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Box 9 Me and my voice1
1 How many different ways have I listened to my own voice?
• in my own head, when I speak?
• on my answering machine?
• on a tape or video recording?
• as an echo?
• as a ‘silent’ voice in my head when I am thinking?
• any others? .........................................................................................
2 Do I usually speak fast or slow in my own language?
...................................................................................................................
3 What times do I speak faster, and when slower?
.................................................................................................................
4 Do I speak faster or slower than others in my family?
...................................................................................................................
5 Do I usually speak loudly or softly?
...................................................................................................................
6 What makes me speak louder? Or more softly?
...................................................................................................................
7 When I speak English, do I change my normal speed or how loudly I speak?
...................................................................................................................
8 Does my voice change when I speak English? How?
...................................................................................................................
9 Do I change my voice when I speak on the phone?
...................................................................................................................
10 Does my voice sound different at different times of the day?
...................................................................................................................
11 Has anyone ever commented on the way I sound when I speak? What did they
say?
...................................................................................................................
12 Has my voice changed since I was younger? How?
...................................................................................................................
13 Who is my favourite voice (actor, singer, friend, etc.)? What do I like about
their voice?
...................................................................................................................
© Cambridge University Press 2005
1 Adapted from The Language Teacher’s Voice (Maley, 2000), based on an original idea by
Mario Rinvolucri.
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4.8 Changing voices
Aim To give practice in changing voice quality
Focus Pairs of opposites: old–young, etc.; vocabulary associated with voice
quality; expressions of evaluation: sounded very convincing, wasn’t
much like …, etc.
Level All
Time One class hour
Preparation Write on the board or make copies of the material in Boxes 10 and 11.
Procedure
1 Remind students that our voices change to reflect our age and our mood.
Tell them that they are actors preparing to read some lines at an audition
(when an actor reads to be selected by the director to act in a play).
Distribute the copies of Box 10, or ask them to look at the board. Also
give out the copies of Box 11. Demonstrate the first pair of opposite
adjectives in Box 10 with one of the sentences in Box 11 by speaking the
sentence as an old or young person.
2 Students work in groups of four. Each group must select four pairs of
opposites from Box 10, and one sentence from Box 11 to work with. They
then practise speaking their sentence as indicated by the adjectives they
have chosen. Everyone in the group should participate. Allow ten
minutes for this.
3 Call the class back together. Group members take turns to demonstrate
how they would read their sentence for each of the pairs of adjectives
they have chosen – but they do not tell the class which pairs they have
chosen. The class has to guess which adjectives from the way the sentence
is spoken.
Notes
1 The activity focuses attention on how we vary our voices to reflect our
moods. Students also come to realise that they can artificially create these
moods (in English), which can be a good preparation for dramatisation.
2 With elementary level students, it may be preferable to offer just a few
pairs of adjectives (old–young, happy–sad, etc.) and some simpler
sentences. Box 12 provides some examples.
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Box 10
old - - - - - - - - young
friendly - - - - - - - - unfriendly
kind - - - - - - - - unkind
interesting - - - - - - - - boring
intelligent - - - - - - - - stupid
confident - - - - - - - - nervous
happy - - - - - - - - sad
calm - - - - - - - - angry
tired - - - - - - - - energetic
optimistic - - - - - - - - pessimistic
© Cambridge University Press 2005
Box 11
It’s time to go. Let’s hurry. People are funny sometimes.
How much farther is it? There’s nothing I can do to help.
That was a lovely meal. Why didn’t you come?
There’s lots of work to do. I don’t understand you sometimes.
How often do you come here? Why should I help you now?
Have you known her for long? Actually, I never liked him.
I can’t stand it any more. You mean so much to me.
© Cambridge University Press 2005
Box 12
I like ice cream. Have you seen my friend?
It’s raining. What’s the time, please?
My name is … Excuse me, can you help me?
I live in … Can I go home now?
I can’t do it. Why are you laughing?
© Cambridge University Press 2005
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4.9 Delayed repetition
Aim To give students time to process language before asking them to repeat
it
Focus Will depend on the texts chosen
Level All
Time 10 minutes minimum
Preparation Choose a short text which you want students to work with or use the
example in Box 13.
Procedure
1 Read the text aloud to the class, as expressively as you can. Tell students
just to listen. Then read the text again.
2 Explain that you will read the text in short sections. After each section
you will pause. When you pause, students should continue to ‘hear’ the
words in their ‘mind’s ear’ (you should pause for about five seconds each
time).
3 Read the text again. This time, students should hold each line of words in
their ‘mind’s ear’, then, when you give a signal, repeat it sub-vocally (i.e.
moving their vocal organs but without making any sound).
4 Read the text again. This time, tell students to hold the line of words in
their ‘mind’s ear’, then, when you give the signal, repeat it as a whisper.
5 Read the text again. This time, after holding the line of words, students
repeat it aloud.
6 Finally, if it is a very short text, read it through completely. Then ask
students to repeat it from memory.
Box 13
You go.
I am left here.
How shall I pass the time –
The days, the long nights, without you?
Tell me.
AM
Working with the voice
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Notes
1 All too often we expect students to ‘repeat after me’ immediately. This
leaves them no time to process the sounds mentally. At best we get a
mechanical repetition which does not aid retention or accuracy of
production. By allowing time for students to process incoming sounds on
what Adrian Underhill2 calls ‘the inner workbench’, they can appropriate
the sounds better before uttering them. It leaves them time to pay
attention to sounds before they speak them.
2 The repeated process of delayed repetitions also aids retention in
memory, which is valuable both for language learning and, if you are
putting on a play, for performance.
4.10 Working on words
Aim To encourage different ways of speaking the same word
Focus Vocabulary will depend on words chosen; work on speech
parameters: speed, volume, pitch, mood, colour
Level All
Time 20 minutes minimum
Preparation Write on the board a list of words students have recently encountered
and which you want them to learn thoroughly.
Procedure
1 Explain that students will be practising some words they have recently
learnt, but in a more interesting way than usual. Give them someexamples of words they have recently met in the coursebook, and how
you can say them in different ways (see step 3).
2 Students work in groups of three. They decide on three of the words on
the board, one each. Allow five minutes for this.
3 Students work on speaking each of their words in the following ways
(you may need to write these on the board to remind them):
• as fast, then as slowly, as possible
• changing the intonation: rising, falling, rising-falling, falling-rising, etc.
• as high then as low pitched as possible
• as loudly then as softly as possible
• changing the mood, e.g. from happy to disappointed, from kind to
angry, etc.
Allow about ten minutes for this.
2 Underhill, A. (1994) Sound Foundations, Macmillan.
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