Choral speaking is an activity which involves an oral presentation of a text, using expression to perform and enhance a text. This is done by emphasising particular words, sounds or phrases to help make the text become a performance than a reading. Choral speaking in encouraged to be presented in a small group using different voices to play different parts of a dialogue. Also by varying the pace, the volume of the voice and changing the voice a reading becomes more exciting and gains the attention of the audience.
It is possible to include gestures or actions where possible to help dramatises the scenario. Choral reading requires very little space; it can enhance the children’s dictation skills, enunciation and the creative use of their voices, provides positive social interaction and is suitable for any age level. Choral speaking can be performed in many ways; everyone speaking in unison gives a greater mixture of voices and projects the voice to the audience well. In two groups with different parts or creating a cumulative reading with one child starting and each line adding another child’s voice, building up the sound.
Using a solo passage, one child for a verse and then having a group speaking the chorus or another verse in unison. This extracts one voice from the main voice and can be effective in the right context. Choral speaking is good for the early years as it helps a child build confidence in reading aloud in front of peers or an audience. It makes the text the child is performing more interesting and sucks the audience in to listen to what the readers are saying.
The Essay on Help Children With Reading
It is truly remarkable to see what great accomplishments a small unit can do to help children with reading. A lone resource teacher brilliantly set up a program with the help of some parent volunteers, which helps children read. This said program enables the students to help each other with comprehension. The primary students with reading difficulties are being supported by kids slightly older ...
This can be linked to areas of the English curriculum where public speaking is present and also helps with the child’s reading level as the develop expression and better understanding in their reading. Choral speaking is turning a text or reading into performance this is done through the use of the elements of drama. The reader has to create a dramatic experience for the audience building tension in the text creating expression and feeling through the words and sounds in order to make the reading a performance.
The reader needs to be able to “draw specific attention to certain themes, issues, characters or actions portrayed in the drama. ” Choral speaking also uses mood, the reader determines the mood of the text through the use of volume and expression of vocals. This creates feeling that engages the audience allowing them to be “emotionally touched”. As stated in (Russell-Bowie, D. Pg. 229) Choral speaking for ages 5 to8 is developed through both the creative arts syllabus and the English syllabus. By teaching choral speaking to this age group the following outcomes from the syllabus’s can be achieved.
