Speech

• Reading


  Develops attitudes and concepts, generates interests, and presents a special challenge to the mind, thus firing the imagination
• Literary appreciation


  Intelligent reading which implies a depth of understanding so that new insights are developed and fresh approaches are generated to heighten the reading pleasure
• Oral interpretation


  • The art of communicating to an audience to work of literature in its intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic entirety
  • The act of an individual or of a group, which communicates to an audience, the ideas and emotions gained from a selection through the tonal elements of the voice, expressions of the face, gestures and movements of the body
• Aspects of effective oral communication


  • Vocal techniques
  • Body techniques
• Vocal techniques


  • Careful and clear production of the vowel and consonant sounds of the language in order to be understood
  • Use of the various attributes of the voice–pitch, force, rate, and quality–to achieve vocal expression
  • Adequate projection to ensure the audience will hear
• Body techniques


  • Energetic use of the different parts of the body to convey the ideas and emotions presented in the literary piece
  • Conventional gestures of the head and hands
  • Descriptive or suggestive gestures of the hands and body
  • Movements
• Types of oral interpretation

  • Speech choir
  • Chants and raps
  • Readers theater
  • Interpretative reading
  • Storytelling
  • Chamber theater
• Benefits of participating in oral interpretation activities

  • Gain mastery of vocabulary and comprehension skills
  • Develop an ear for tone and tempo
  • Enhance vocal quality and improve speech and diction by correcting individual speech faults
  • Speak with confidence, authority, and a shared sense of achievement
  • Develop a love for and good taste in literature
  • Acquire a well-poised and intelligent personality
• Speech choir


  • A balanced group of voices reciting poetry and other rhythmic literature together with a unity and beauty born of thinking and feeling as one
  • Like an orchestra with the human voices as the different keenly tuned instruments
• Names for speech choir


  • Verse choir
  • Speaking choir
  • Choral-speaking group
• Choric selection


  • Poems are often chosen as materials for choric work, although some prose works may serve the purpose
  • The choric reading must result in a better understanding and an enhancement of the literary activity
• Bases for choosing choric selection

  • The choral group (age, grade level, and choric experiences)
  • The occasion (special day or program with a definite theme)
• Casting the choric piece

  • Determining who speaks the lines and how they should be said
  • Considering the classifications of voices, choice of arrangement, and kind of choric presentation
• Voice classification


  • Light (high pitch, fine, buoyant, or delicate)
  • Dark (low pitch, heavy, full, and solid in quality)
  • Medium (between light and dark)
• Suggestions for casting based on voice classification

  • Light voices for lines that are airy in thought or light in feeling
  • Dark voices for lines expressing somber, serious thoughts
  • Medium voices for refrains, narratives, or factual lines or sections
  • Solos for direct conversation, emphasis, or abrupt changes
  • Full voice group for refrain, narration, or climax
  • Contrasting voice groups for emphasis or abrupt changes
• Choral arrangement types


  • Refrain
  • Antiphonal
  • Unison
  • Line-a-child
  • Part-whole
• Refrain arrangement


  • The Wind by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Antiphonal arrangement

  • The Sea by Natividad Marquez
• Line-a-child arrangement


  • Weather by Louise Abney