Archive for the ‘Speak Clearer Accent Reduction Workshop’ Category
Thursday, November 8th, 2012
On Monday, October 22, 2012, Jeff Madigan from the L2 Accent Reduction Center gave a presentation to the students at Columbia College. Columbia College is certified post secondary institution catering to international students that offers bridge programs to UBC and other universities. For students who studied English as a Second Language, accented speech can be a barrier after completing their studies and hitting the North American labour Market. SFU advisor, Kirk Hill states, “Graduates tend to enter the workforce with all of the qualifications, education, and ambition, but those with foreign accents often hit a huge roadblock during their very first phone interview.” Columbia College instructor, Fatin Jallad agrees. He notes that depending on where an international student is from, he can struggle more to understand their speech. What he notices is something everyone experiences. Depending on a person’s familiarity with the sound of specific language families, a person’s accent can be either easier or harder to distinguish in terms of speech intelligibility.
Leaders of the Columbia College Entrepreneur Club, Baiaman Urmatbek and Akbuken Shektibay, met up with L2 Accent Reduction at a workshop given at SFU. They invited Jeff Madigan to speak at their club, not just about voice training, but about how he became an entrepreneur. ”It’s good for our club to get speakers like Jeff, our club is one of the biggest at Columbia College, says Shektibay. L2 Accent hopes that they have inspired the students at Columbia College and given them some strategies to help them in their future after graduating.
Tags: accent reduction courses, accent reduction training, Canadian Accent, career, Chinese, cross-cultural, English as a Second Language, ESL, foreign accents, Immigrant, immigrants, Jeff Madigan, mispronouncing, pronunciation, pronunciation training, Vancouver
Posted in Accent Reduction Specialist, Accent Reduction Techniques, Immigrants of Canada, Jeff Madigan, Speak Clearer Accent Reduction Workshop, Voice Training | Comments Off
Thursday, November 1st, 2012
Jennifer and Jeff Madigan have put themselves at the forefront of addressing a unique need for the ever increasing internationally trained professional that makes up a large segment of Canada’s workforce. L2 Accent Reduction works with many corporations such as Best Buy, BC Transmission Corporation, BC Hydro, Fairmont Hotels, Revenue Canada, to name a few. Since opening, they have helped hundreds of people, and with their internet accent reduction training programs, in the lower mainland as well as abroad in India, The Philippines, The Czech Republic, and China.
For Jennifer, the daughter of an immigrant, L2 Accent Reduction Centre, provides training that was inspired from her father’s struggles. “My dad first came to this country in 1970 at the age of 28. He was university educated and spoke fluent English and yet when he spoke no one understood him. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to find a way to help individuals speak clearer and relate better at work.” Jennifer says.
Jennifer went on to study Linguistics and Speech Pathology and obtained her Master’s in Education to equip herself to help people like her father. Her work also brought her together with her husband Jeff, whose background in English fluency tests such as TOEFL and IELTS, have helped L2 Accent Reduction Centre provide English support in all areas of language training. Today, the L2 Accent Reduction Centre has courses in Speaking, Writing, Accent Reduction Training and Test Preparation. “During my career, I have seen so many educated people like my father, work survival jobs, because they are not understood and are not given a chance for advanced employment. While there are a lot of great companies that will support their diverse staff, there are many individuals who cannot get funding.”, explains Jennifer Madigan.
Jennifer has created the Fresh Start Program, a program that provides English support to single immigrant parents free of charge. The program was inspired by her sister, who was a single mom, and was the only single parent to ever graduate from SFU’s rigorous Co-op business program. In 2009, Jennifer’s sister established the Pay it Forward Bursary at SFU for single parents, and encouraged Jennifer to start a special program for single immigrant parents. Jennifer feels that it is one small way she can help people who have sacrificed so much to make a better life for their children just as her father had done. The L2 Accent Reduction Centre also works with a number of agencies such as Multicultural Helping House, SUCCESS, Arrive BC, Douglas College Skills Connect, CGA and provides workshops on Accent Reduction.
