As teachers we all know that
our voice is a teacher’s most
With our voices we transmit
not only information, but also
mood, atmosphere and
How we speak and what our voice sounds like
have a crucial impact on classes.
Students respond inappropriately when they
feel that the teacher’s voice is patronising, too
loud, monotone or weak.
If a teacher is having problems with his or her
voice, that discomfort or pain is transmitted to
EVERYONE IS SUFFERING!
Expressive voices, used in an
imaginative way, draw students
in and make them want to pay
attention and listen.
If such a voice has quality and
liveliness, they will be motivated
to attend, participate and learn
• VOLUME - how loudly or softly we speak
• PACE - how quickly or slowly we speak, and
how we use pausing
• PITCH - how high or low in our voice range we
• TONE - how we adjust the tone of our voice to
convey a mood or emotion
Example: Psycology teacher and Investigation of Education teacher
• Mannerisms and habits we don´t realise we
have effect our communication.
• Posture, stance, gestures convey confidence,
• Every body has different habits, some people
are more inhibited and hardly gesture, others
over-gesticulate (like me)…
• Practice standing on two feet
• Practice standing 'at ease'.
• Practice standing tall.
• Let your shoulders relax.
• Practice breathing deeply
• Try to use confident and clear gestures. Small
gestures aren´t captured by students. Have in
mind that we are on a screen, so everything is
'When you're smiling, the whole world smiles with
A smile says 'I like being here. I like you.‘
Someone tell me
not the same for
a student if my
face looks bored,
IN BODY LANGUAGE:
• Open is:
The person who stands on both feet, head held high,
chest exposed, and arms by side. In addition when
they do gesture, its strong, and they smile where
• Closed is:
The person who hangs his head, folds his arms across
his chest, crosses his legs, rolls his shoulders,
The core of correct voice use is proper breathing.
DIAPHRAM BREATHING AND
LUNG BREATHING AND SUPPORT
• Put hands on ribs and breathe in ribs only,
shallow, then breathe into your diaphram and
feel the difference try to push your hands
with your breath. Inhale for 3, hold for 3,,
exhale for 3
• Deep breath, exhale focusing on a point across
• Breath in and out with aaaaa, ooooo, iiiii
• Then short a-a-aa, o-o-o-o, i-i-i-i
• Then mmmmmm, nnnnnn
• The tip of the tongue, the teeth and the lips
• Make me many, many more
• Hot coffee in a proper copper coffee pot
Too quickly Too slowly
Variety is the key! Not an average
Exerpt from article about synaesthesia
Olympia Colizoli doesn’t see the world like
you. “To me, all time and numbers are
arranged in physical space. Days, weeks,
months, years, centuries all have shapes,
and I use those shapes to organise my
mental plan,” she says. “It took me a long
time to realise other people didn't think in
• What parts of this text would you say quickly,
what parts would you say slowly?
Her Grandmother died yesterday.
I want a new car.
This dinner is delicious.
Repeat the words 'Ham Sandwich' in as many
varying ways as you can.
For example say it angrily, happily, sadly,
lovingly, despairingly, laughingly, importantly,
slyly, snidely, shyly ... PAIR WORK!
Extension Ham Sandwich
Use the phrase to 'converse'. Take an emotional state
and build a whole conversation around the
phrase 'Ham Sandwich'.
Imagine you've just seen the most exciting thing. You
want to share that experience with a friend. You ring to
tell them. The catch is you must use the words 'Ham
Sandwich' to convey your feeling and NO others.
Try consoling using 'Ham Sandwich' or congratulating.
Experiment with as many different ways as you can.
And yet Another Ham Sandwich:
This time take two opposite emotions, for
example: happy - sad or angry - contented...
Start with one emotion and gradually switch to the
other. Make sure you grade the switch.
Good breath control is fundamental to raising the
volume while maintaining tone and pitch
• Breath in. On out breath begin a series of Ha-
ha-ha-ha's until all your breath is used.
• Take an in breath and start again. Vary your
laughter. Make it louder, make it quiet and
then build it up again. -
Distancing Technique for Projection
With a partner, stand close together and say “Hello ______”
Take a few steps back, repeat….
Imagine the sound arcing through the air, in a concentrated focused
stream to reach its target. The further away you get, the more control
you need to have over the outflow of air carrying your words.
When you think you have a neutral 'Hello _____' mastered, add
emotional color, nastily, lovingly, sweetly ...
Same with more text
Become the character of the story, feel what
Remember: small or subtle changes won't
communicate rapidly to an audience. This is not
What do you do when you´re happy, nervous,
angry, sad (with your face, body)
Let´s think of different emotions and express them
Crossing the line
Practice shifting states rapidly. (2 emotions)
• First act out a mood with your body, get into
the stance, then add voice (try bored)
• How does a voice change depending on
mood? In volumen, rate, pitch and tone?
• Ex: Angry is faster, louder, maybe higher
pitched or lower depending on character
A shy girl or boy? An overconfident man
or woman? How would these characters
react differently to happiness, anger, ets..
How would the different characters talk?
How would the voice variety change
(characters, moments of story…)
…..Who wants to read the story to
• Breathe well
• Keep hydrated
• Rest your voice
• Avoid smoke, alcohol,
loud places (talking
over loud noises
• Force yourself when
voice is tired