Comments from students who completed Ms. Bergman's Duke Workshops and her new Saturday Seminars, Mastering the Idioms of American English, The Sounds of English and The Orientation for International Students Sponsored by the Duke Dept. of Physics and her new workshop: Speaking English with Confidence and Clarity
What did you like most about the course?
"I have learned many idioms which are useful in my daily life and corrected my pronunciation. I've been so happy to always learn something that I haven't learned from any other English classes! I hope to have a chance to take more of your courses." (A research assistant in telecommunications from South Korea who completed our five- session Saturday Seminar: Mastering the Idioms of American English Part 1, held in our Durham office.)
"Excellent workshop. Now I know what I need to work on." "Friendly atmosphere. Individual attention." "I enjoyed and benefited from the course. I appreciate your passion and expertise in improving people's pronunciation." (Participants in a Fall 2009 six-hour Saturday Seminar, Speaking English with Confidence and Clarity.)
"I liked being taught by an expert in a relaxed environment." "Ms. Bergman is a real expert in helping people fix their accents." "It was a small group and interactive. A very interesting class with a lot of resources to keep the students busy." "I liked her teaching style. This should be the first in a sequence of pronunciation courses for any students who are in the U.S. for studies." (Participants in the June 20, 2009 CHICLE workshop, Speaking English with Confidence and Clarity.)
"Although this course (MIAE) wasn't meant to be a personal training, Ms. Bergman managed to work with us individually by giving us extremely helpful feedback and additional materials. It was the most useful English class I ever took." A research associate (M.D., Ph.D.) at Duke University: Italy, Italian.
"I liked the subject matter, the teacher's enthusiasm and expertise. All in all, very informative and great fun." A health educator from the US
"It was perfect! The teacher was excellent. Her knowledge was great." A teacher: Brazil, Portuguese
"I learned the mechanics of pronunciation and how to correct some problems." Parent counselor and teacher: Venezuela, Spanish
"The oral participation of students and correction of pronunciation from the teacher." Scientist: France, French
" The teacher! She was really good." Au Pair: Brazil, Portuguese
"[The course helped me] overcome the fear of speaking." Candidate for Master of Engineering Management, Duke: China, Mandarin.
" It was a pleasure to attend your class; really wonderful experience." Graduate student at Duke: China, Mandarin.
"The dynamic of the class was great! All the comments matched with my linguistic knowledge." A teacher of Spanish, English and French: Mexico, Spanish.
"This is the first step to advance in English and continue to other levels." Certified Nurse Assistant II: Mexico, Spanish.
"I liked the quality of the information I received." Teacher:Brazil, Portuguese.
"It was an excellent presentation. The course will be very useful for my future." Doctoral Candidate, Duke Dept. of Physics (one of six students newly arrived from China and Greece).
Benefits reported by clients who have completed an Individual Accent Modification Tutorial:
Increased potential for career advancement
 "This is a must course for all non-native English speakers to succeed." Information Systems Business Applications Manager: India, Telugu, Kannada, Tamila, Hindi
"I think as I climb the ladder, it is going to be more and more important because one is judged a lot of times based on how one communicates, how effectively one communicates and how correctly one communicates. In my opinion, it becomes a critical part of my skills." Information Systems Resource Manager: India, Marathi.
"I will continue to perfect my English and know that my accent is no longer an obstacle to achieving my goals at work." Medical Technologist: China, Cantonese.
"This course improved my communication skills and helped me get a new job." Software Engineer: China, Mandarin.
Improved workplace communication and increased participation
"This course has helped me to improve my communication skills with my co-workers and supervisor." Administrative assistant (later promoted to Bilingual Program Manager): Colombia, Spanish.
"Ms. Bergman's comments and instructions on how to present myself in business settings were very helpful." Yumi Tsuda Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English and American History, Sapporo Gakuin University and a Visiting International Scholar at UNC 05/06: Japan, Japanese
"This course helped me to improve my communicative effectiveness at work." IT Manager: India, Marathi, Hindi, Gujarathi
Greater confidence when speaking
"Ms. Bergman encouraged me every time I came to class. This helped me to build up my self-confidence." Yumi Tsuda Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English and American History, Sapporo Gakuin University and a Visiting International Scholar at UNC 05/06: Japan, Japanese
"This course has improved my confidence in speaking, as I have to focus less on whether I am being understood and more on what I have to say." Corporate Director: Arabic, French.
"I'm now more confident. I now have tools to improve my professional speeches." Cristina Armas Ph.D., Fulbright Scholar who conducted research in biology at Duke University from Sept. 05 to August 07: Spain, Spanish.
"I definitely speak up more during conference calls at work. I will recommend the course to my friends. It is the confidence built up that counts!" Software engineer: China, Mandarin
"The course helped me overcome the fear of speaking and made me more confident. [Now] my colleagues have no trouble understanding me." Software developer: China, Mandarin.
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