EDUCATION: Accent Reduction

Sub title here

Ellen Taft (206) 323-0599

Ellen Taft, ADVS, works with actors whose first language is not American English and has experience working with the following nationalities: Chinese, Japanese, East Indians, Indonesians, Russians, Spanish & South Americans, Poles, British and natives of the Bronx.  She uses both listening exercises and specific kinestetic tongue and lip placement exercises so that non-natives can be more easily understood at work and on the telephone.    She has experience working with the high-tech community and is conversant with British English, so that she can work with students who did not learn American English prior to coming to the U.S.   At student's request, Taft teaches the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), painlessly. 

Taft has an Advanced Diploma of Voice Studies ( ADVS) from the Central School of Speech and Drama, in London and a Certificate of Teaching English as a Foreign Language from International House, also in London.  For six years, Taft taught ESL and German in the United Kingdom, Germany and Minnesota.  She has been teaching accents and accent reduction for over 30 years.  (www.AccentReductionInstruction.com)

Brennan Murphey (206) 853-9168

Brennan Murphey works with private clients through his company VoxBoxInc.  He has an MFA from Yale University's School of Drama and the Advanced Diploma of Voice Studies from Central School of Speech and Drama, in London. ( see Acting Coaches, Speaking Voice, Accents & Dialects and Public Speaking Skills)

E-mail: voicebox@yahoo.com

Gin Hammond (646) 283-8033

Gin Hammond teaches voice and has an MFA in acting from The American Repertory Theatre Institute, for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University/Moscow Art Theatre where she studied voice with Catherine Fitzmaurice .  She is certified as an associate teacher at Fitzmaurice Voicework in 2006.  ( see Speaking Voice, Accents & Dialects and Public Speaking)

Kate Forster (206) 235-0659

Kate is a master of accents and is a busy dialect coach in Seattle.  She has an MA in Linguistics with a special concentration in phonetics and phonology( the sounds of human languages).  She has taught English as a Second Language, including accent reduction, in Japan, and at the University of Washington. ( See Accents, ESL Pronunciation)

kate@dialectmatters.com

www.dialectmatters.com