This program is offered for 1.3 ASHA CEUs

Note that 0.1 ASHA CEU = 1 contact hour.

To receive a  Certificate of Training or earn ASHA CEUs, you will need to:

• Complete the 3 core sections by watching all required video lessons
• Pass 3, online, multiple choice quizzes that are 10 questions each (one at the end of each section) with 80% accuracy.  You are permitted to retake each quiz until you have achieved a passing score.
• Complete and submit the online course evaluation. 
• Complete and submit the online ASHA CEU or CE hour request form

^{_{We will then verify your coursework.  If you have not met all completion requirements, we will notify you by email.  Partial credit is not available for this course.}}

Learning Outcomes

After Completing This Course Participants Will Be Able To

• Explain the importance of cultural sensitivity when teaching accents
• Identify the 11 most common goals of speech training programs for non-native speakers
• Describe the 3 main purposes of an Speech Assessment
• Summarize differences between formal and conversational assessments
• Complete the 5 steps of a Speech Assessment
• Explain assessment findings to students
• Set goals and create lesson plans based on assessment findings
• Determine the most effective order of goals for an speech improvement lesson plan
• Instruct students to pronounce vowels and consonants using General American pronunciation
• Demonstrate American rhythm and intonation patterns
• Design training for vocabulary, idioms, grammar, conversational skills, presentation skills, and voice improvement in response to specific student goals and needs
• Apply practice and training techniques to help students use American sounds and features in conversational speech
• Implement training exercises and provide effective feedback for students
• Develop appropriate speech training activities for 1-to-1 sessions
• Develop homework strategies for students
• Analyze goals based on student's native language
• Integrate training techniques based on individual needs of each student
• Define basic principals of digital marketing
• Identify correlation of consistent marketing communication with more consistent sales and enrollments
• Apply marketing strategies to increase student enrollment and current student retention
• Decide between paid traffic and organic traffic as the most effective way to find new students
• Develop and create promotional materials appropriate for students who would benefit from speech training services
• Implement best practices for delivering promotional materials to potential students

^{_{Course content has been reviewed for quality, currency, and effectiveness in assisting learners achieve learning outcomes in compliance with Required Practice 9.13.}}

Presenter and Disclosures

Presenter:

Jessica Kijowski, MS, CCC-SLP is an ASHA certified Speech-Language Pathologist who has spent the last 20 years teaching accents and dialects to award-winning actors, models, voice over artists, corporate executives, lawyers, teachers, diplomats, and professional voice users from all over the world.

After earning a Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology in 2000 and completing an internship focused the vocal rehabilitation of actors and singers, Jessica began her career as an Accent and Dialect Specialist at New York Speech Improvement Services and The Sam Chwat Speech Center before opening her own private practice in 2013.  She  created The Accent Channel in 2015 to offer online speech improvement courses, workshops, and teacher training programs. Jessica has also been an Adjunct Professor of Voice and Diction at New York University.

Presenter Disclosures:

Financial – Jessica Kijowski is creator and owner of The Accent Channel and receives a salary.

Financial – Jessica Kijowski recommends optional products and services in this program and may receive affiliate fees through the  Amazon Associates program and the Kajabi Affiliate program if you purchase these products and services using our links.

Non-Financial – Jessica Kijowski has no relevant non-financial relationships to disclose.

Content Disclosure:

The content of this online course will focus on learning The Accent Channel Method of Speech Improvement.  Other methods of training will not be covered but can be discussed if you have specific questions.

All materials used for this method are included via download with this program.

Access to download these materials will be available for 1 year after enrollment date.  After one year, access will expire and participant will have the option to continue access for a fee.

Intended Audience:

SLPs and ESL Teachers

Can I Take A Look Inside The Program?

Of course!  Press play to see exactly what you'll get with The Accent Channel Method program. (Tour of the lesson library starts at the 8:40 mark)

Program Overview

Format: Video lessons, related downloadable PDF's, instructor chat section, private Facebook group, and live group Zoom calls for questions

On-Demand Learning:  Once you enroll, you'll get immediate access to all lessons and all materials.  You'll have access to everything for 1 year.

Total Instruction Time: 13.39 hours (total time does not include live coaching sessions, bonus lessons, student practice videos, or materials in practice library)

Section 1:  Getting Started

Learn to do assessments, structure sessions and programs, and provide effective corrections and feedback for your students.

