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[revel]

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[revel]

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[LarryLatham]

Ah, but this is great stuff, revel. I sincerely hope others are liking it as much as I am.

What do you think about, "Is Betty at home now?", with both home and now produced not only with some degree of emphasis, but also with a higher pitch than the other words of the sentence, as well as an upswinging curve of pitch so that the end of the word is somewhat higher than the beginning? There could also be a slight pause after now, so that the sentence becomes: "Is Betty at home...now?"

But I very much like your acceptance of one of your students' interpretation that did not match your own. We cannot create recipies for particular feelings or ideas or emotions, can we! This is certainly a matter for individual interpretation, and we, as teachers, cannot presume to dictate it. What we want to do, rather, is raise our students' awareness of it as used with their English. They already know how to do this in their native language. Practicing this in class helps them to believe that they can use English for real communication. English becomes more for them than merely an academic subject which contains forms they have to master.

Larry Latham

[Sally Olsen]

Movies and TV sitcoms are great to help with this kind of teaching because you can listen to an emotive section and then turn off the sound, have the English subtitles and get the students to say the sentences, each taking a different character. There will be many interpretations of the scene producing different results from what the movie director intended which is always very revealing of the ambiguities of a language.

[revel]

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[revel]

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[LarryLatham]

...if I need something new, I actively look for and find it myself...

On the one hand, revel, being active in your field and assertive about finding out for yourself and on your own terms as well as in your own best way is, in my view anyway, the true mark of a professional. I'm afraid so many people don't understand what "being a professional" means. To me, it is the attitude that drives a person to personally and actively seek greater knowledge and skill consistently throughout his entire career. Attending institutionally sponsored "training" does not qualify...not for me. I congratulate you for this part of what you said.

On the other hand, I wonder just what you mean by, "if I need something new." Exactly how will you know if you need something new? It isn't very often that one imagines an upgrade in process, and then realizes that he cannot do it unless he has "X", which is not currently in his arsenal. More than likely, I would think, one just continues to learn more in the field...mostly by reading. One seeks out new books and articles by acknowledged leaders of thinking in the field, or by rising stars. Just getting started in this process is what is needed, and it often seems first to lead this way, then that, perhaps in a seemingly aimless quest, and often leads you outside of your direct field and into 'interesting' tangents, but your knowledge builds up over time. New ideas for your classes and teaching methods come to mind along the way. You experiment with them. Some bomb (who hasn't had classes that bombed?). Some work wildly well. Most probably will work to some degree, and will have to be finally evaluated in light of whether they advance your students in directions you want to take them. That is being a professional. At least that's the way I see it. And that is also why having a few years experience helps the professional. Experience without professionalism is just time wasted.

Larry Latham

[revel]

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[LarryLatham]

Take Mel Brooks for example.

Surely you meant to write, Mel Blanc.

Larry Latham
By the way, in Vietnam, as far as I can tell, there are only two dubbing voices...one male and one female. They do all the voices. It's quite surprising to hear three females conversing with one another all in the same voice!!!

[revel]

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[LarryLatham]

As with me, revel.

But let's return, if we can, to the original idea of this thread. I, for one, am anxious to read about just how you actually use interpretive concepts in the classroom. Do you work with an entire class, or do you break them up into small groups? Do you give them a single sentence to utter with differing background meanings? Or, do you assign them roles to play, with instructions on underlying attitudes from which to play them? Do you work on differing volumes (shouts and whispers)? Does everyone in class produce at the same time, or do some of them perform for the others to judge? Well, I could go on, but you see where my interests are. I hope others who might view this thread will also be interested.

Take us through a typical classroom activity or two, revel, designed with interpretive skills in mind.

Larry Latham

[Andrew Patterson]

You had a lecture with Mel Blanc, Revel. I'd have paid good money to see something like that for just for the entertainment value. I don't think I could pull off the use of funny voices in my classes, though. The man was a true genius!

[revel]

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[revel]

Here goes. Let’s see if the connections between brain and fingers are up to it!

First step, finding their English Voice.

Students often have difficulties with pronouncing because they use their L1 voice when trying to speak English. Though within any language there are as many voices as there are speakers, the voice used develops through the use of the language. The sound of the voice comes from the combination of articulations and tones required to pronounce. Thus, speaking L2, anyone except a spy would have an accent, that accent being the sound of the L1 voice overlapping onto the L2. Though that accent will always remain, its interference can be minimized by taking advantage of L2 sounds in constructing a new voice for speaking L2. Here’s an exercise that helps students to play with their voices, giving them several different choices for the development of their new voice.

Streamlines, Departures, Lesson 5: "I'm cold". In this lesson we have a series of pictures that illustrate opposites. Skipping the first pair of opposites (cold/hot), we find two planes, one big and one small. A woman and a man, she’s beautiful and he’s ugly. A man and a girl, he’s old, she young. That’s the first line of pictures, there are three more lines of pictures with contrasts such as old/new, rich/poor, cheap/expensive, etc…the adjectives are listed at the foot of the page, but in the photocopy (the book is, unfortunately, out of print), those adjectives are not included.

First pass: T: It’s a plane. Ss: It’s a plane. T: She’s a woman. Ss: She’s a woman. T: He’s a man. Ss: He’s a man. T: She’s a girl. Ss: She’s a girl. Nice steady rhythm: 1 and 2, 1 and 2, 1 and 2. Then students try it on their own: It’s a plane, it’s a plane, she’s a woman, he’s a man, he’s a man, she’s a girl, T insisting and marking (clapping hands or snapping fingers or tapping a big ruler on the table) the rhythm.

