Level 1 Online: Color Vowel® Basics

During this 6-week online course, you will learn how to use the Color Vowel® Approach to improve your learners' pronunciation, vocabulary development, oral fluency, and speaking confidence. Each week you will submit videos of yourself teaching the concepts you have learned, and get personalized feedback. This course is appropriate for English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers and volunteers.

Learning Objectives

• Learn how the human brain processes second language speech and why long-lasting pronunciation improvement requires the use multi-modal, brain-based instructional strategies;

• Discover phonemic stress as the central organizing feature of comprehensible spoken English;

• Use the Color Vowel Chart as a visual organizer for words and phrases, providing learners with a powerful tool for pronunciation, vocabulary development, oral fluency, and speaking confidence;

• Learn essential Color Vowel® instructional techniques: modeling, kinesthetic signaling, categorization, acoustic flooding, anchoring, and rhythm practice;

• Improve your teaching by receiving personalized feedback on your submitted teaching videos

• Be prepared to earn your Level 1 certificate as a Color Vowel® Trained Teacher.

Course Schedule

Our weekly live meetings will take place on Wednesdays from March 28, 2019 - May 9, 2019.

• Thursday, March 28, 2019: 12:30-2 p.m. ET (90 minutes)

• Thursday, April 4, 2019: 1-2 p.m. ET

• Thursday, April 11, 2019: 1-2 p.m. ET

• Thursday, April 18, 2019: 1-2 p.m. ET -- NO CLASS MEETING
  

• Thursday, April 26, 2019: 1-2 p.m. ET

• Thursday, May 2, 2019: 1-2 p.m. ET

• Thursday, May 9, 2019: 12:30 - 2 p.m. ET (90 minutes)
  
  

Each week's session will be recorded live and posted for replay (in case you cannot attend one or more of the live meetings). This course may be completed synchronously (live) or asynchronously (by watching recorded meetings) as long as you participate weekly and submit all assignments. Each week's assignment is due each Wednesday by 10 a.m. ET before the next week's meeting.

Course Materials and Actions

• We will refer to materials in the Teacher Starter Kit throughout this course. You can purchase your kit here.

• Access a recording of each week's session (for reinforcement or in case you have to miss a meeting)

• Complete weekly video-based assignments (uploaded to FlipGrid, feedback provided weekly)

• Gain lifetime membership in our vibrant online community of Color Vowel® educators.

• Receive a Certificate of Participation reflecting 9 hours of interactive participation.

• Complete your practicum to earn your Level 1 Certificate as a Color Vowel® Trained Teacher. (The practicum fee of $140 is included in the registration fee.)
  

Technology Requirements for this course

To benefit from this course, you will need access to high-speed internet, and a video-equipped computer and/or mobile device for filming yourself. We will use Zoom software for our live meetings and FlipShare as our video platform (where you will upload technique demonstration videos, comment on others' demonstration videos, and receive feedback from your instructor). Each participant will need a Google account to access the course syllabus and to sign in to FlipGrid.

Level 1 Certificate Practicum

This course includes weely video tasks that satisfy the practicum component of the Level 1 certificate. To complete your Level 1 Certificate after this course has ended, you must:

1. Submit your completed application for the Level 1 Certificate.

2. Receive a passing score on the Level 1 Color Vowel® Skills & Knowledge Test.
   

A $25 application fee for the Level 1 Certificate will be waived if you submit your application and complete your Skills & Knowledge Test within one month of course completion.

I'm not currently teaching or tutoring. Can I still apply for Level 1 Certification?

Yes. Level 1 Certification requirements involve demonstrating the techniques taught in the Level 1 workshop and do not require a current classroom setting. This course is appropriate for practicing instructors as well as those who are not currently teaching or who are preparing to teach.

Your Instructors: Elizabeth Bigler & Karen Taylor

Elizabeth Bigler has been teaching ESL people for nearly 30 years and specializes in teaching Japanese speakers of English. Her independent business, Bigler ESL, is based in Atlanta and helps Japanese people of all ages and levels to “be understood…the first time.”  She is also a teacher trainer and organizes retreats and conferences for teachers of English for adults.  With a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics and ESL from Georgia State University, Liz has studied teaching pronunciation with a variety of approaches, but none have impressed and interested her the way the Color Vowel Approach has. She enjoys discovering different ways to implement and integrate the approach and finds more and more that it resonates with students of any level and background. She’s thrilled to be part of the movement to introduce teachers to this innovative method in the world of teaching.

Karen Taylor is co-author of The Color Vowel Chart and co-founder of English Language Training Solutions.

Learn more about us and the Color Vowel Approach.