 

Module 1:  You Can Do This

Lesson 1: Course Introduction (12:22)

• Welcome
• Goals of the program/learning outcomes
• How to use this program/tour of all sections

Lesson 2:  Qualities of a Successful Accent Instructor (6:01)

• What makes a great speech improvement instructor?
• What to expect when teaching accents and dialects
• How becoming a better marketer makes you a better teacher

Lesson 3:  The Ultimate Goal of Accent Training (6:05)

• Setting realistic goals for our students
• Skills we teach and topics we cover in a typical session not related to pronunciation or accents

Lesson 4:  What To Call Yourself and Your Services (11:47) 

• Deciding what to call yourself and your services (and why this is so important)
• Why we must be mindful of the way we talk about our services
• Is it wrong to change an accent?
• Strategies for being culturally sensitive when teaching and marketing accent work

Lesson 5:  Accent and Pronunciation Training Basics (12:02)

• Pronunciation as the foundation of Speech Improvement
• How to cue and correct your students
• What is an accent?
• Is it possible to change an accent?
• How to change habitual speech patterns
• Current Accent Vs. Goal Accent
• Accent Reduction, Accent Modification, Accent Training, Learning The American Accent: What’s the difference and why does it matter? (and how to decide what’s best for marketing your services)

Lesson 6:  The General American Accent (7:54)

• What is the General American Accent?
• Why GenAm is usually (but not always) the goal for accent training students
• How to clarify the goal accent with your students
• How long it will take most students to meet GenAm goals

Lesson 7: My 12-Week Lesson Plan/The 11 Essential Goals of The American Accent (4:41)

• A brief overview of the most common goals for non-native speakers. You’ll go more in-depth with these goals in another section of the program
• Get a copy of my 12-Week Lesson Plan for non-native or ESL speakers.

Lesson 8: IPA and The General American Accent: What You Really Need To Know (10:47)

• Sounds and Letters: How to explain the difference
• Sounds and Symbols of the General American Accent: What I do and why I do it
• What your students need to know about sounds and symbols

 

Module 2: How To Do A Speech Assessment

Lesson 1: Speech Assessment Overview (19:45)

• Strategies for a successful assessment
• Goals of the Speech Assessment
• What happens during an assessment?
• Creating Policies Exercise: Decide on your answers to FAQs that students will ask during an assessment

Lesson 2: Formal vs. Conversational Assessment (6:29)

• Formal Assessment Pros and Cons
• Conversational Assessment Pros and Cons

Lesson 3:  How to Do a Speech Assessment (46:43)

• How to Do a Speech Assessment: My process step-by-step (Materials and Forms Included)
• The 5 steps of an Assessment
• The questions to ask during an assessment and why you should ask them
• How to sound like a expert (even when you are just starting out) and how to avoid the biggest mistakes that most new teachers make
• Exactly what to say when presenting goals to your student
• What to do if you don’t hear any sounds/concepts to present as goals

Lesson 3a:  Assessing Areas Other Than Pronunciation (6:29)

• Why areas other than pronunciation are important for speech improvement
• Specifics areas to assess
• How to present findings

Lesson 4: Case Study: How To Present Goals To A Student (13:54)

• Listen in as I present the findings of a Speech Assessment to a native speaker of Polish

Lesson 5: Using Assessment Findings to Design a Lesson Plan (9:39)

• Designing lesson plans
• How to decide which goals to work on first
• The most effective order for your lesson plan goals

Lesson 6: What to Do If They Don't Schedule: How to Turn It Around (7:29)

• Learn what to do if you think you nailed the assessment, but your potential student doesn't schedule a session

 

Module 3: Implementing Your Programs

Lesson 1: How to Structure Sessions and Programs (39:57)

• Time-ordered breakdown of a 50-minute session
• How to structure a 12-Week program
• How to structure a training session
• Effective use of practice sheets
• How to incorporate conversational practice
• Get creative (and adult-appropriate!) activities and homework ideas for your students
• The Dos and Don’ts of Accent Training

Lesson 2: The Top 3 Pronunciation Goals (17:23)

• Learn exactly how to teach the 3 most common pronunciation goals for non-native speakers 

Lesson 3:  Addressing Goals Other Than Pronunciation (19:47)

