What makes up an accent?
Last Tuesday we have had the pleasure of hosting a dynamic Seminar at the Spanish Chamber premises; a Voice Training session conducted by voice & communication skills coach, Ms. Dolly May, from The London School of English, member of the Chamber.
The seminar was aimed at Spaniards that wished to improve their English, and in particular, the clarity of their accent. Inversely however, the greatest lesson our attendees took from this master class was that your accent need not change in order to speak better English – and Ms. May made this point very clearly.
Ms. Dolly May, accent coach from The London School of English
Thus, this event has allowed our participants to discover the steps to achieve coherent oration through different exercises of improving ones diction. In an inclusive and fluid way, Ms. May showed the attendees how intonation, rhythm, melody and speed are the foundation of every accent. Some of the exercises consisted of identifying which words were “key” within a sentence – emphasising them so as to pass on our intended message to the listener.
The seminar was broad & dynamic, and attendees took an active part within the whole session by sharing their thoughts and asking some interesting questions.
Similarly, participants learnt that clarity and sharpness are both used to express our ideas in a way that makes our audience more engaged to the content of what we are saying, minimising the need for them to then stop and interpret in a way which ultimately becomes a hassle to both parties.
In conclusion, this seminar was a great opportunity for our participants to develop their command over spoken English. The positive exchange of speaking techniques seems to have left everyone involved with a heightened sense of how to express personal & professional oration.
This has not been the first – and certainly will not be the last – of these sessions! We encourage you to keep an eye on our UPCOMING EVENTS section in our website, or to subscribe to our weekly newsletter, so as to be up to date with our activities!