Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• Anchor paper
• Markers
• Photo Image of the respiratory system showing the diaphragm
• Copies (or projection) of text that demonstrates characterization
• Paper and pencils

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

• Introduce Neutral Position to students. 
  • Discuss the meaning of “neutrality” as ready and not committed to movement or action in one direction or another.
• Have students stand in a large circle (alternative: have students stand at desks or tables). 
• Tell students to put their hands on their hips and look down to place their feet directly under their hips and shoulders. Tell students, “Your feet shouldn’t be too far apart or too close together; directly under the hips; hip distance apart”.
• Tell students that this is called Neutral Position. Have students repeat the term.  
• Have students drop their hands by their sides and lead them through some shoulder movements, such as forward and back, up and down, then circles to the front and the back. 
• Give the students a signal (such as a clap) to move their bodies freely, and then suddenly to return to Neutral Position. Practice several times. 
• Explain that Neutral Position is a good starting point for speaking with a clear voice.

 

Work Session

• Introduce “Breathe” to students.
• Ask students what “breathing” means. Take in answers and discuss the definition in scientific terms.
• Instruct students, “Breathe in through your nose all the way to your toes”. 
• Have them imagine there is a tire around their belly/waist area. Encourage them to fill up the entire tire, the front, the back and the sides.
• Tell students that this is using our diaphragm. Show an image of the diaphragm to explain its role in supporting breath and the production of sound.

 

• Introduce vocal exercises to students.
• “Pass the ‘Ha!’”:  Lead students in practicing expelling all the air out of the lungs in one exhalation saying “Ha!”.
• Model saying the “Ha!” to the next person in the circle, and having them pass it on.  The “Ha!” is then passed around the circle at full volume.
• “Hiss it Out”:  Direct students to breathe in using their diaphragm muscle, and then exhale slowly and evenly using a hiss.  
• Use fingers to count out how long it takes to completely exhale the breath. 
• Repeat several times, trying to extend the hiss each time.
• “Ahhhh”:  Shift from the hiss to a voiced “Ahhhh,” continuing to elongate by evenly drawing out the breath longer with each “Ahhhh”.

 

• Introduce articulation to students.
• Ask, “Does anyone know what the word “Articulation” means?  Discuss the definition of “articulation”, as well as the related words “enunciation” and “diction”.
• Ask, “What do you think ‘articulators’ are?”  
• Explain that “articulators” are the body parts that help us to shape sound:  Lips, teeth, tongue, cheeks, jaws, the roof of the mouth, the nasal cavities, etc.
• Instruct students, “Let’s warm up our articulators by scrunching and stretching our mouths saying, ‘ee’ and ‘ooo’.”
• Have students chew on an imaginary wad of bubble gum that keeps getting bigger and bigger, thus requiring greater stretching of the articulators.
• Discuss how articulation can be very important in communicating with an audience.

 

• Introduce tongue twisters to students.
• Ask the students to repeat each line of the tongue twisters that you say. Lead the following “call and response” phrases one line at a time.
• Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat
• Unique New York, Unique New Yorl
• She sells seashells by the seashore.
• Use other tongue-twisters by preference. 

 

• Introduce the elements of vocal expression to students. 
• Describe and define the four main elements of vocal expression: Volume, pace, articulation and pitch.
• Direct the students to change the volume, pace, articulation and pitch with which they speak the tongue twisters.
• Volume:  Louder/quieter
• Pace:  Faster/slower
• Articulation:  Clearer/mumblier
• Pitch:  Higher/lower

Teacher note (South Carolina): Tell students that these elements are sometimes referred to as Craft Techniques – aspects of the craft or techniques of speaking.

• Make an anchor chart of volume, pace, articulation, and pitch.

 

• Apply concepts to a class text.
• Apply the voice work to a particular text.  It can be a general text (familiar nursery rhyme, poem, part of a story), or something drawn specifically from a current curriculum topic (e.g., a paragraph about weather, a dialogue between two characters, roles of community helpers, etc.).  
• Model walking to the front of the room and “slating”. 
• Tell students that slating is when you state your name and introduce what you will be reciting in a strong clear voice. 
• For example, say, “My name is ______ and I’m going to say the first part of the Itsy Bitsy Spider”. Speak the chosen text using the concepts that students have learned.
• Ask students what techniques they recognized.
• Have individual students come to the front, slate and speak the selected text.

 

• Incorporate the concept of characterization. 
• Discuss vocal expression and vocal qualities that characters take on.  
• Make an anchor chart of different characters or types of characters (e.g., monster, cowboy, kitten) and next to each write some of the vocal qualities they would have. 
• Practice one or two together as a class.
• Arrange students in pairs. Assign (or allow pairs to choose) a character from the list. Students should use what they learned about vocal qualities to speak as that character.
• Remind students to try articulating how the character would and to speak from their diaphragm.
• Refer to the different vocal qualities on the anchor chart as needed.
• Allow students to perform their character for the class. 
• Facilitate a class discussion of how the students embodied the character using their voices.

 

Closing Reflection

• Ask students to point to their diaphragm.  
• Ask students the following questions: 
• What is diaphragmatic breathing? 
• Can you point to your articulators?  Who can demonstrate moving one of your articulators?  
• How can we make different types of sounds?
• How does an actor’s voice help to convey a character in a play or story?
• Have students draw pictures to show people speaking loudly and quietly, fast and slow, clearly and mumbly, and high and low to show what they learned.

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding throughout the lesson by observing how students use their voices as each technique is taught and how students use the techniques to embody a character.

 

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Students can use the elements of voice to express emotions, ideas and to embody a character.
• Students can identify different types of vocal qualities.
• Students can show what they learned about vocal qualities through drawings.

 

 

 

Differentiation

Acceleration:  Have students create their own tongue twisters. Have students practice changing volume, pace, articulation and pitch on a scale of 0-10, exploring more subtle gradations. Have students create their own characters and dialogue instead of using one from the class chart.   Remediation: Allow students to work and vocalize at their own level of comfort throughout the lesson. Introduce the tongue twisters slowly and chunk them into sections. Provide pictures for students to sort and glue onto a chart in the closing activity rather than drawing.

 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

An exploration of tongue twisters and vocal expression with ArtsNOW Theatre Consultant Susie Spear Purcell

 

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by: Jessica Rosa Espinoza and Barry Stewart Mann

Revised and copyright:  June 2024 @ ArtsNOW