Beat the Middle School Mumbles
Topics: Middle School, Reading
Want to turn your child into an expert orator, but don’t know how to rid him of the middle school mumbles? Try this at-home activity to get your child thinking about voice modulation, inflection, tempo, enunciation, and eye contact. Confidence is all it takes to make a public speaker out of a bashful tween.
Step 1
Review some key elements in speaking technique. These include:
Review some key elements in speaking technique. These include:
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Voice modulation: loudness or intensity of speech
- Inflection: change in tone or pitch of the voice
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Tempo: speed of delivery
- Enunciation: clarity of the spoken word
- Eye contact: connection between speaker and audience
Step 2
Get some videos of speeches by famous people, or download online. Watch them with your child and tell him not to worry about what the speaker is talking about, but how the speaker is speaking. Make a chart together, on regular paper or poster paper, to rate the speakers:
Get some videos of speeches by famous people, or download online. Watch them with your child and tell him not to worry about what the speaker is talking about, but how the speaker is speaking. Make a chart together, on regular paper or poster paper, to rate the speakers:
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Speaker 1
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Speaker 2
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Speaker 3
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Voice modulation
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Inflection
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Tempo
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Enunciation
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Eye contact
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