Elocution deals with the four types of speech improvement. They are public speaking, accent reduction/ softening, voice training and resolving other speech problems like stammering.

There are two things in voice training that you can do at home that many elocution lessons, London will teach you. The first thing to do is pin a card on the opposite wall of the room where you are standing. Pin this at head height. Then stand at the opposite side and read aloud from the card while making a recording of it. Keep your head high as it opens the airways and the mouth wider. The distance between the card and you, makes you speak out louder and clearer. The next thing is to get a tape recorder and place it under the cushion. Then read aloud from a book and tape your voice. Here too you will have to speak loudly and clearly if the recording has to be understood.

Here are some tips that public speaking courses will tell you. Make sure that you write down whatever speech you want to give on paper. Write it down. Say, you write down two sides of a paper, you will take about three to four minutes to read that. Then read what you have written down loudly in front of a mirror. Do it many times over until you find that it sounds just right. If while speaking, you replace certain words then change them accordingly in the written material as well. Do this until it sounds natural and not rehearsed.

After that, you have to try and remember what you have written. Speaking loudly many times will help you to do that and after sometime you will realise you no longer need to refer to the paper. Do it till you have got everything pit pat. Break down the matter into paragraphs so that you can easily come to know where you are, if need be. Get the matter typed. On the day of the speech, be confident. Even if you forget something, you can always refer to the paper.

Next aspect of elocution that we are going to look at is an accent. Although accents are not a speech disorder, it can be a cause of concern. It may have negative effect on a person’s self esteem. It can affect job performance, education and even everyday activities. But now it is possible to go for accent reduction or accent softening. You can take the help of a speech language pathologist who can help you to change your pronunciation. People who take the help of a speech pathologist are non-native English speakers, people who improve their communication skills and even actors who want to learn a new accent.

The pathologist will check your pronunciation, stress, rhythm and intonation of speech. You will be asked to read out from a paragraph and after all these details have been collected, the speech pathologist will determine how your accent can be modified. Then he will give you training based upon your requirements.

With elocution lessons, get ready to have a voice like Sean Connery!