ELTS collaborates with governmental, non-profit, and private organizations to provide teachers of English and their learners with highly effective, engaging instructional materials, training, and support.
Current projects include:
In 2016, ELTS partnered with Seattle-based tech company Blue Canoe Learning to develop game-based pronunciation learning apps based on the Color Vowel System. The project incorporates voice recognition and machine learning to provide players with real-time feedback on their English pronunciation. The educational philosophy behind the app centers on word and phrase stress as the primary element of comprehensible speech and effective second language listening in English.
The app is currently in development, undergoing iterative release phases over the next several years. For more information, visit Blue Canoe Learning.
The U.S. Department of State’s Office of English Language Programs maintains a long-term copyright licensing agreement to make The Color Vowel™ Chart accessible to teachers world-wide.
English teachers outside the U.S. can request full-color posters of The Color Vowel Chart through their Regional English Language Officer via U.S. embassies and consulates. This laminated poster comes with detailed instructional notes on the back side. As of January 2016, over 7,000 posters of the Color Vowel Chart had been distributed to English teachers around the world.
To further support English language teachers in their effective use of the Color Vowel™ Chart, ELTS delivered a live 70-minute webinar to over 1,600 participants through the Office of English Language Programs.
If you teach English outside the US, visit the American English website and contact your Regional English Language Officer (RELO) to request materials.
In 2014, ELTS developed a 6-hour training as part of the new Peace Corps TEFL Certification program. The modules, which focus on the teaching of pronunciation, include the Color Vowel™ Chart and its accompanying multi-modal teaching methods as a way of providing new teachers and their students with an effective, accessible, practical, tool for learning new vocabulary and mastering spoken English.
The Peace Corps TEFL Certificate is currently offered to Peace Corps Volunteers in Albania, Armenia, Benin, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Kyrgyz Republic, Madagascar, Moldova, Nicaragua, Rwanda, and Thailand.
Intercambio and ELTS have been collaborating since 2014 to include the Color Vowel Chart in Intercambio’s textbook series, Interactive English. This special collaboration puts the Color Vowel Chart into the hands of thousands of ESL teachers, tutors, and adult English language learners across the United States as part of a high-quality, affordable curriculum that addresses the needs of adult immigrants and their families.
Intercambio’s Executive Director, Lee Shainis, made a radical decision for the textbook series, replacing its conventional, alphabetized glossary with a Color-Vowel-coded word list featuring the words in the order they appear by chapter. Now instead of having to navigate phonetic transcriptions, learners simply see “student – BLUE,” making for a simple glossary that powerfully guides the learner speak with confidence.
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