Accent Reduction
with Carol Thorne, Ed.D

Pronunciation Specialist - ESL
Phone:   (630) 699.2274
Email:  c.thorne@ispeakenglish-inc.com

Unlocking the Door to Success
In the business and medical fields, communication is the key to success. Through Accent Reduction, my clients gain advantages:

• Clients have had more success in preparing for job interviews and oral exams.
• Sales and marketing clients have improved their success rate.
• Clients have received speech "coaching" for making presentations to a work team.
• Physicians have improved their communication with patients and staff.

Who Can Benefit
I work with professionals in the Chicago area who desire to improve communcation skills in the English language. My clients come with varied experiences:

• First language is not English.
• From various professional fields:
• medical
• technological
• sales/marketing
• accounting/financial services
• Difficulty with certain aspects of written or spoken English
• From businesses that desire consultation on some particular intercultural conflict between employees from various cultures, whose perceptions of each other's behavior is having a detrimental effect in the workplace.

What Clients Say

• "Dr. Thorne is one of my all-time favorite professors. She is very knowledgeable and professional in helping her students improve English. She uses many different techniques and interesting topics to get me to interact in her class or in individual tutoring. The most important thing is that she cares about her students and clients." -- Joris, an Accountant, Chicago, IL
• "I have used Dr. Thorne's service to improve my pronunciations, correct my accent and enhance my use of the American idioms. Dr. Thorne has been patient in her coaching and I found my time spent with her to be greatly beneficial." -- Lucent Technologies employee, Naperville, IL

How Accent Reduction Works
My goal is not to erase an individual's unique accent, but to reduce habitual speech patterns that inhibit clear communication.

• I often work with employers who value their employee's contribution, and want to improve his/her communications skill. In other instances, the employee has contracted with me individually.
• Initially, I do a 'needs analysis' after meeting with the client to discover the focus of the tutoring sessions. Coursework in either written or spoken communication skill improvement is personalized for the client.
• I travel to the workplace or to a location close to the client's work or home to meet for tutoring sessions.