The Color Vowel® System is a proven methodology that helps non-native English speakers improve their pronunciation. It was developed about 20 years ago. It is used by top institutions, including the U.S. Department of State, Harvard University, Yale University and Georgetown University. It has helped more than 1 million students so far.

The Color Vowel System works by rewiring the brain to hear vowel sounds. These vowel sounds are the most critical component to being understood when speaking English. The Color Vowel System bypasses the language center of your brain to use. Instead, students are encouraged to use the areas that interpret music, rhythm, colors, images and kinesthetic learning.

The two most important criteria for being easily understood are (1) put “stress” on the main syllable in each word, and (2) use the correct vowel sound for the main syllable. Once a speaker does these two things well, they are easier to understand.

The Color Vowel System gives an anchor phrase to each of the 14 vowel sounds of English. The anchor phrase is a color. But, it’s also an object. Both the color and the object each use that same sound. BLUE MOON, GREEN TEA and BROWN COW are examples of anchor phrases.

Every word in the English language has a color. And that color is the color of the vowel of the main syllable. So “canoe” is a BLUE MOON word. Meanwhile, “teacher” is a GREEN TEA word.