[Fwd: PRESS RELEASE: FAU Graduate Students Offer Speech Therapy Via Webcam to Republic of Rwanda Citizens]

[A. Katz]

Interesting! I never thought trying to switch from a British pronunciation 
target to an American target would be called "therapy". That somehow 
implies that one dialect is less "healthy" than the other.

    --Aya


On Wed, 2 Feb 2011, Paul Hopper wrote:

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> ---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
> Subject: PRESS RELEASE: FAU Graduate Students Offer Speech Therapy Via
> Webcam to Republic of Rwanda Citizens
> From:    "Lisa Metcalf" <lmetcalf at fau.edu>
> Date:    Wed, February 2, 2011 10:57
> To:      "Lisa Metcalf" <lmetcalf at fau.edu>
> Cc:      "Kristine Gobbo" <KGOBBO at FAU.EDU>
>         "Lynn Laurenti" <LAURENTI at fau.edu>
>         "Gregg Sekscienski" <GSEKSCIE at fau.edu>
>         "Toni Wolf" <twolf4 at fau.edu>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> MEDIA CONTACT: Toni Wolf
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> 561-297-3029, twolf4 at fau.edu<mailto:twolf4 at fau.edu>
>
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> FAU Graduate Students Offer Speech Therapy Via Webcam
> to Republic of Rwanda Citizens
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>            BOCA RATON, FL (February 2, 2011) - Graduate students in the
> speech pathology and audiology program in Florida Atlantic
> University's department of communication sciences and
> disorders have established a program with the Republic of
> Rwanda to offer speech and language services to its citizens.
>
>            Using Skype webcam video, the graduate students teach "accent
> reduction therapy" to Rwandan businesspeople to improve their
> English pronunciation so that they can conduct business with
> Americans.
>
> "Rwandans learn British English, and the idioms, vocabulary, tone and
> stress patterns of British English are quite different from American
> English," said Dale Williams, Ph.D., professor of communication sciences
> and disorders at FAU. "The therapy is helping the Rwandans to better
> understand Americans and be understood by them."
>
> The speech therapy program with Rwanda was established through the
> Koinonia Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides solar power to
> schools, medical care and other services begun by Williams, a Peace Corp
> volunteer who taught in Ghana in the early 1980s.
>
> FAU graduate student Michela Mir has worked with two groups in Rwanda over
> the last year, completing tasks that had them listening to different
> methods of word pronunciation, along with reviewing diagrams that showed
> how different vowels are produced in the mouth, with tongue placement and
> jaw movement.
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> "I used research-based techniques, word lists and drills, moving from
> words to phrases to sentences and eventually to having a whole
> conversation," said Mir. "There were technical difficulties because the
> Skype connection takes a lot of bandwidth, which isn't easily available in
> Rwanda. But despite that, Skype seems to be an effective way to conduct
> therapy.  You're face to face with them in real time."
>
>            For more information, contact Dr. Dale Williams at
> 561-297-3238 or dwilliam at fau.edu<mailto:dwilliam at fau.edu>.
>
>
>
> -FAU-
>
>
>
> About Florida Atlantic University:
>
> Florida Atlantic University opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public
> university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 28,000
> undergraduate and graduate students on seven campuses and sites. Building
> on its rich tradition as a teaching university, with a world-class
> faculty, FAU hosts 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts &
> Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social
> Inquiry, the College of  Education, the College of  Engineering & Computer
> Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the
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> Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. For more
> information, visit www.fau.edu<http://www.fau.edu>.
>
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> Lisa Metcalf
> Associate Director, Media Relations
> Florida Atlantic University
> 777 Glades Road
> ADM 286
> Boca Raton, FL 33431
> 561-297-3022 - OFFICE
> 561-297-3001 - FAX
> 561-706-2030 - CELL
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>
> -- 
> Paul J. Hopper
> Paul Mellon Distinguished Professor of Humanities
> Department of English
> Carnegie Mellon University
> Pittsburgh, PA 15213
> and
> Senior External Fellow
> School of Language and Literature
> Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS)
> Albertstr. 19
> D-79105 Freiburg i.Br.
> Germany
>