sample without changing the pitch (how high or low the voice goes).
- [Disruptive Innovation: What Makes Radical Teachers so "radical"?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/disruptive-innovation-what-makes-radical-teachers-so-radical/): Just like Harvard gurus of business, Radical English teachers may espouse the notion of 'disruptive innovation'.
- [English Central & Slideshare Bring You Famous Speeches to Practice](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/famous-speeches-english-central-plus-slideshare/): English Central is a great site for practicing your sound in English and getting valuable feedback about your accuracy. And they have soooo much stuff!
- [To B or Not to V? That is our question.](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/pronunciation-b-v/): Since B and V are the same in Spanish, but different in English, raising awareness of their differences is key for English learners.
- [Principle #3 for teaching pronunciation:  Speaking is unconscious and physical, so...](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/third-principle-for-teaching-pronunciation-speaking-is-unconscious-and-physical-so/): The third "principle" that I keep in mind, when I'm teaching pronunciation, is that speaking is unconscious and physical, so our solutions must address those two conditions.
- [Teaching Intonation](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/teaching-english-intonation/): You can't teach what you don't know. And as native speakers, we don't have to "know" much about our L1 to be able to use it, do we?
- [Professional Development: Teaching Pronunciation ](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/for-esl-and-efl-teachers/): I learned to teach pronunciation well by reading these books, and taking apart all the pieces of English sound, laying them all out on the table (so to speak), and then putting the pieces back together in a way that reflected what I knew about good teaching and learning.
- [Principle #2: Disequilibrium is Good](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/principle-2-disequilibrium-is-good/): Surprise is a great tool for teachers because it makes learners pay close attention.
- [Principle #1 for Teaching Pronunciation](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/guiding-principles-for-teaching-pronunciation/): Patterns are everywhere and we humans are experts as recognizing them, and even creating them. Our brains love patterns.

## Pages

- [ChatGPT and AI](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/chatgpt/): Wow, how time flies!
- [What's A Pronunciation Coach?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/4644-2/): DID YOU KNOW THAT before you were born, you could hear the difference between the prosody of the language spoken by your mother and the prosody of languages spoken by other people nearby her?
- [Vietnamese Accents](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/vietnamese-accents/): If you are difficult to understand when you speak English, you are probably using your first language sound system as you say English words.
- [Q-Tweets](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/tweets/q-tweets/)
- [TWEETS](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/tweets/quora-tweets/)
- [Hi...You're Almost There](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/graphic-organizers-4-esl/)
- [You Made It!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/you-made-it/): An email with the 50% off coupon is finding its way to your email box, even as you read this.
- [Our Privacy Policy](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/welcome/our-privacy-policy/): We collect information from you when you fill out a form or register on our website.When ordering or signing up on our website, you may be asked for your name and email address.
- [NEW FRONT PAGE](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/new-front-page/)
- [Thanks for signing up!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/thanks-4-signing-up/): While you're here, have a look around. This website has lots of free resources for ESL/EFL teachers and students.
- [Pronunciation Guides](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/pronunciation-guides/): Written for ESL and EFL teachers, tutors, and accent reduction coaches, as well as advanced level English students who can read and understand the English on this website.
- [Get Expert Help](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/customized-classes/): For private classes to get help with your accent or comprehensibility, and understand Americans better when they speak to you, contact me.
- [Odds and Ends: Pronunciation Resources](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/teach-pronunciation-2/)
- [Tweets](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/tweets/)
- [Teaching From Principles](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/teach-pronunciation/guiding-principles/): For the last seven years, I have been lucky to give one-to-one ESL/EFL customized classes for executives, managers, and grad students; they are brilliant and interesting people from many countries and languages.
- [Indo-Aryan Accents in English](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/accent-reduction/hindi-and-south-asian-languages/): you may be using its "sound system" when you speak English. The more you understand about the English sound system, the better you will sound when you speak.
- [Your Program](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/customized-classes/your-program/): Weekly or bi-weekly online instruction via Skype, followed by independent practice and study of specific materials which are uploaded to a private website for our collaboration and use.
- [The Art (and Science) of Teaching Pronunciation](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/teach-pronunciation/): Just as artists use charcoal or paints or clay to create an experience, teachers use research, best teaching practice and personal insights to craft the best learning experience for their students.
- [Change Your Sound!](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/customized-classes/change-your-sound-in-english/): American Pronunciation Coach provides private, intensive, customized training to help you speak English more fluently and comprehensibly, and reduce your accent.
- [FAQ](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/customized-classes/faq/): A. You are using the sound system of your first language when you speak English, which has it's own sound system.
- [Arabic Accents](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/accent-reduction/arabic-accents/): If Arabic is your native language, you may be using the Arabic “sound system" when you speak English.
- [Russian Accents](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/accent-reduction/russian-and-slavonic-accents/): If your first language is Russian, or a dialect of Russian, you may be using the Slavonic “sound system" when you speak English.
- [Chinese Accents](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/accent-reduction/chinese-accents/): If Chinese is your native language, you may be using the Chinese “sound system" when you speak English.
- [Korean Accents](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/accent-reduction/korean-accents/): If Korean is your first language, you may be using the Korean “sound system" when you speak English.
- [Spanish Accents](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/accent-reduction/spanish-accents/): If Spanish is your native language, you may be using the Spanish “sound system" when you speak English.
- [French Accents](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/accent-reduction/french-accent/): If French is your native language, you may be using the French “sound system" when you speak English.
- [Japanese Accents](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/accent-reduction/japanese-accent/): If Japanese is your first language, you may be using a Japanese “sound system" when you speak English.
- [What Is causing Your accent in English?](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/accent-reduction/): Accents are caused by "interference" from your first language. All languages have certain ways their sounds are made.
- [TESTIMONIALS](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/customized-classes/testimonials-and-recommendations/): I was so happy to have Peggy as my American accent coach.
- [HOME](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/home/): Hi! So glad you joined me!
- [Inspiration](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/welcome/): TEACHING IS NOT A DELIVERY SYSTEM, IT'S AN ART FORM.
- [About Peggy](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/welcome/aboutyourcoach/): This is my vocation and career, not just my job! I hope to convey to you my passion for this work. I love doing this!
- [More Bio Details](https://americanpronunciationcoach.com/welcome/about/): TEFL to Saudi management trainees in Albuquerque NM for Systran/Petrokemya, two-year training program.

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