Improve your Pronunciation and Diction

Command

Improve your Pronunciation and Diction: First, it’s important to concentrate on speaking your words.  If you are nervous try a few different techniques to calm your nerves before speaking.  When you are calm, you speak more slowly, and this improves your diction and clarity of your voice.

Steps to improve your Pronunciation and Diction:

  1. Learn to listen.
  2. Before you learn how to speak, you’ll need to learn how to listen.
  3. Notice how your mouth and lips move.
  4. Pay attention to your tongue.
  5. Break words down into sounds.
  6. Add stress to sounds and words.
  7. Use pronunciation podcasts and videos.
  8. Record yourself.
  9. Practice with a buddy.

Useful activities to develop the students’ oral expression. Suggested procedures.

DEBATE

  1. Select the debate Ask which students would like to be “pro” and which “con”.
  2. Select the two teams. Each team will have a “captain.”
  3. Allow the students enough time to prepare their arguments. They can speak from their notes, but they cannot read them.
  4. Have the two teams sit in front of the class.
  5. The “captain” will give his presentation and summarize the team’s view points at the end.
  6. After each presentation, the rest of the group can ask questions on either team.
  7. The teacher may also want to ask questions to the students.

The different parts of the debate are: introduction, development, and conclusion.

Debates

ROUND TABLE

  1. Select the topic.
  2. Select the teams. Each team will have a ‘captain’.
  3. The spokesman introduces the topic and its importance.
  4. The spokesman introduces the participants emphasizing the aspect they master.
  5. The participants speak when they are asked to expressing their ideas, opinions, and taking decisions about the topic.
  6. The spokesman summarizes the activity talking about the most significant aspects and saying thanks to the participants.
  7. The spokesman intervenes whenever necessary.

 

PANEL

  1. Panel members sit at a table in front of the class.
  2. The spokesman, previously selected, introduces the topic and the participants.
  3. The spokesman opens the discussion with an appropriate question or call on one of the members to begin.
  4. Panel members talk about the topic in voices loud enough to be heard easily.
  5. The spokesman is familiar with the material each participant wants to present and sees to it that all the points are covered in the discussion.
  6. After a period of time, the spokesman invites the rest of the group to participate, either by asking questions or by giving their viewpoints.

Preparing Effective Presentation

POETRY

  1. Read the poem two or three times to your students before they see it in the written form. They should listen for meaning, rhythm, intonation patterns and pronunciation.
  2. Give each student a copy of the poem.
  3. Explain the meaning of words the students do not know. Use the strategy for conveying meaning you consider: contextual procedures- definition, synonym, opposition, multiple context- realia, cognate words, and pictures.
  4. Read the poem again while the students follow the written form.
  5. Discuss the message in the poem. Ask the students why they agree or disagree with the poet’s viewpoints.
  6. Have the students restate the message in prose.
  7. Discuss the poet’s life, his works, other poems he has written, and any other important information that would interest your students.
  8. Analyze the cultural elements appearing in the poem. Have the students compare these elements in their own culture.

PLAYS

  1. Select a short play according to the students’ needs.
  2. Give each a student a copy of the play.
  3. Have the students read the play and look up any unfamiliar
  4. Discuss the play in class. Be sure each student understands the structure and vocabulary.
  5. Analyze the setting of the play, the characters, the plot, and the author’s message.
  6. Analyze the students’ viewpoints and experiences about the play.

 

Interview Skills