Archive - Adastra Speech - Thinking About Speaking

It's Time to Share My Book

"Thinking About Speaking: The Adastra Approach to Mastering the American English Accent" is about: What is an accent and what’s the best way to make…

Jun 17 •

Christi Barb, PhD

February 2025

The Book is Almost Ready! - Today, I made the last changes and sent them to the publisher! The full title is: “Thinking About Speaking: The Adastra…

Feb 14 •

Christi Barb, PhD

January 2025

Top 10 Most Requested Words to Pronounce in 2024

from my American English Pronunciation Q&A Meetup group - There were more diverse words requested this year and they were more complex words than in…

Jan 14 •

Christi Barb, PhD

December 2024

How Adastra Speech Got Its Name

The Latin phrase, "ad astra per aspera" means "to the stars through difficulties." It is inspirational to me personally and professionally. I have…

Dec 31, 2024 •

Christi Barb, PhD

Book Cover - Vote

Help me decide on a cover for my book. | Cast a vote for the cover you like best for my book. It’s getting closer to the finish line!

Dec 16, 2024 •

Christi Barb, PhD

November 2024

The approach I describe in my book is a “cycles” method which applies small, consistent actions over time. Changing speech is a skill that takes time…

Nov 27, 2024 •

Christi Barb, PhD

September 2024

Tell-im I said "hi"

Dropping and Adding Sounds with H and TH Deletion - Speakers will use minimal effort to obtain maximum results. The addition and omission of sounds is…

Sep 28, 2024 •

Christi Barb, PhD

Back to the Lab

Creating English Speaking Opportunities Wherever You Can | Here are some practical ways to create speaking opportunities in your work environment.

Sep 12, 2024 •

Christi Barb, PhD

August 2024

Back to School - Using Prosody When Speaking to New Listeners

Tips for practicing prosody

Aug 28, 2024 •

Christi Barb, PhD

Back to School - Speaking to New Listeners

Tips for Practicing Vocabulary Words | You may be talking to people who are new to listening to your particular accent or way of speaking. Here are some…

Aug 15, 2024 •

Christi Barb, PhD

June 2024

Introduction to Pitch & Intonation - Online Course - First Try

The goal of this course is to increase your awareness of how pitch and intonation affect how you sound in English, teach strategies to gain control over…

Jun 18, 2024 •

Christi Barb, PhD

May 2024

Vocabulary Lists Made by ChatGPT

I tried using ChatGPT to create lists specific to a field of work and even more specifically for individual vowel sounds. Here’s how it went and here’s…

May 17, 2024 •

Christi Barb, PhD

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts