Talk a Lot Foundation Course

From the Foreword: "Talk a Lot Foundation Course is for anybody who needs to better understand how to speak English like a Native Speaker. It will be especially useful for anybody who is studying with - or about to study with - Talk a Lot materials (i.e. Elementary Books 1-3 or Intermediate Book 1). The theory studied on this course will enable learners to get a lot more out of any Talk a Lot materials. The course is suitable for learners from Pre-Intermediate level (CEF B1) to Advanced (CEF C1) - and beyond. It can also be adapted for lower-level learners. It goes without saying that zero beginner learners will benefit from learning about word stress and weak forms as they take their first steps with vocabulary and sentence-building in English. The focus of this course is pronunciation - how we speak. The message of the entire course can be summed up in two words: stress and reduce - learners can improve their pronunciation by stressing the content words in a sentence and reducing the function words - then connecting the syllables together. The aim of the course is to teach learners how to do this. Learners will also develop their listening skills as they discover the techniques that English native speakers routinely use when speaking quickly."