Never Worked with an Accent Training Student?  Here’s How to Start Strong as an Accent Instructor.

If you’ve never worked with students before but you know you’d be a great teacher, you’re right. You just need a clear method.

This guide will help you structure your sessions with confidence, know what to focus on first, and avoid the most common mistakes that new accent coaches make (so your students get faster results, love working with you, and keep coming back for more!).

Let’s make this easy and effective.

What to Do: These Habits Set You (and Your Students) Up for Success

1. Start with high-impact sounds:  Focus on the sounds that...

• Occur most frequently in English
• Don’t exist in your student’s native language
• Change the meaning of words if mispronounced

Fixing these first creates quick, noticeable improvements and boosts your student’s confidence.

2. Practice in real conversations and offer immediate corrections and feedback:  Have a few open-ended questions ready to spark conversation. Some students will chat for hours. Others? Not so much. Be ready for awkward silences (I keep a list of conversation starters and prompts) and know that even those moments can turn into great practice about how to restart the conversation and handle awkward social situations.
3. Prioritize words they actually use:  Be curious. Ask about their life, hobbies, work, and take notes. The most powerful practice words are the ones they say every day. Build your lessons around those.
4. Help them choose a speech model:  Instead of saying “sound more native,” help your students find someone their own age, gender, and with a communication style they admire to use as a model. This gives the student a tangible, personal goal and keeps motivation high.
5. Teach Syllable Stress:  This is a game-changer. Misplaced word stress is often the real reason someone isn’t easily understood, even if their sounds are accurate. When you teach a student how to emphasize the strongest syllable in words and phrases (phonetic rules help with this), their clarity improves instantly.  And instant results are motivating for the student to practice regularly and continue with sessions.

What to Avoid (These Common Mistakes Slow Progress and Scare Students Off!)

1. Don’t waste time on complex evaluations:  An informal conversational evaluation during the first session is enough to identify speech goals. Build your plan based on this and refine as you go. Treat every session as a new assessment/evaluation. The sooner you get to the real work of practicing and making corrections, the faster they improve.
2. Don’t push a “perfect American accent”:  Most students don’t want to sound native. They want to feel confident and be understood but still sound like themselves. And that’s possible with any accent. Focus on clarity, not erasing identity.
3. Don’t overload them:  Trying to fix everything at once = overwhelm. You’re the guide. Focusing on just a few high-impact changes at a time is the only way to make speech progress permanent.
4. Don’t do all the talking:  Accent coaching is actually more about listening than teaching. Let your students speak. Give cues, corrections, and a safe space to try again when they make a mistake. The less you talk, the more they improve.

5. Don’t use childish materials without context:  Yes, nursery rhymes or kids’ books can help with rhythm but always explain why. EX: “This Dr. Seuss book may feel silly, but it’s actually the perfect way to learn about sentence stress and intonation.” That builds trust and keeps sessions adult-appropriate.

Practice Makes You Powerful

The best way to become a great accent instructor is to start coaching! If you don’t have students yet, offer free sessions to friends, family, or coworkers who’d love to improve their English.

Real practice builds real confidence for both you and your students.

You don’t need to be perfect, you just need to start. Every great instructor began with a first session (in my case a very bad first session...actually a few bad ones at the start) and learned along the way.  Every session you teach builds your confidence and sharpens your skills.

👉 Ready to turn this into real income?

Get certified as an Accent Instructor and start a flexible, in-demand career — no degree required.

💼 Work from anywhere
💰 Keep 100% of your income
🌍 Build a skill you can earn from for life (even into retirement)

We’ll teach you the method and how to offer this premium service. You just need an open mind and the willingness to learn.