Color Vowel® Basics
A step-by-step course that equips English language teachers with powerful tools and strategies for teaching spoken English
Discover what's been missing from English language instruction.
The Color Vowel® Chart is the key that has unlocked the English language for millions of people around the world.
Our course teaches you an approach that will lighten your load and get your students talking.
What is the Color Vowel® Chart?
The Color Vowel® Chart is the perfect tool for teaching and learning spoken English. The shape of the Chart reflects how vowel sounds are produced— without the need for phonetic symbols that confuse so many learners.
This course will make you fall in love with teaching all over again.
Here are just a few of the ways that Color Vowel® Basics will revolutionize your teaching:
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Feel truly prepared to answer students' questions about English pronunciation.
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Confidently integrate pronunciation into everyday teaching.
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Teach pronunciation features that make an immediate a difference in learners’ comprehensibility.
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Spend less time talking and explaining.
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Provide learners with ways to organize, practice, and reinforce what they’ve learned.
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Boost learner engagement, curiosity, and delight in your lessons.
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Feel confident knowing that wherever you’re from, your accent is a legitimate model for teaching spoken English.
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Be part of a creative and supportive community of English language teachers just like you.
Dear Educators
From the desk of Karen Taylor
Tell me if this sounds like you:
As an English language teacher, you strive to create unique and memorable experiences for your students. You plan thoughtful lessons, and you try to meet your learner’s needs.
You feel well-equipped to teach grammar, vocabulary, writing, and even reading, but the topic of English pronunciation has always left you feeling less than confident. Some of your students really need help, and it seems like pronunciation is what students ask about most often!
I’m sure you can relate to this line of questioning from a student:
- How do you say ‘choir’? [or thought, or child, or just about any word!]
- Why is it spelled like that?
- Why isn’t it spelled the way it’s pronounced?
- Why isn’t it pronounced the way it is spelled?!
- I understand you, teacher, but I don’t understand other people. Why?
- Please help me with my pronunciation. Everyone says “What?” to me.
- I feel embarrassed. What can I do if they don’t understand me?
Meanwhile, your ESL classroom is generally… quieter than you’d like. Your students answer your questions in class, but all of the momentum depends on you, and you wish your students were just a bit more engaged. Invested. Involved.
Imagine if you could...
- talk less and teach more
- plan simpler yet more effective (and engaging!) lessons
- answer students’ pronunciation questions easily and accurately
- adapt your instruction to students’ immediate needs and interests
- open your students’ eyes (and ears!) to the secrets of spoken English
If you could do these things, ultimately, that would mean you’re creating an engaging environment that your students won’t want to miss. You’d be that teacher that students keep coming back to. (Which would be amazing!)
I get that you may be facing some roadblocks. You may be wondering…
- how to get your students to speak up and participate meaningfully in class so they aren’t just watching you teach at them;
- how to save time and energy in planning your lessons;
- how to stop getting lost explaining rules that have countless exceptions;
- how to create fun and effective speaking opportunities;
- how to build a course around all of spoken English: vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation!
There’s something else I see far too often that may also be true for you…
You feel frustrated by the fact that what you've been doing isn't working, and you’re feeling stuck because you're not sure how to fix it.
You want to bring something fun to the classroom but you’re too busy just trying to figure out what you're going to do in your next lesson!
You’re interested in teaching pronunciation but don't have time for it because there’s already too much to cover in your course (and you don't have enough time as it is!).
And on top of that, you’re likely asking yourself at least one of these questions (if not all of them):
- I’m just a teacher, not a specialist or a guru in this area. What will I do when the students ask me a bunch of questions I don’t know how to answer?
- How do I actually incorporate a pronunciation curriculum into my courses when I don't have the time, resources, or opportunity to do that in a meaningful, effective way?
- I don't have the time to learn a new methodology, let alone have the time in my classroom to add anything else.
- How can I feel confident teaching pronunciation if I'm unsure of even my own pronunciation skills?
- Why should I invest a bunch of time and energy to learn something new that I don’t even know my students will adopt?
I know exactly how you feel because I've been there myself.
And so have the thousands of people I’ve had the pleasure of working with, training, and teaching over the last twenty-five years who are now teaching students of their own!
My guess is you really, really care about helping your students.
(Of course you do– you’re a teacher!)
At the end of the day, you just want to get your students excited about speaking English, and you want them to experience success in their language development. And you want to finally feel in control of and confident about your classroom and your career. Yes?
If this sounds at all like you and your situation, then I'd like to invite you to check out...
