ORAL PRACTICE

Reading Aloud

Try reading this in one breath!

• “Where did you go?” the wife questioned as if interrogating

a suspect who had committed a theft or robbery without

any sense of guilt behind her back in the middle of the

night when everyone was fast asleep.

What did you notice?• Could you read it in one breath?

• Were you rushing through some of the words?• Do you think you could be understood?

Read it one more time pause at each /

“Where did you go?” / the wife questioned / as if

interrogating a suspect / who had committed a theft / or

robbery / without any sense of guilt / behind her back / in

the middle of the night / when everyone was fast asleep.

PART 1Pausing

When should we pause?

1. At punctuation marks

2. At the start of a new clause or phrase

a) Just before conjunctions (e.g. and / but / unless / although / or)

b) Just before relative pronouns (e.g. who / which / that / when /

where)

c) Just before prepositions (e.g. in / along / by / above / behind)

Peer evaluation

1. Quickly read through the passage in practice one.

2. After reading once, decide where you want to pause and

then draw slashes (/) to indicate the pauses.

3. Read the passage to your partner.

Peer evaluation

4. When you are listening to your partner, you will use a different coloured pen/pencil to indicate his/her pauses.

5. Next, examine the areas that both you and your partner paused at. Are they the same or different?

6. Reflect on the differences. Do you think your partner is correct? Are you correct?

PART 2Reading Expressively

Reading expressively• Vary your intonation (tone).• Intonation refers to HOW we say things rather than WHAT we say.

• It is the patterns of rise and fall in pitch.• A tool to indicate the feelings of the speaker

Four strategies to help you read expressively

1. Vary your pace2. Sentence High and Low

• You raise or lower your tone for certain words in a sentence.

3. Changing a character’s tone4. Emphasize the Important Words

• Which words should we stress while reading?

1. Varying your pace• Slow your pace of reading when you want to emphasize certain ideas.

• Quicken your pace when you want to show excitement or humour.

• When reading the lines of certain characters in the passage:• Slow your pace if the person is someone who is elderly.• Quicken your pace if the person is young.

2. Sentence High and Low

•You raise your tone when asking a yes or no question (can we go now? / is this bag yours?)

•You drop your tone when asking a 5W 1H question (who was that? / where are you going?)

•You drop your tone when making a statement (go to class when the bell rings. / I am so bored.)

2. Sentence High and Low• When you read a list of items, you raise your tone for the first few items and drop your tone when you read the last item on the list.He bought fish (raise your tone), beef (raise your tone), potatoes (raise your tone) and milk (drop your tone).

3. Changing a character’s tone• Dramatize your reading of a character’s speech by using a tone of voice that is different from your normal reading tone.• If the character is an old person, drop your tone.• If the character is a young person, raise your tone.

4.1 Emphasize the important word

• If your friend wants to know whether you have seen her

new dress (and not any other object), she would say:

• Have you seen my new dress?

• Have you seen my new dress? The one with the polka dots.

• Listen to Clip 1

4.2 Emphasize the important word • If your friend wants to know if you (and not anyone else) have seen her new dress, she would say:

• Have you seen my new dress?

• Have you seen my new dress? Both Betty and Veronica have

already seen it.

• Listen to Clip 2

4.3 Emphasize the important word• If your friends want to focus on the fact that her dress is new, she would say:

• Have you seen my new dress?

• Have you seen my new dress? I just bought it yesterday!

• Listen to Clip 3

Peer Evaluation1. Read the passage in practice two. 2. After reading once, decide which words you want to

stress. Highlight that word. 3. Next, decide which words you want to raise or

lower your intonation when reading. Circle words that have a rising intonation and underline words that have a falling intonation.

Peer Evaluation

4. Read the passage once to your partner and get your partner to read to you as well.

5. Use a different coloured pen/pencil to indicate your partner’s change in intonation and pauses.

6. When both of you are done, examine the different areas that you pause and ask yourselves why you did so.

PART 3Understanding PAC

Say it to mean it! • It’s raining => Show surprise

• It’s raining? I thought the weather forecast said there was not going to be rain today.

•Listen to Clip 4

Say it to mean it!• Its raining => Show annoyance

• It’s raining! I can’t play soccer anymore!•Listen to Clip 5

Say it to mean it!• It’s raining => Show happiness

• It’s raining! We don’t have to run 2.4 KM today!• Listen to Clip 6

Say it to mean it!• As seen from the example, the same words (it’s raining) is used three times.

• However, the circumstances are different for all three times.

• We therefore have to say those words differently for each of those times.

Understanding PAC

•When you are reading a passage, you need to understand its:

PurposeAudienceContext

Understanding PAC

•When you are reading a passage, you need to understand its:

Purpose – What is the reason for making the oral presentation?

AudienceContext

Understanding PAC

•When you are reading a passage, you need to understand its:

Purpose – What is the reason for making the oral presentation?

Audience – Who are you addressing?Context

Understanding PAC•When you are reading a passage, you need to understand its:

Purpose – What is the reason for making the oral presentation?

Audience – Who are you addressing?Context – What are the conditions surrounding the passage? What is the setting, the environment and/or the circumstances?

Purpose• You could be delivering an oral presentation to meet any of the following purposes:To appeal for support or donation for a causeTo offer suggestions for improvementsTo show your passion for a topicTo inspire and motivate othersTo provide information of an upcoming event.

Audience• You could be delivering an oral presentation to any one of the following audiences:Classmates, schoolmates, teachers, parentsNeighbourhood committee membersPanel of interviewers or judgesPeople who pay to listen to you

Context• You could be delivering an oral presentation to meet any of the following contexts.School graduation or commemorative ceremonyWedding ceremony of a family member or friendFund-raising eventElection for a specific position

Student submission

1. Record yourself reading the passage in practice three using either Vocaroo or the voice recorder in your mobile phone and send your recording to your teacher’s email.

2. On the worksheet provided, identify the PAC of the passage in practice three.

3. Submit the worksheet to your teacher.

Steps for recording• Go to vocaroo.com

• Click on the ‘click to record’ button.

Steps for recording• Click on the ‘click to stop button’ when you are done.

• Next, save your work by clicking on the link that is circled in red.

Steps for recording

• Copy the link provided under sharing options and send it via email to your teacher.

Checklist• Have you:

Read the passage in practice one to your partner?Read the passage in practice two to your partner?Submitted your voice recording of the passage in practice three to your teacher?

Identified the PAC of the passage in practice three?