Reading Aloud Ideas for Language, Drama & Prose
Practice Tasks for Reading Aloud Fluency, Articulation & Inflection
Oct 17, 2009
Teaching performance skills for reading aloud enables students to find ways to practice sight reading (the skill of having eyes run ahead of the spoken voice while reading), learn to pause appropriately at punctuation marks, and change voice tones when the meanings of words call for expression. There are many creative ways to generate a setting in which to practice expressive, meaningful, reading aloud.
Ideas for Loud Reading Practice in the Classroom
Expressing Words or Making Words Meaningful: Write lists of words that evoke feelings. Each student has to read the list of words with exaggerated or deep emotion. The separate lists could be as follows:
Words that
- show anger, like hate, detest, disgusting, kill
- express pain, for example, burning, searing, crying, fighting, arguing, cutting, punching
- show love, like desire, hope, wish, want, adore, beautiful, wonderful
- are funny, such as tickly, giggle, Punch & Judy, joke, cartoon, snicker
The students can do these exercises in pairs, or the class can say each word in domino (one after the other) formation, repeating the same word in each round, or each student can repeat all the words. The essence is that each utterance is expressed with intensity as if it were the only word in a text.
Reading Together or Chorally: The students are given a short passage and they all have to read at the same time, trying to express each word very clearly, and with exaggerated gestures and motion. This creative drama type of task is very enjoyable, funny, and gets everyone warmed up and less inhibited. The result is often quite a cacophonic sound, but it will give everyone confidence to continue speaking.
Reading Dialog Scripts: Dialog scripts always engender expressive conversational tones and fluency. Students work in pairs for shared practice of roles. The very nature of dialogs increases natural flow of speech, strengthens turn-taking ability and is therefore perfect for loud reading in the language classroom. These scripts can be grammar role plays, abstract or situational texts.
Reading Poetry: The teacher records or finds professional recorded voices reading poetry which can be played to the students. They then have to emulate what they have heard. They can practice for homework or in pairs in the lesson, and then each present the poem in front of the class. Poetry, unlike dialogs and regular prose, is not a natural form of speech. However, reading a poem enables the student to be poetic, romantic, and song-like all of which teach fluency and fluidity.
Reading Well Involves the Teacher Training Students in Reading Strategies
The skill of reading aloud entails many hours of instruction and coaching in voice production as well as expression of words through emotion. Students will notice their reading ability improving and can feel encouraged to read aloud at home each day in order to strengthen their fluency. The eye becomes trained to look ahead on the line while the voice trails slightly behind, and this technique, known as sight reading, is one of the most important in loud reading.
Learning to read aloud is an art that can be used in many professions, whether it be teaching, acting, or work at a call center. It is a skill worthy of learning at any age.
Related Articles:
Pronunciation Through Creative Drama Exercises: Tasks that enhance pronunciation practice which is essential for reading aloud well.
 |
 |
 |