Here’s just a taste of what you get with Color Vowel® Basics:
- The real secret to teaching spoken English that every teacher needs to know
- How to use the Color Vowel® Chart as a powerful tool for pronunciation
- Color Vowel® techniques that are fun and engaging for students
- Brain-based strategies that help your students build their speaking confidence and oral fluency
- The sound awareness that you need to build your own confidence as a teacher and as a speaker of English
- An easily accessible way to talk about vowel sounds and the behaviors of spoken English
- The secret to getting your students to speak up and participate in class
- The tools and knowledge you need to grow in your career
- The power to finally quiet those concerns in the back of your mind that maybe you’re not able to help English language learners as much as you wish you could (because you most certainly can!)
- The absolute best way to retain students and increase enrollment
- The expertise to build a curriculum that bridges the gap between spoken and written English, even if you're new to teaching
Now, that’s a tall promise, and at this point you might be asking... Who is Karen and why should you listen to her?
Who is Karen Taylor?
Karen is the co-founder of English Language Training Solutions and the creator of the Color Vowel® Chart, which was established in 1999.
She holds an MA in TESOL from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and a BA in English Literature from Georgetown University, as well as an International Baccalaureate from the United World College (US campus).
A former Fulbright TEFL Specialist, Karen was the Practitioner in Residence at American University for nine years. She received Ed Tech’s 2020 Visionary Leader Award for her work as Head of Education and is now CEO at Blue Canoe Learning Inc.
What Teachers Are Saying
“I am completely in awe of this teaching tool and the techniques that have been presented so far. I plan to go all the way through Level 3 in the training. I thought the r-controlled vowel explanations were brilliant.”
Nancy Reynolds, ESL Instructor, TX
“I took this course last autumn and it was the best PD I've had in the field over the last 20 years! I was able to implement these ideas and materials the next day in class. When does that ever happen?! I recommend this course to any English language teacher - it's really that good!”
Christine Fiorite EdD, ESL Instructor, English Language Institute, University Of Chicago
“The Color Vowel approach has transformed my classroom by giving students a fun, engaging, easy to remember way to improve their pronunciation, both in the classroom and their everyday life. I use it every day. I can't imagine teaching without it!”
Ruth Voetmann, Intensive ESL Instructor and Department Chair, Edmonds College, WA
“I feel good about what this course has to offer. The discussions of moving vowels and R-controlled vowels are invaluable. The Color Vowel® Chart itself is a stroke of genius, or SEVERAL strokes of genius all in one organized template.”
Christine Kassover, Coordinator and Instructor, Intensive English Institute, Florida Atlantic University
“I was able to introduce the Color Vowel® Chart after viewing just the first two modules of Color Vowel® Basics, and each subsequent module presented more "food for thought" for me in addition to ideas for lesson planning.”
Ted Adamson, ESL Instructor, Lane Community College
Here's Exactly What You'll Get with the Color Vowel® Basics Course
Color Vowel® Basics Video Content ($399 Value)
- Over 6 hours of detailed content
- 4 easy-to-follow video modules
- Quizzes to check your understanding
- Course access for 3 months
Blue Canoe® Premium Teacher Access ($299 Value)
- Mobile app for on-the-go teaching
- Pronunciation games and lessons
- Voice recognition with AI feedback
- The Color Vowel® Dictionary
- Access to the Blue Canoe Teacher support community.
Digital copy of our Book: The Color Vowel® Approach: Resources for Connecting Pronunciation to Vocabulary, Reading, and Spelling ($49 Value)
- Comprehensive overview of the Color Vowel® Approach
- Lesson and Activity plans
- Printable resources
Downloadable Training Material ($48 Value)
- The Color Vowel® Chart
- The Color Vowel® Organizer
- The Color Vowel® Launch Pad
- and more...
We've put a tremendous amount of energy and love into this course in order to make a profound impact on what you do in the classroom day in and day out.
Get access to this course today and let us help make it easy for you to…
Get your students engaged in the classroom
Become a highly valued teacher in your language program
Build your students' confidence to speak English fluently and with ease
Retain students and boost attendance rates with lessons they don't want to miss
See your students make genuine progress with lasting results
Take control of your lesson plans and set yourself free to teach!
Avoid feeling stressed and pressed for time inside the classroom
... and much, MUCH more!
Claim access to the Color Vowel® Basics Course today, and let's get started together.
To your success,
Karen Taylor
P.S. - If you’ve known for some time now that you need to make a change in your classroom but haven’t known where to start, then Color Vowel® Basics is definitely for you.
P.P.S. - It’s that simple: What you need is clear direction, instruction, and encouragement from someone who's ‘been there and done that’ when it comes to teaching pronunciation and unlocking students’ confidence to engage in the classroom. Sign up for my course NOW and you, too, can join thousands of other educators who have already started their Color Vowel® journey to teaching English phenomenally.