 Teachers have a greater risk for developing hoarseness or voice problems  Teaching requires heavy voice use five days a week, and there is little time in between to allow the voice to recuperate

 Rest your voice - between times of heavy voice use so your voice has a chance to recover  Be aware of extra voice use outside of work- such as singing or yelling at sports events  If you do become hoarse, try to limit speaking or singing  Keep your vocal cords well hydrated by drinking lots of water  Avoid pushing from the throat when you are speaking

 Avoid yelling or shouting for extended periods or talking over noise  Stand tall- this will improve your breath support; collapsed physical posture reduces the ability to inflate the lungs  Breathe- big breaths will help to generate volume and enable you to power the voice from lower down, away from the throat and chest areas  Speak Clearly- over 60 percent of what we say is interpreted with the help of consonant sounds  Improve classroom acoustics and minimize noise in the classroom- i.e. fans, lights, sound coming from other classrooms, etc. Classroom FM systems can be very helpful

How clearly are the words that I say? It is very important to say your consonant sounds clearly because your consonants are what add clarity to speech. It is also important to say the beginnings and ending of words clearly (i.e. runnin vs running)

 Ways to limber up your articulators ( your jaw, your lips, your tongue- the parts of your mouth that you use for talking)  Consonant Drills (i.e. duh, kuh, puh, suh, guh, etc.) vs duh (with little movement)

Overarticulation exercises: by overpronouncing these exercises in a warm-up, they will be ready to go when you start speaking This first set of words are those that we tend to run together and we tend to change the sound  can’t you, don’t you, won’t you, could you, would you ( 3 x) This next set of word combinations focus on the same sound repeated; say these word combinations as fast as you can but make sure to hit the consonants  paper poppy, baby bubble, sassy seesaw,etc. (3 or 4 times)

- Tongue twisters are difficult to articulate because you often have to change the order of the sounds (our muscle memory wants to return to the first way the words are said)  short tongue twisters: unique New York; toy boat; red leather, yellow leather; a proper copper coffee pot  familiar /traditional tongue twisters: “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” “She sells sea shells by the sea shore.”

- Generally speaking, most people tend to talk too fast - “Speed Talking”- the person may talk like they are saying one long run-on sentence that goes into the next sentence that goes into the next sentence with very few pauses; very difficult for listeners to process and understand what is being said

 Insert more pauses in your speech  Rid yourself of the misconception that talking slower will make you boring. A slower pace can actually make you sound more interesting. It is true that low energy can bore people.  Pronounce your words clearer, and with more space around them. Like magic, you will find yourself speaking slower.  If you are really brave, try recording yourself.

 We do have to vary our loudness level depending on the situation- i.e. consider the setting- (i.e. library, hockey game, classroom, etc. ); the audience, and the speaking activity  Generally, most of us tend to talk too quietly  Posture important  Classroom FM systems very helpful  Voice projection- remember to project from your breath support and not from your vocal cords

 Talking takes a lot of air; try saying “ah” from a breath taken into the chest; now try saying “ah” from a breath taken more deeply into the abdomen to see the difference  Try the same exercise while counting

- Your voice goes where your eyes go

Listening - Julian Treasure- author & sound expert; he studies “listening” – “5 Ways to Listen Better”- Ted Talk -“In our louder and louder world, we are losing our listening”. -“We spend roughly 60 % of our communication time listening, but we are not very good at it. We retain just 25 % of what we hear.”

 ways_to_listen_better.html ways_to_listen_better.html  Sound Business by Julian Treasure

- “We are becoming impatient; the art of conversation is being replaced by personal broadcasting”- texts, s, twitter, etc. - “Harder to pay attention to the quiet or to the silence” - “Conscious listening, however, is our access to understanding”

 Silence- teach students to be silent; you may have to start slow with one minute of silence and then work for longer practice; have students talk and write about these experiences  Mixer- have students listen in rich listening environments; you could start within the classroom and then move into other places in the school; have them log and discuss all the different sounds they hear and what these sounds mean to them  Savoring- give students an assignment in which they notice and bring some of the their favorite sounds to school to share; you could use a digital recorder; you could also have them record sounds they dislike and why

 Listening Positions- pair students up and have A tell B what he/she did over the summer holidays while B listens from different positions (i.e. I’m bored. I’m in a hurry. I want to be friends with this person., etc. etc.) Share experiences with each other and then trade places  RASA (receive, appreciate, summarize, ask)- practice each component by pairing up again and have the listener turn each element off and on while listening and then both people share their experience  Website address: listening-in-schools.html

 for-harmony/steady-waterfall-in-a-forest for-harmony/steady-waterfall-in-a-forest  for-harmony/soothing-thunderstorm

 nter/care_guides/voice_hygiene/tips_for_teachers nter/care_guides/voice_hygiene/tips_for_teachers  and-pupil-issues/voice-care.asp- and-pupil-issues/voice-care.asp-   to_listen_better.html to_listen_better.html  g-listening-in-schools.html g-listening-in-schools.html 