• Strategies and activities to address speech improvement goals not related to accent or pronunciation

Lesson 4: Accent Training Exercises to Keep Your Students Talking! (0:00) PDF Only

Lesson 5: How to Structure Homework (14:25)

• Benefits of offering Maintenance Sessions
• Setting a homework practice schedule
• How to keep your students accountable for practice
• Specific homework ideas for
• Listening Practice
• Reading Practice
• Self-Evaluation Practice
• Conversational Practice

Lesson 6: Tracking Progress (6:40)

• Learn to track progress and provide data to document improvement for your students

Lesson 7:  Working With Actors (10:34)

• Special considerations for working with actors
• How to choose the appropriate dialect for a role
• My process for working on scripts with actors
• Things to avoid when teaching accents/dialects to actors
• Tips to ensure consistency of dialects throughout a performance

Lesson 7a:  Managing Expectations When Working With Actors (9:31)

• Can actors learn a “perfect American accent"?
• Goal setting for actors
• Working with a script vs. conversational speech
• What matters most when performing with an accent or dialect

Section Total Instruction Time: 295.44 minutes, 4.9 Hours 

 

Section 2: Marketing For Accent & Pronunciation Professionals

In this section, you'll implement marketing strategies that attract potential students and set up an automated system that captures leads 24/7.  This is my proven formula for consistent enrollments and revenue.  

 

Module 1: Set Up For Consistent Enrollments

Lesson 1: Your Marketing To Do List (12:24)

• Discover the most important first action steps that you need to implement to work with students and set up your business for consistent enrollments
• Learn the specifics of what makes a sale
• Download a copy of my Starting From Scratch Checklist, to get a step-by-step guide to starting your business, as well as all my recommendations on the equipment, software, and other basics that you will need 

Lesson 2:  Decide on a Target Audience (16:37)

• Why it’s important to get specific
• Exercise and prompts to help you identify your target audience

Lesson 3:  Define your Title and Services (6:55)

• Why it’s important to choose the right words to describe yourself and your services
• Learn to describe your title and services in a way that will benefit your marketing efforts
• Exercise and prompts to help you define your title and services

Lesson 4:  Develop Marketing Messaging (10:22)

• Answer the 2 key questions that will be the basis for all your marketing messaging
• Identify your students' fears and challenges, as well as their goals and desires, so that you can effectively communicate the value of your speech improvement services
• Learn to talk about your business in a way that promotes your services without having to sell or convince 
• Understand what potential students are really looking for in a speech professional so you can give them more of it (and see more consistent sales and enrollments!)
• Exercise and prompts to help you develop marketing messaging

 

Module 2: How to Find Students

Lesson 1: Overview of the Selling System (7:30)

• The foundations of digital marketing
• Understand and identify the different types of customers that you’ll encounter in your business so you can send the right marketing message to the right person at the right time
• Walk through each specific step of the system I use to attract and enroll students 24/7
• Learn to confidently offer your products and services to potential students without feeling like a pushy salesperson

Lesson 2: The Importance of An Email List (13:37)

• Learn why email is an important part of your marketing strategy
• Understand the goals of email vs. social media

Lesson 3: Lead Magnet Creation (31:35)

• Learn the important components to include in a Lead Magnet to gain new leads and email subscribers
• Get some ideas and exercises to help you create your own Lead Magnets

Lesson 4: Email Welcome Sequence Set Up (17:14)

• Create an email welcome sequence for your new subscribers
• Learn why it is such an important part of your customer's journey through your business
• Understand an Email Welcome sequence:  How many emails you should send, how often to send, and what to write about
• Get an exact copy of my most popular and effective welcome sequence to help you get started

Lesson 5: Opt-In Page Set Up: (15:27)

• Get a detailed breakdown of my opt-in page
• Learn exactly what to write on your opt-in page to get potential students excited to learn more about your services
• Analyze other examples of effective opt-in pages to use as inspiration for your own

Lesson 6: Sharing Your Lead Magnet (10:05)

• Learn proven marketing strategies to attract new leads and email subscribers to your website

• Learn the differences between Facebook Ads and Google Ads so you can decide which is a better fit to promote your services

Lesson 7:  How to Offer A Recorded Assessment To Attract New Students (16:05)

