Using the voice
Download as PPTX, PDF1 like318 views
This document discusses three key aspects of a teacher's voice: audibility, variety, and conservation. It emphasizes that a teacher's voice is their most important tool and must be used effectively. To be audible, teachers should speak with good voice projection rather than shouting. They should vary their voice in terms of volume, pace, pitch and modulation. It is also essential that teachers conserve their vocal energy by avoiding shouting and varying their voice throughout the day.
Using the voice
- 1. USING THE VOICE As teachers we all know that our voice is a teacher’s most valuable asset. The one thing teachers do most often is talk. They talk for long periods each day, for many years. They rely on their voices to a great extent, and with it they transmit not only information, but also mood, atmosphere and emotions. there are three issues to think about.
- 2. AUDIBILITY The teacher’s voice needs to be effective in a variety of circumstances. Teachers need to be audible. Students at the back of the class must be able to hear them as well as those at the front. Switching from one-to-one and small groups to whole-class and games situations, teachers have to have adaptability as one of their abilities. Audibility, however, cannot be divorced from voice quality.
- 3. Teachers do not have to shout to be heard or to make themselves understood. Good voice projection is more important than volume (though the two are, of course, connected). Speaking too softly or unpleasantly loudly are both irritating and unhelpful for students. Expressive voices, used in an imaginative way, draw students in and make them want to pay attention and listen. AUDIBILITY
- 4. VARIETY it is important for teachers to vary the quality of their voices and the volume they speak at, according to the type of lesson and the type of activity. The keyword is ‘variety’. Our voices can be varied along a number of parameters: volume (how loud or softly we speak) pace (how quickly or slowly we speak, and how we use pausing) pitch (how high or low in our voice range we go) modulation (how we adjust the tone of our voice to convey a mood).
- 5. CONSERVATION The most common problem associated with the untrained voice is a lack of knowledge of good breathing habits. Breathing properly means being relaxed (in the shoulders, for example, and not slumped backwards or forwards), and using the lower abdomen to help expand the rib cage, thus filling the lungs with air.
- 6. CONSERVATION It is essential to that teachers vary their voices throughout the day, avoiding shouting wherever possible, so that they can conserve their vocal energy. Conserving the voice is one of the things teachers will want to take into account when planning a day's or week's work.
- 7. References: Harmer, J. (2007). How to teach English. England: Pearson. Wessels, C. (1987) Drama: OUP Veira, I. ( 2013). The Teacher's Voice. Retrieved from: http://pearsonclassroomlink.com/articles/1110/1110_0502.htm