One of the saddest things that students can say is 'I want to lose my accent' Usually when you ask them 'why?' they can't give you a reasonable answer. 'Oh, I want a British accent" "I want to sound American' again, why? 'It sounds so cool' But, you know, your accent sounds cool too..
Accents are identity. They say I am from Poland, France, Italy, England, America without having to say it. They should be something we embrace. Something we are proud of. Plus, it would be so boring if everyone sounded the same or similar, right?
We all have preferences, not just in accents, but everything. I have my favourite English speaking accents too. I love to hear how Chaira from Milan tells me about her weekend. But, while I really like the accent Italians have when they speak English, my co-teacher James, hates it! Yeah, hates, such a strong word, but he really likes the Spanish accents.
Sure, we can learn how to pronounce certain words correctly, improve on those words that cause us problems, and use intonation to give us some more panache, but let's not think about losing our accents, about losing identity.
Remember, your accent is someone's favourite ;)
Giving YOU the chance to SPEAK!