Tags: accent reduction, accent reduction training, fresh start program, Immigrant, immigrants, Jennifer Madigan, pronucation, pronunciation, pronunciation training
Posted in Accent Reduction Specialist, Human Resources, Immigrants of Canada, Jennifer Madigan, Language and Culture, Speak Clearer Accent Reduction Workshop | Comments Off
Sunday, May 20th, 2012
Triple S.U.C.C.E.S.S. at the Vancouver Public Library Workshop – May 17, 2012
For a third time this year, accent reduction specialists Jennifer and Jeff Madigan of L2 Accent Reduction Centre filled the Peter Kaye Room at the Vancouver Public Library’s central location. The workshop, which was designed to support individuals with accented speech sound clearer and be better understood, was impeccably organized by the non-profit charitable organization S.U.C.C.E.S.S. in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library.
The one and a half hour free workshop focused on the North American T sound as well as some fast speech rules. The content of the workshop simplified some common but opaque characteristics of native speakers into observable rules that surprised, amused and most importantly, improved participant’s abilities in not only producing more native-like speech but also in comprehension of native speakers. For many attendees, the fast speech rules in particular illuminated the rhythmic differences between native and non-native speech as well as the reason why native speakers often sound like they are speaking so rapidly!
The participants also had the opportunity to socialize and interact with each other while practicing their newly acquired skills. Accent reduction specialists also had the opportunity to interact with participants on a more individual basis during practice times and answered any questions the participants had. At the end of the workshop, one lucky participant won an accent reduction training program book written by L2’s very own accent reduction specialists.
The next Accent Reduction Workshop at the Vancouver Public Library will be held on Thursday, August 23, 2012 in the Peter Kaye Room. The workshop is free. Spaces are limited, so please register early through S.U.C.C.E.S.S. by phone at 604-684-1628. Our accent reduction specialists look forward to seeing you there.
Tags: accent reduction courses, accent reduction programs, accent reduction training, Jeff Madigan, Jennifer Madigan, pronunciation training, speak clearer accent reduction workshop
Posted in Accent Reduction For Businesses, Accent Reduction Techniques, Jeff Madigan, Jennifer Madigan, Speak Clearer Accent Reduction Workshop | Comments Off
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
On Sunday, April 15th 2012, we held our first full day intensive workshop at our accent reduction training center in Kerrisdale. The attendees received a day long training, our accent reduction course book, and access to our online training software for a full year in order to achieve their goals as well as a free lunch.
By strange coincidence, one attendee, Ming Ji, was actually instructor Jeff Madigan’s past student from 12 years ago. At that time, Jeff was working for Coquitlam College’s vacation study program and Ming Ji had just arrived from China. “I remember that Jeff took us to Squamish to hike “the chief”. It was my first real experience in Canada and I have gone back there a few times with my friends.” Ming Ji said. Now, 12 years later, Jeff and Ming Ji are learning new things again. Vancouver is a small city in that way.
Jenny was also very happy with the one day workshop. She said “To further improve my pronunciation, I still need to work hard on it—that’s how your online practice system works. I am happy to have attended—it turned out to be a wonderful study experience forever!”
Our next intensive one day accent reduction workshop will be on Sunday May 13th from 10am to 4pm. Click here for more information. or visit us at http://l2accentworkshop.eventbrite.com/
Tags: accent reduction courses, accent reduction training, accent reduction workshop, Jeff Madigan, pronunciation training, speak clearer accent reduction workshop, Vancouver
Posted in Jeff Madigan, Speak Clearer Accent Reduction Workshop | Comments Off
Thursday, March 8th, 2012
The Speak Clearer Accent Reduction workshop hosted at the Vancouver Public Library on March 6 had a huge turn-out. Unfortunately over 20 people had to be turned away at the door as the Peter Kaye room was filled to capacity.
Jeff Madigan Accent Reduction Trainer – See video clip when on page click “Jeff Madigan Accent Reduction Trainer” to play video.
In the short video clip, we see this large group of 60 interested participants reviewing the pronunciation of the /t/ sound. Because of the large demand, L2 Accent Reduction will be offering a supplemental workshop for those who were turned away at the S.U.C.C.E.S.S. office located at 38 West Pender in the near future. Our next Public Library workshop will be offered at 7pm on May 17th, 2012. Check back on with our website http://www.l2accent.com/index.php to stay up to date on where the next community enrichment workshop will be held.
Tags: accent reduction courses, accent reduction training, accent reduction workshop, Jeff Madigan, pronunciation training, speak clearer accent reduction workshop
Posted in Human Resources, Jeff Madigan, Language and Culture, Speak Clearer Accent Reduction Workshop | Comments Off
