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Margot73 · Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Posts: 145 Location: New York City

The place where I work wants me to do more choral repetion with the students. I don't seem to be very good at it..It's an intermediate class, so the phrases and sentences are often long and they never stay together when doing the repetition. Any thoughts?

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

You can try breaking the phrases up and chaining them.
For example: "Wammeda fill it up?"

(this is obviously from a lesson in reductions in spoken English - I always emphasize that we don't, in fact, expect our learners to speak in this style, but practicing common reductions through oral production can be a useful task for enhancing their listening skills in the real world of Canadian English Surprised

)

Wammeda?
Wammeda fill
Wammeda fill it up?

I don't personally think choral repetition is very useful except when practicing speaking to enhance listening skills (as in the reduction task above, or use of contractions)

or when there is a 'rule' such as word stress patterns.

I found it useful when practicing noun/verb stress pattern differences, for example.
(a record/ to record)
Or stressing the content words in sentences, as another example.

My personal feeling is that it's pretty useless for actual pronunciation skills.

I'd be curious to know what the rationale is behind your school's wish to boost choral repetition - and also what others on the forum think about this.

JAppleby · Joined: 03 Oct 2006 Posts: 32

I think that choral repetition can be helpful if used here and there. It can be an opportunity for the students to practice getting their mouths around the English words, and if everybody is saying it all together then they are safely hidden in the group (it depends on how shy your group is whether this matters or not). I haven't had a chance to do it in a TEFL situation yet, but I've used it some in high school Spanish.

Sgt Killjoy · Joined: 26 Jun 2004 Posts: 438

I don't know, I guess it depends on the culture. When I taught in Thailand, I found it effective to have students do a choral reading together as a class BEFORE having individual students read in front of the class. It helps to build confidence, I think.

wildchild · Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 519 Location: Puebla 2009 - 2010

OP said

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Don't do choral repetition after the first year. My old JHS/SHS kept doing it through all years of JHS and even a year into SHS. Kids got terribly bored after the second year of JHS, but they were forced to do it. Why inflict such agony on them?

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

And for any problematic chunks remember backchaining.

laura1d · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 108 Location: Spain

Hi DMB

What is backchaining?

Laura

canuck · Joined: 11 May 2003 Posts: 1921 Location: Japan

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

^ yip.

a beer

for a beer

to the pub

to the pub for a beer

i want to go

I want to go to the pub for a beer

repeat each line as necessary.

It's useful for features of connected speech.

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 2:24 pm Post subject:

Back chaining also works well for single words with problematic sylable stress.

Justin

MELEE · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:09 pm Post subject:

I always thought backchaining was the norm.
I did this yesterday for the phrase Not at all.

tall
tatall
notatall

To spice up choral repetition, add moods.

A: I passed all my exams.
B: Congratulations.

Say it like B is A's mother.
Say it like B is A's best friend.
Say it like B is A's teenage brother who doesn't care.
Say it like B thinks A is a nerd.
etc. etc.

OleLarssen · Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 337

What I did a couple of time with kids (2-6 years) is chanting. Hold up a pic card (or the actual thing) with, say, a book. With a very low voice, start out saying "It's a book", then say it 3-7 times more increasing your voice volume for every step. At the last two or three repetitions most the kids will be yelling their hearts out with you.

This should work for older kids as well, low/absolute beginners only. Just a way to have them say an actual sentence in English, and to break down the much-spoken of affluence barrier. Might work for adults as well as a warmer, not as a serious teaching tool.

wildchild · Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 519 Location: Puebla 2009 - 2010

Glenski said

paulbaxter · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 8

Two words for you:

Jazz Chants

Get one of the Jazz Chants books (borrow one or whatever) and just try it with your students. I was very skeptical about them until I saw a 40 year veteran ESL teacher using them. They are great for learning things like where stress falls within a sentence, sounds that are longer than others, and the general rhythm of English. Just find one that matches a grammar point or some vocabulary you are working on and off you go. The books come with sufficient intstructions so you shouldn't need a demonstration.