Here's how you can work with me.
One-on-One ESL Accent Reduction Lessons
Working one-on-one is the best way to make the most progress most quickly. I offer an initial 16-lesson series of 50-minute video sessions that includes
Initial speech sample recording and assessment of challenges to be addressed
Course reader and accompanying recordings
Zoom audio and video recordings of each lesson
Targeted correction and practice
Homework exercises from the course reader
Opportunities to customize the instruction to the client’s work context or personal interests
Halfway point speech sample recording and analysis
Final speech sample recording and analysis
Lesson can also include coaching on presentation, meeting participation, and video conferencing skills
Lessons are held on Zoom. Contact me to discuss working together.
One-on-One ESL Advanced English Lessons
In addition to accent reduction, I offer advanced English lessons that can range from grammar review, vocabulary building, cross-cultural issues, current events, and presentation skills. Conversation skills include running meetings, giving feedback, interrupting politely, making small talk, as well as navigating meaningful conversations of more depth than small talk. These lessons can be incorporated into or added onto a series of accent reduction lessons. After mastering the basics of Accent Reduction in their first lesson series, many of my students continue studying with me for years in order to explore these topics while continuing to refine their accent.
What sets me apart in this work is my ability to balance spontaneity and structure. An idea for a theme to be studied or a mini-lesson might be suggested by me or the student. I am able to then quickly design a structured, effective lesson.
While we are always developing new habits in the technical details of language, our work is also always tied to the underlying goal of improving the student’s ability to connect with others. Depending on the particular student’s needs, related goals range from sounding more polite, friendly, credible, confident, empowered or engaged to building confidence in speaking English.
Examples of recent and current projects:
A Spanish advertising agency CEO with a passion for surfing and protecting the ocean is developing his expertise in guiding clients to develop sound business practices that support sustainability. Ways I’ve helped him include
Editing his pro-bono Ocean Day campaign video script to express his story concisely and effectively.
Language support in strategizing meeting planning with his new key new client gained as a result of the Ocean Day video.
Writing coaching on assignments for his Cambridge University Sustainability certification course.
Reading and vocabulary support as we review current sustainability research.
Presentation skills coaching focused on describing his work in an engaging manner.
Suggesting related articles for review and discussion.
A Chinese-speaking, Hong Kong-based management consultant who is an advanced speaker of English enjoys being able to bring to me each week questions about nuances of English that come up, along with expanding his vocabulary, developing his business writing skills, and developing questions to engage in conversations more meaningful than simply small talk..
A French tech company founder who spoke little English when we began working together in 2019 continues to develop all skill areas of his English. We’ve studied conversational skills, informal English, grammar details and soon will study the nuances of polite language used to negotiate effectively. Ways I’ve helped him include
Editing the lyrics of the 12 songs he wrote for an album he’s producing.
Asking another of my students, a mathematician, to join our lesson to help him learn how to talk about math in English.
Helping him develop the language to speak at length about his work and answer interview questions in his annual company keynote address, which he did for the first time in English in 2020.
A Taiwanese woman who decided to study with me after years of raising her children wanted to be a more confident English speaker. She reached her goal and was curious about a variety of topics, including
Developing vocabulary and conversation skills so she could discuss the work of her niece, a native English speaker who wrote for a popular American television comedy.
Reviewing and discussing her research for her MBA thesis project
Comparing and contrasting the governmental pandemic responses of Taiwan and the U.S.
Studying in depth the story and music from the Broadway musical, Hamilton
A Spanish geologist working in Norway has been developing her pronunciation and presentation skills in the context of explaining to me the highly technical processes she uses to discover oil for the oil company where she works. As talented and experienced as she is, working in a competitive, male-dominated industry in a second language can be intimidating, so we are developing habits that build her confidence in presenting and help her sound as credible and empowered as she is in her native language.
A Chinese-speaking glacial geophysicist, while a Post Doc at Stanford, worked on developing a range of communication skills to explain her research on glaciers to various audiences, from her university students, to the media, to those who aren’t experts on glaciers.
A Chinese computer science graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, soon to be a Ph.D candidate in Physics at Stanford, speaks English very well, but wanted to develop his confidence and expressiveness. His presentation topics have included Broadway musicals and his overview of all the branches of physics.
A Russian engineer at Facebook became a manager and realized that his new role would require a new level of sophistication and nuance in his English. He had worked with me before and returned to develop skills such as interrupting politely and giving feedback as well as appropriate intonation patterns needed to effectively manage his team.
Contact me to discuss how we can work together.
Customized ESL Accent Reduction Classes for the Workplace
Investing in customized accent reduction training for your ESL employees is an excellent way to improve employee effectiveness and team building. Being able to communicate clearly, expressively, and appropriately in the workplace culture is crucial to employee success. The feedback I receive from these clients and their managers is that with improved language skills and confidence, the employees are able to contribute much more at work, connect more easily with co-worker, and even get promoted. Lesson content can include presentation skills, cross cultural communication training, conversation skills, giving feedback, and video conferencing skills. I am currently only offering customized, one-on-one employer-sponsored classes on Zoom. Contact me to discuss working together.
Free 30-Minute Consultation
Let's set up a free consultation on Zoom to discuss working together.
“Grace is an empowering mentor. She knows the techniques to modify your accent and motivate you to challenge yourself. With hard work, you will see improvement. I have gained a lot by learning from Grace. Her teaching helps me improve my daily conversation, teaching, presentation, and listening. I am more confident in using English and treat it as a tool to navigate my future. If you are motivated, what you need is a professional teacher with the right tools to guide you—Grace is the right person!”
“I really enjoyed this class. Grace is an excellent professor in this field. She really helped me to improve my English. Her method of teaching English is very simple, but it was a kind of revelation for me. I really needed a simplified method to learn English. Attending this class has been an unforgettable experience for me. Thank you very much, Grace.”
“Thanks to Grace, I understand why native speakers of English didn’t understand me. I didn’t have any idea how important pronunciation is until I started using Grace’s advice with native speakers and seeing they could understand me completely. She has impressive knowledge of all the pronunciation errors that each non-native English speaker could make.”