• Step-by-step tutorial on how to set up and offer a free assessment, without having to schedule a time to meet live (say good-bye to annoying no-shows!)
• Get a tech walkthrough of the software you’ll need to make it happen
• Watch over my shoulder as I set up this system on my own website

 

Module 3: Connect With Potential Students

Lesson 1:  Weekly Marketing Schedule (10:55)

• How often to contact your audience and post on social media
• Exactly how much time should you devote to marketing?
• Time saving tips for the weekly tasks you’ll need to run your business
• Set up your weekly marketing schedule

Lesson 2: Creating Core Content (14:07)

• Understand the purpose of creating and sharing free content
• Create engaging free lessons that will attract new students, establish your expertise, and showcase your teaching style
• Use my shortcuts for creating free lessons that will save you a ton of time, effort, and frustration
• Get specific speech and accent training ideas for free lessons
• Learn to reuse content to maximize your time
• Content brainstorm exercise
• Get all my recommendations for filming, editing, and video production equipment and software

Lesson 3: Weekly Emails Simplified (24:42)

• Understand why consistent weekly emails are important to build a connection with students
• Get my Weekly Email Template to make your own weekly emails and social media posts fast and easy
• Optimize your emails, Social Media posts, and other promotional content to convert potential students into paying students
• Understand the most important factors that affect deliverability so you can keep your emails out of the spam folders and in your customer's inbox
• Get ideas for email content for potential, current, and past students (you need to communicate with each of them in different ways!)

Lesson 4:  Weekly Content Commitment (2:35)

• Make the commitment to be consistent with your marketing
• Get recommendations to create a content calendar for your marketing

 

Module 4: Grow and Scale Your Business

Lesson 1: Attract More Attention (13:05)

• Get tried-and-true marketing strategies (both free and paid) to find new students
• Get the step-by step guide to my paid traffic strategy that brings a steady stream of new students into my business every single day 
• Decide which type of paid ads will work best for your business
• Questions to answer and things to have in place before you spend any money on ads
• Implement my strategy to increase your organic traffic (rank in Google) without spending a dime
• Download my Facebook/Instagram Video Ad Template

Lesson 2: Asking for Testimonials and Referrals (13:50)

• Learn why referrals and testimonials are important to grow your business
• Create a process for asking for referrals and testimonials so you actually get some great ones

Lesson 3:  Revenue Streams Beyond Private Sessions (14:45)

• Add other products/services that will bring more passive income (in addition to private sessions)
• Get creative ideas for these other products/services
• Learn how I created my online courses for accent and pronunciation training
• Get recommendations for the software and other tech to make it happen

Lesson 4: Mindset (5:58)

• Check in with your accent instructor mindset
• Words of wisdom from a seasoned pro (me!)

Section Total Instruction Time:  253.88 minutes, 4.2 Hours

 

Section 3: The 11 Essential Goals Of The American Accent

 

Section Highlights:

• Get a copy of the exact lesson plan that I use with almost every non-native speaker who wants to improve spoken English
• Learn to develop personalized accent or pronunciation training programs to serve all your students, regardless of native language
• Detailed tutorials explaining exactly how to teach each goal so you look like an expert, even if you have little to no experience
• Learn to teach suprasegmentals i.e. rhythm, intonation, linking etc.  

^{Section Total Instruction Time: 254.41 = 4.24 hours}

---

Total Course Instruction Time:  803.73 minutes = 13.39 hours = 1.3 ASHA CEUs

---

You'll also get access to...

Lesson Plans For Specific Languages

You'll get detailed lesson plans for specific native languages and learn to teach several dialects of English.

Dialect Workshops

Learn to work with actors and teach specific regional dialects.  The program includes our General American Southern and Dialects of New York City intensive workshops.  

Example Sessions

Listen to recordings of my sessions with my students so you learn how to run a session and feel confident that you are doing it the right way.

Tech and Equipment Resources

Save time and effort by using the recommendations for software, materials, equipment, and other essentials that I use to run my business and provide services.  

You'll also get all my recommendations for the filming, editing, and video production equipment and software to create video lessons or other promotional materials on a shoestring budget.

Materials Library

Get 1 year of free access to over 285+ downloadable audios and practice sheets to use with your students. You won't have to spend hours creating or searching for appropriate materials.  You can save everything to your personal files or extend access for a yearly fee.

