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Since 1983, Barbara Kanter has taught all levels
of ESL ranging from introductory to advanced American English
pronunciation, reading, writing and grammar. Her students have
included Japanese consulate employees and their families, Polish
construction workers, Hispanic researchers, and Korean small
business owners.
Barbara Kanter has lived, worked and traveled
throughout Europe, Asia, Oceania and South America. Her interest
in teaching began in 1964 when she attended 6th grade in Moscow,
USSR. As the only foreign family in the school, she and her
siblings experienced, firsthand, the need for high quality Russian
as a Foreign Language instruction. Barbara Kanter has taught
at a proprietary English school in Korea. This summer she will
teach a month long intensive seminar in Guangzhou, China to
the off shore staff of an American corporation.
The way we were taught to think about language
in elementary school is diametrically opposed to the way people
actually pronounce words in conversations. Second language learners
reverse the heuristic process by converting their knowledge
of written language into spontaneous speech.
Her ability to empathize with second language
learners equips her to set curriculum priorities. SpeakIQ trains
its clients to teach themselves. We hope that as our clients
become self correcting, speaking in English will become a spontaneous
lifetime adventure.
Each program is based on a needs analysis.
Working with specific set objectives makes the goal more attainable.
Learning strategies are integrated into daily life. Students
are encouraged to read out loud to their children or use tapes
while commuting or. As clients achieve measurable success, they
gain confidence.
For people working in the US, we teach “connected
speech” in conjunction with phonetics, because cognizance of
connected speech strategies is the key to both listening comprehension
and speaking with an American English accent. Students learn
how to identify the components of connected speech, intonation,
linking, phasing, and stress. Beginning learners must learn
these strategies to understand what is being said around them.
Highly advanced speakers have internalized the rules but may
not necessarily be able to analyze what they hear. As they become
more aware of the cognitive dissonance between written language
and spoken English, it becomes easier to mimic the speech in
the media or of your friends and co-workers.
Other students living in Asia use English
as a lingua franca. Therefore, emphasis is placed
on issues relevant to comprehensibility.
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