Second pass. T: It’s a plane, it’s big. Ss: (repeat) T: It’s a plane, it’s small, Ss: (repeat) T: She’s a woman, she's beautiful (repeat) He’s a man, he’s ugly (repeat) He’s a man, he’s old (repeat) She’s a girl, she’s young (repeat). Again, maintaining a good, regular rhythm. Better done slowly and regularly at first than quickly with a lot of tongue-twisting.

Third pass: Get the guitar out and sing this song:
(Teacher/students)
It’s a (Sol) plane, It’s a plane, It’s (Do) big! It’s big!
It’s a (Re) plane, It’s a plane, It’s (Sol) small! It’s small!
She’s a woman (repeat) She’s beautiful! (repeat)
He’s a man (repeat) He’s ugly! (repeat)
He’s a man (repeat) He’s old! (repeat)
She’s a girl (repeat) She’s young! (repeat)
(and so on…)

Fourth pass: Tell the ladies that they have to sing the first sentence (It’s a plane) while the gents have to reply with the second sentence (It’s big). Sing it once. Divide the class in half and have them sing it as if it were a shouting match from one side to the other (changing their focus from singing towards the teacher to singing towards the other half of the class). Have them sing the song as if they were opera singers (use examples that they know, not everyone knows Dame Joan Sutherland, or José Carreras!). Have them sing the song as if they were country-western singers. Have them sing the song as if they were in church singing a hymn. Have them sing the song as if it were to animate their favourite soccer team (popular with the boys, even with the men in Spain!). The varieties are infinite limited only by the imagination (and preparation) of the teacher.

Homework: Students should practice getting out the following combination: It’s a plane, it’s big, it’s a big plane. She’s a woman, she’s beautiful, she’s a beautiful woman. Always with a strong, regular rhythm. Always with reduction and liaison included (beautiful has to fit into the same space as expensive as big or small!)

This activity is not meant to be done in one class. You might do each pass on one particular day. You might do the series several classes running or might do one pass per week, always depending on the frequency of class meetings. Don’t ask individuals to sing solos unless they are willing to do so, this is a team-effort exercise.

Things practiced: Team work; 1 and 2 rhythm pattern; contraction of “be” in the third person (both singular and plural); reduction of syllables; indefinite article before singular nouns; lack of same before adjectives; putting it back in as part of an adjective chain; confronting embarrassment in using English; playing with voice types to develop options for choosing a voice to use in future exercises.

Well, that didn’t turn out so badly!

peace,
revel.

[LarryLatham]

Students often have difficulties with pronouncing because they use their L1 voice when trying to speak English. Though within any language there are as many voices as there are speakers, the voice used develops through the use of the language. The sound of the voice comes from the combination of articulations and tones required to pronounce. Thus, speaking L2, anyone except a spy would have an accent, that accent being the sound of the L1 voice overlapping onto the L2. Though that accent will always remain, its interference can be minimized by taking advantage of L2 sounds in constructing a new voice for speaking L2.

I don't wish to sound too naive here, but this is an amazing insight! It's not that I didn't know this, but I've never heard anyone put it so succinctly or clearly. There is a good example of this right in my household. My wife is Chinese, but she grew up in Vietnam. She is native-level fluent in both Cantonese and Vietnamese. She studied Mandarin in school, and is also fluent in that, but not to the degree of her native speech in Cantonese. And, of course, she also can speak English. But her English is not even close to native-level. She gets by quite well, and she and I seldom have much difficulty with communication. However, I can hear the change in her voice for each of these languages. There is a discernable difference in pitch, and in the resonance of her mouth, throat and head. She could be mistaken for three or four different people, depending upon the language she is speaking. I don't think she is aware of this. She just speaks whatever language suits her moment (often determined by whom she is speaking with). When she's with her brothers and sisters, who also know all the Asian languages, the conversation often slips easily between Cantonese and Vietnamese, and occasionally into Mandarin. It depends on the subject of the moment. Some ideas are apparently better or more easily expressed in Vietnamese, some in Cantonese. They will speak one language for several minutes, then abruptly switch into another. (Eventually, one of them will take pity on me and explain in English what they're talking about). But the Cantonese voices are different from the Vietnamese voices for all of them. Revel is quite right, and his explanation offers support for the kind of activities he is suggesting here.

I want to add for those of you readers who might be newer at this game that there is a vast difference between what revel is promoting and the general entry-level kind of teacher/student - model/response lesson that you learned in your training classes. Note, especially, the variety of communicative uses he introduces. He is not so much interested that they pronounce every word "correctly" (which is a stupid and ignorant concept anyway, as there is no "correct" way to pronounce any English word), but emphasises that they prounounce clearly (it can be understood) and appropriately to the context. "She's a woman, she's beautiful" can be uttered dozens of different ways with different communicative results, and revel is taking full advantage of this fact. It is not a new idea for his students, but using it in English is. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that you already do this, or that this is old fashioned class drill of the kind that has been discounted in recent years. Drill it most certainly is, but revel has a specific, definite, and logically supportable reason for drilling like this. It takes preparation and skill to lead this kind of drill, and it does his students a lot of good. Besides, done with sensitivity and attention to the students' "boredom scale", it can be fun. That, in itself, can be a positive virtue to any classroom. I, for one, heartily endorse revel's ideas, and congratulate him for his teaching skill here.

Larry Latham