Making Accent Training Work in Groups (Even When Everyone Speaks a Different Language)

One of the most common questions I hear from new instructors is:
“How can I run a group class or workshop if everyone speaks a different native language?”

It sounds overwhelming at first, but the truth is that this is exactly how accent training is designed to work.

In any group, you might have students who speak Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, Italian, or something else entirely. Each of those languages (and its many dialects) has its own sound patterns and pronunciation habits, so it’s natural to assume that everyone would need something different.

But here’s the shift that makes group training possible:

In accent training, you’re not teaching from each student’s native language.
You’re teaching toward a shared goal accent.

And that goal is the same for everyone in the room.

So even if one student rolls their /R/ and another uses the back of their throat for /R/, they’re both working toward the same American English /R/. That means they can practice, listen, and improve together even though their starting points are different.

This is why your curriculum doesn’t need to change for every language background. Instead, it focuses on the most important target sounds of the goal accent. These are common sounds and features that benefit everyone, no matter what language they speak.

You can easily build a full 12-week program around these shared goals.

And here’s something many new instructors don’t expect:
Group learning often speeds things up.

When students hear each other, they start to notice patterns, compare sounds, and catch mistakes in other speakers that they might miss in their own speech. They also tend to stay more motivated, because they’re learning together with others who are working toward the same goal.

Still, it’s completely normal for students to wonder:
“Will this really work if other people in the group have different pronunciation patterns than I do?”

A simple way to explain it is this:

“Even though everyone comes in with different pronunciation habits, we’re all working toward the same goal accent. We’re all practicing the same sounds, step by step, and that’s what makes this way of working effective for everyone.”

And if a student ever needs extra help that’s specific to their L1 or native language, that’s where private sessions come in.

• Group sessions handle the shared goals.
• 1:1 sessions handle deeper refinement and more personalized fine-tuning.

That combination is what makes accent training so flexible and powerful.

If you’ve been curious about offering group sessions but weren’t sure how to make them work with mixed language backgrounds, this is exactly what we walk through inside FOUNDATIONS™.  You’ll learn how to build a clear, effective 12-week curriculum that works for real speakers in the real world.