Testimonials
Our Clients Speak for us
Learning with you was a very pleasant experience. I always felt comfortable to keep trying even when I had difficulty in making certain sounds. The information on your website says you are a patient, caring, and enthusiastic professional, and it is not a false advertisement!
I saw a friend today who I hadn’t seen for a few months. She didn’t know that I was taking accent reduction classes and told me, ‘Oh, my goodness, what happened to your accent? Did you lose it???’ …just wanted to thank you and share with you my little personal victory.
Derra always showed a great deal of interest in each session. At the beginning of each session, she was extremely well prepared, giving me the impression that she had been working hours before our meeting planning and designing the class.
Your accent course has had such a big impact on me. It was so easy for me to get motivated because I felt I got immediate results. This course has been an eye opening experience and has made me realize how I sound to others. In my work, I meet new people every day. Talking to these people that I meet is giving me the opportunity to speak with my newly learned accent, and I speak with more confidence. Thank you mucho, Derra!
Ms. Derra Huxley, is an excellent teacher and speech therapist. She was my son’s speech therapist when I met her; she was so sweet, fun, patient, knowledgeable and understanding that it made my son want to go to his therapy sessions every week. Within 10 weeks she corrected his speech problem and we were on our way out, but I was so amazed and happy with her work, that I asked her if she could help me to improve my English and reduce my accent. 14 weeks later I can tell you that I’m very happy that I took that accent modification course with her, and very pleased with my progress. My English improved about 65% and not only in my pronunciation, enunciation and conversational skills but also in my knowledge of the English language and grammar. THANK YOU MS. DERRA.
You are a very competent instructor in your teaching method. I have not heard or seen anyone who did such a detailed analysis on someone’s pronunciation. This analysis definitely helped me realize the mistakes I made in my speech. Your lessons and assignments, focused on individual sounds, helped me to improve my pronunciation.
Your approach during the lessons was more like a friendly one rather than a strict teacher-student relationship, however, you still maintained your professionalism and made it clear that I had to work hard to achieve the goals you set for me. Now I feel more confident when I talk, knowing that my pronunciation has improved thanks to the effort we both put in.
First of all, I want to thank my teacher Derra Huxley for her professionalism, knowledge and her application of the materials used in the course. It was obvious since my first session that Derra has a great knowledge and understanding of what “accent reduction” is all about. My first evaluation by Derra was right on target with all my weaknesses in reproducing English sounds. The materials that she provided me at the beginning of the course, as well as those provided on a session-by-session basis were thoughtful and carefully prepared to meet my needs.
Of course, I still have an accent and I likely always will; I was not pretending to get rid of my accent by a 100%. I wanted to be more comfortable with myself and make myself easy to understand. With the Compton P-ESL Program and Derra’s supervision, I have discovered so many sounds that were completely new to me. In addition, I learned how to reproduce those sounds which made my pronunciation much, much better than before I took the course. Derra and her program has made me feel much more confident talking to friends, in meetings and with my English-speaking relatives. Thank you, Derra for all your help!
Before taking her course, I had lot of troubles in communicating, especially on phone interviews. I had a tough time getting a job, not moving beyond phone interviews. I contacted Derra Huxley and explained my issues and she really helped me to slow down the rate of my speech, introduce necessary pauses, and more importantly, she helped me in improving my accent. Now, I got a job and had no troubles in communicating on interviews and in the office. I highly recommend Derra and her coursework. She is highly detail oriented and will help you in all kinds of problems related to communication.
The course materials are very well structured and provide an important resource even after I finished with the course. I can keep using them on my own and continue to improve my accent as much as I need or want to.