General American Southern Dialect Workshop

On-Demand Workshop for SLP's, ESL Teachers, Actors, Voice Coaches, and Other Speech Professionals 

THIS COURSE IS NO LONGER OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT.  PLEASE CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUT TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM.

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Don't think you have the skills to work with actors or teach dialects?  If you are an SLP, ESL Teacher, Actor, or other voice professional, you are probably more qualified than you realize. 

This fun and engaging workshop will expand your skills and help you feel more confident about working with dialects.  

 

Course Description:

You’ll learn how accents and dialects develop and be able to hear differences in different varieties of The Southern Dialect.  You'll practice and learn to demonstrate the rhythm, intonation, major sounds, and additional features of the General Southern Dialect.


You'll also learn specific considerations and major mistakes to avoid when working with actors and learn how to apply features of the General American Southern dialect as a training exercise to improve the rhythm and pronunciation of non-native speakers.

General American Southern Dialect practice worksheets and a lesson plan to use with your students or practice on your own are included.

This Program Is Offered For

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Note that 0.1 ASHA CEU = 1 contact hour.

ASHA CE Provider approval and use of the Brand Block does not imply endorsement of course content, specific products or clinical procedures.

To receive a course completion certificate or earn ASHA CEUs, you will need to:

  • Watch the video workshop.
  • Pass a 10 question multiple choice quiz with 80% accuracy.  You are permitted to retake the quiz until you have achieved a passing score.
  • Complete and submit the online course evaluation. 
  • Complete the ASHA CEU or CE Hour Request form.

We will then verify your coursework and notify you by email letting you know if you have satisfactorily met all the above course completion requirements.  Partial credit is not available for this course.  

Learning Outcomes:

After Completing This Course Participants Will Be Able To

  • Define important terminology for working with students who want to learn accents and dialects
  • Compare differences in the 2 major Southern Dialects
  • Identify and list the most common sounds and features of the General American Southern Dialect
  • Instruct students to pronounce vowels and consonants using General American Southern pronunciation
  • Demonstrate rhythm, intonation, sounds, and additional features of the General American Southern Dialect
  • Apply practice and training techniques to help students use General American Southern Dialect features in conversational speech
  • Implement dialect training exercises and provide feedback to students
  • Identify and employ special considerations when teaching accents and dialects to actors

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, dialects, and pronunciation 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 offers other courses through The Accent Channel and mentions some of those courses in this workshop.

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 Accent and Dialect Training.  Other methods and resources for accent and dialect training will not be covered.

Intended Audience:

SLPs, ESL Teachers, Actors, Voice Coaches, and other Professional Voice Users

Workshop Overview

Format: Video lessons and related downloadable PDF's

On-Demand Learning:  Once you enroll, you'll get immediate access to the course.

Total Instruction Time:  70 Minutes

Topics Covered (time-ordered break downs below are approximate)

  • Intro and agenda (5 mins) 

  • Why SLPs and ESL teachers should know how to teach dialects (2 mins) 

  • How to offer accent training while being culturally sensitive (2 mins)
  • What Is An Accent? (1 min) 

  • What’s The Difference Between And Accent And A Dialect (
1 min)
  • How Do Accents and Dialects Develop? (2 mins)
  • The different varieties of The Southern Dialect (7 mins)
  • The General American Southern Dialect: Its development and why 
it's the most useful Southern Dialect to learn (2 mins)
  • The Rhythm and Intonation of the General Southern Dialect (
3 mins)
  • Learn and Practice The Sounds and Additional Features of The General Southern 
Dialect (30 mins)
  • Choosing A Southern Speech Model (1 min)
  • Considerations for teaching a dialect (2 mins)
  • Special Considerations For Working With Actors (10 mins)
  • Using The Southern Dialect As An Exercise For Non-Native Speakers (4 mins)
  • Q and A From Recorded Live Workshop (4 mins)

You’ll also get General American Southern Dialect practice worksheets and a lesson plan to use with your students or practice on your own.

Access the entire course 24/7 on your computer or on your smartphone using the Kajabi app.

Even if you don’t work with actors, don’t assume that you will never use this accent. 

There are many reasons that you should know how to teach dialects and here are just a few:

 

5 Reasons You Should Know How To Teach At Least One Dialect

 

1.  Knowing how to teach various dialects makes you more of an accent expert and a much better teacher.

2.  You can use the Southern accent to help non-native speakers master the rhythm of English and I’ll explain why and how to do that in the workshop.

3.  At some point, you will probably be contacted by potential students who want to lose or reduce their southern twang and learn to use a more general American accent.  Side note: In my opinion, it’s not up to us to decide whether changing a native accent or dialect is right or wrong. If a student comes to us with this request, we should help them because we have the skills to do it.

4.  If you truly believe that all accents and dialects are equally beautiful and should be equally accepted, you should back that up by knowing how to teach more than just the General American Accent.  And when someone tries to challenge you or shame you for teaching the General American Accent (doesn’t happen often but it does happen) I want you to able to honestly say, “I love all accents and I teach several different accents.” 

5.  Teaching dialects to actors is a really great niche market and you have the skills to do it.  You just need to learn some considerations for working with actors and the sounds and features of specific accents and dialects.

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