Presentation Notes 12/07/2010

Presentation Intro

 CAVEATS. Please ask me to repeat our speak more slowly, questions

at any time are ok, Some people like to write, some people like to
listen, some like to read, handout/notes will be posted online
 This presentation will focus on the JHS Recitation contest. I
don’t have much experience with the SHS speech contest, but the
pronunciation and oratorical advice will carry over.
 Speech contests are one of the best ways to show your value as an
ALT, high profile English time with real rewards. Schedule time
during lunch hours or after school. Ideally 2 hours or so per
student

Horror Story: JTE’s focusing on minute pronunciation differences

without regard for larger scale structures, artificial and over-rehearsed.
Bad Example from Sora. Take ideas from the group as to how to improve it.
(Myron Style.) If breathing/posture is mentioned, segway, if not explain
you want to go more basic.
Introduce my university studies, vocal training “bel canto” style,
and it’s application to oratory

 Bel canto’s focus on natural singing/speaking

 Basic oratorical skills – DO THIS WITH EVERYONE, model with SORA

o Breathing, posture
o Throat and Shoulder Relaxation

 When you speak oratorically, you are not forcing your

voice out, but letting it flow out smoothly

o Placing the voice

 Imagine a ball in your mouth (like Ariel’s voice in

The Little Mermaid) out of which your voice projects.
This ball should be very forward, just behind your
nose, upper teeth, not at the back of the throat
 Practice bugs bunny with everyone

o Other tips, smiling to create clarity of tone

o Bring it together/Projecting naturally

 Lips, the teeth the tip of the tongue

Science of pronunciation – Also related to teaching phonics

 Articulators

o Nose, Lips, Teeth, Tongue, Soft and Hard Palate, Epiglottis,

the function of each in pronunciation

 Nose: Nasal, projection

 Lips: Ma,Ba, Pa, Fa, Va, Wa
 Teeth: Ca/Ka, Da, Fa, Ja, La, Na, Ta, Va,
 Tongue: Ja, La, Na, Ra, Sa, Ta,
 Palate: Vowel Sounds, short vs. long
 Epiglottis: Ga,Ha (Glottal Fricative) glottal stops

 Aspiration in English

o Th, Fa/Va, Ka/Ga

 Vowel Sounds (Stress this is a review from Grade school phonics,

but still applicable to students who may not have had phonics
training)

o Long vowels vs. Short Vowels (Tense vs. Lax Vowels)

 History, originally pronounced with different lengths,

a trait lost during the Great Vowel Shift
 Now taught as being determined by the “silent E”
(Magic E in Japan)

Letter “Short” “Long”

Aa Mat Mate
Ee Pet Pete
Ii Twin Twine
Oo Not Note
Uu Cub Cube
 
 Oo ea are no longer long vowels but digraphs

o When teaching these in the context of speech practice, focus

on reading the world in parts if they mispronounce it,
rather than automatically correcting them. Another strategy
is to work from the middle to the back to the front to avoid
consonant/vowel pairing (a-at-cat) Practice making a speech
using only the vowels

 Specific Japanese-English areas of difficulty

o Breaking onji/Katakana pronunciation

 Separate vowels from consonants

 (a-at-cat) practice words with ending consonants

only
 Ending consonants, avoiding ending stress
 Practicing the reading with only vowels, then
only consonants, then finally full words

o Th

 Relatively easy to correct, but difficult to maintain

 If you can’t see their tongue, they aren’t

saying TH correctly. You can practice this in
class with a tongue spot check when they say
“Thursday”
 First practice “katakana TH”

 SA/SI/SU/SE/SO THA/THI/THU/THE/THO

o L/R

 Hardest to correct due to the very specific

pronunciation of L and R in English
 Tongue placement is the most crucial aspect. (DRAW)
 R
  Tongue is drawn back, arched slightly, NOT
touching the soft palate. It does not move, but
air passes on either side of it
 Two separate danger areas for R, beginning and
ending words
 For initial R sounds, Japanese speakers can
often benefit from a glottal stop and small
“u” before the word.(ウライト)
 For final R sounds, emphasize the lips closing
in a round shape, while the tongue continues to
arch.

 I’ve also had some success with students

if they make a kissy “frog mouth”

 L

 For Initial L, the Tongue is first touching the

top of the upper teeth. As the sound is made air
passes to either side and the tongue falls.

 This is closer to Japanese, so students

will default to something like this. Focus
on clarifying the “L” sound. Japanese
students will usually use a wide amount of
their tongue to touch their teeth, and
also arch their tongue like the
“R”sound. Using only the tip of the
tongue to articulate the sound will make
it more English.

 For Final L, the tongue makes a similar pattern

to R, but doesn’t move as far back.
 Also emphasize the “verticality” of L, versus
the “wideness” of R

Gestures: How Much is too Much?

 Focus on producing emotion in your speech, rather than set

gestures
 o Identify the important words in a sentence, and practice
building up to them. Decide on an emotional tone for each
paragraph/page, and practice expressing that.
o For shy students, break the story up into a play, and assign
each of them a different character
o And of course, make sure the student understands the meaning
of what they are saying. Sometimes, they don’t.

Mini-Contest

 Audience will make a speech to the group and receive critical

feedback.

o Try to ensure a JTE at every table.

o Reading from One World – The Lotus Seed (Last Page?)

 Group will then nominate a winner.

 These winners then make a speech to the whole group, and the
overall winner receives a prize.

Overflow Time - Questions

12/07/2010
12/07/2010