Be Listed in our Teacher Directory

To help new students find you and learn more about your services.

One Year of Live Group Coaching Sessions

We talk a lot about marketing so if you are struggling to find new students or worried that you don't know how to start or grow a business, these sessions will give you the guidance that you need.

In recent sessions we have covered:

• How to film, edit, and create video lessons on a tight budget
• Should you post rates on your website?
• Is there such a thing as too much feedback?
• Systems to run your business more efficiently
• Social Media vs. Email Marketing:  Which is more important?
• Creative ways (beyond private sessions) to increase revenue and grow your business. 
• What goes into a Facebook/Google Ad (with my template)
• What you REALLY need on your website when you are just starting out
• What to consider when working with a student with a very mild accent (i.e. you don't think they need your services)
• Steal my template for a perfect Sales Page
• Crafting emails that get engagement and make sales
• Optimizing your email welcome sequences
• What to do with students/clients who just want to talk (and not work on sounds or anything specific)
• Affiliates as an extra stream of income
• How to ask for testimonials without making it awkward
• Improving client retention
• How to easily create an email video course
• How offering long-term support benefits our students AND our business
•  

And so much more...

Replays are available and all students may submit questions whether they attend live or not.

Access all modules and lessons 24/7 on your computer or on your smartphone using the Kajabi app.

What Makes This Program So Great and So Unique?

 

We focus on finding students:  

Asking for referrals (if you're just starting you don't have any students to ask!) or giving free workshops in your community (maybe that worked 20 years ago?) are not effective ways to consistently and predictably attract and enroll new students.  You need a real system for finding students.

We walk you through the steps to implement proven marketing strategies that attract potential students and turn them into paying customers.   

Even if you plan to hire someone else to do the marketing for you, you still need to have established a basic understanding of the students you serve and know how to explain why your business is the best choice for them. You’ll do that in this course.

It's the same system that I used to build my caseload from zero students into a full-time career. I now have a months-long waiting list of students waiting for me to work with them.

I promise you that students are out there looking for our help. You just need to know how to find them!

And you won't be doing it alone.  You'll get advice from me and from other teachers in our private Facebook Group.  It has grown into a really incredible group of speech experts who can help you with teaching, tech, marketing, and mindset! 

You can also ask questions or request topics to be covered in our Monthly Live Group Coaching sessions.  Replays are available if you can't make it live.

There are so many possibilities for more revenue and passive income.  In the program, you'll explore  different options to expand your business beyond private sessions. 

 

We get you ready to work with real students ASAP:  

I’ll show you exactly what you need (and what you don’t need) to create awesome training programs that get real results and turn your potential students into loyal long-term customers.

You'll get access to a growing library of downloadable materials.  And this is good stuff.  This is all practical, age-appropriate, really engaging stuff that your students will love.  You can save all the materials to your computer or Dropbox, or extend access to our library for a yearly fee.

We teach you to teach dialects: 

Although you don't need to know how to teach dialects, it does make you a better teacher and teaching dialects to actors is a really great niche market.  In the program, you'll learn how to do it!

We care about your success: 

You don't have to do this alone.  Although referrals are never guaranteed, I send online traffic and any interested students from my waitlist to our Online Teacher Directory.  You'll be eligible to be listed in the directory after you've completed the program.

Plus, you can get advice from me and from other teachers in our private Facebook Group.  It has grown into a really incredible group of speech experts who can help you with teaching, tech, marketing, and mindset! 

You can also ask questions or request topics to be covered in our Monthly Live Group Coaching sessions.  Replays are available if you can't make it live.

Learn The Method

Learn to conduct an assessment, set goals, create lesson plans, and design programs using proven teaching techniques.  Troubleshoot common speech challenges for non-native speakers based on native language/region. 

Get access to the exact lesson plans and materials that I use with my own students.  Detailed video tutorials give you an actual script to use when teaching.  You’ll sound like an expert even if you’ve never worked with a student before.

Done For You Materials

If you want to charge premium prices, you need quality materials for your programs.

You'll get a full year of access to my library of effective, appropriate accent training materials. You can download and save all the PDFs and audios to use with your students. 

Our online library has everything you need to teach rhythm, intonation, and every sound of American English, so you can avoid hours of research, effort, and frustration that come with creating or searching for materials.