ohn Dumicich, who teaches accent reduction classes at the International English Language Institute at Hunter College, emphasizes that speaking is not just a matter of using your lips – it also involves the throat, diaphragm, tongue and belly. This is one of the reasons learning pronunciation is so difficult: students have to learn a whole new set of habits and muscular movements.

English is not Dumicich’s native language; he came from Italy with his family when he was five-and-a-half-years-old, so he is well aware of what it means to learn a new language and way of expressing oneself. “I knew I wanted to teach,” Dumicich said. “I thought I would be the perfect bridge, the bridge for the immigrants to come from another country to this country.”

Students like Erica Matsufuji, an actress in independent films, appreciate having a teacher like Dumicich.  “I tried a lot of teachers and ended up here,” she said. “Some teachers, just because they speak English, they think they can teach.”

Dumicich engages his students with tactics to get them to hear how their speech differs from American English and ways to fix it.

He moves around the room, asking the students to press their fingers on their throats or on his to feel the vocal cords vibrate.  He’ll put a match in front of one student’s mouth so when she says the ‘sh’ sound correctly, the flame goes out.

Watch and listen to Dumicich in action...