EAPIC Lesson 2 - Fluency (and rise-fall and fall-rise hacks)

Important note:  As of tonight, March 4th, only 2 people had completed viewing of the L2 training video, and none had enrolled in the course officially yet, so there was no feedback session this evening. I will wait a week before uploading the L3 training video, to give time for others to get "caught up!" If you have viewed the L2 training video, feel free to email me with your questions or post a comment on the blog below. 

                   

                               Lesson 2 - Tai Chi  (Fluency 1)

                                                                    

 

Link to the L2 training video         (Google meet)

Link to L2 training video  (Youtube) 

Links to  the L2 feedback session 

Link to L1 training video                 

 Link to Introduction video

Objectives:

• Basic rhythm and fluency

• Haptic conversation hacks: 

                    Tai Chi Fluency, RISE-FALL ( / \ ) 

                    FALL-RISE ( \ /) tones 

           Warm up! (vowel lip shape up!)

Circles        (3 sided) boxes

 u                        i          
 U                        I          
 O                       e             
 Ɔ                       ɛ
 ʌ                     ae
       a         a    

a > i     a > u   Ɔ > i

i > i     e > i    u > u    o > u 

READ

Tai Chi Finger flow fluency: both hands move in clockwise circles.

•     Finger tips touch very lightly on the most stressed syllable in the rhythm group.

•     Arms, hands and fingers—and whole body as relaxed as possible.

RISE-FALL and FALL-RISE tone hacks, using bigger circles and energy

Tai Chi (Finger-flow fluency)Training

• Fingers touch on the stressed syllable: X
• Hands move in (soft ball size) clockwise circles!

Nice X
That’s nice. oX
Very nice.  ooX
That’s very nice.  oooX
Easy Xo
That’s easy. oXo
Very easy. ooXo
That’s ve-ry easy. oooXo
Beau-ti-ful Xoo
That’s beautiful. oXoo
Very beautiful. ooXoo
That’s very beautiful. oooXoo
Fascinating Xooo
That’s fascinating oXooo
Very fascinating ooXooo
That’s very fascinating oooXooo

RISE-FALL and FALL-RISE Hacks

• RISE-FALL: Soccer ball size circles with both hands! 
• Meaning: Enthusiasm or excitement, with more voice energy
• 
  
• FALL-RISE:  Right hand continues upward a little. Left hand continues down.
• Meaning: You are bit curious or surprised about something, 
• or you are a Canadian* who sometimes uses a FALL-RISE + "eh" at the end of a sentence.  

Nice X          / \        \ /
That’s nice. oX / \        \ /
Very nice.  ooX / \        \ /
That’s very nice.  oooX / \       \ /
Easy Xo / \       \ /
That’s easy. oXo / \       \ /
Very easy. ooXo / \       \ /
That’s ve-ry easy. oooXo  / \       \ /
Beau-ti-ful Xoo / \       \ /
That’s beautiful. oXoo / \       \ /
Very beautiful. ooXoo  / \       \ /
That’s very beautiful. oooXoo  / \       \ /

Fascinating Xooo / \       \ /
That’s fascinating oXooo / \       \ /
Very fascinating. ooXooo / \       \ /
That’s very fascinating.       oooXooo / \       \ /

*We lived in Canada | for twenty years | and love a Canadian accent! 

 

Lesson 2 EOR - Ducks on a plane! 

(Tai Chi, plus RISE-FALL and FALL-RISE hacks)

MOOD: VERY enthusiastic! (On a very noisy subway where you have to speak loudly!) 

1A: ExCUse me. Could you put my DUCK | in the Overhead?

            X / \                                             X / \                 X \ / or /

   B: SURE. GLAD to. THERE you are!

         X / \      X / \           X / \ 

2A: Thank you so MUCH!

                                X / \

   B: You're WELcome. Where're you FROM, EH?

                    X / \                                        X / \    \ /

3A: JapAN| but I’m a STUdent here now. 

             X / \                 X / \

    B: JaPAN?  WHERE in Japan?

              X \ /       X / \

4A: SENdai.  About two HOUrs | north of Tokyo by TRAIN. 

        X / \                         X / \ or /                                   X / \

   B: That's a REally nice area. 

                        X / \

5A: It certainly IS. But it’s beCOming | very CROWded. 

                        X \ /                  X / \                    X \ / or / \

B: I've HEARD that. How LONG | are you staying in CAnada?

              X / \                         X / \                                       X \ / or / \

6A: PERmanently! I'm going to be WORking | in ToRONto. 

       X/ \                                                X / \                     X / \ 

   B: WELL. Welcome to CAnada, EH!

         X / \                           X / \         X \ /

Rhythm First: Haptic Side-Step!  (plus Tai Chi)

(For activation of the body, going from left to right, like reading a book!
Each time you do it you will add a gesture!)

A-B-C-D-E-F!

Homework;

a. (Every day): Warm up (L1 and L2), training (3 days), EOR, new text (day 5). Notes (new targets and observations) and log of time spent and when!

b. (optional) If you want to enroll for Wednesday feedback, email me for a quick interview on Zoom. 

c. Check out Legalshield and IDshield on my website: williamacton.legalshieldassociate.com (If you sign up for Legalshield or IDshield, you get 3 more personal lessons, too!) 

Keep in touch! 

Bill

wracton@gmail.com
https://hipoeces.blogspot.com/
www.actonhaptic.com
www.williamacton.legalshieldassociate. com

The "Fly-Chi": All you need is a little embodied, fluent rhythm--for "supra" vowels and consonants!

About a month ago, I stumbled on to a pair of "haptic" techniques, using "supra-segmentals," that is rhythm, stress and intonation--when used in sequence, that appear to dramatically and quickly improve the pronunciation of some multi-syllable words, including the pronunciation of individual vowels and consonants in them. I know that is a claim and a half! 

Here is the story . . . 

For over 15 years, two of the basic techniques of Haptic Pronunciation Teaching, have been the Syllable Butterfly and the Tai Chi Finger Flow Fluency. (Check out the links to those two from version 2.0.) The Butterfly focused on syllables and rhythm; the Tai Chi, on fluency. In a recent class where learners were trained in the Tai Chi, there was some additional time left at the end where we work on problematic words have noted during the week. The first student had several multi-syllable words, including 'custodial" and "maintenance." There was almost no contrast between stressed and unstressed syllables--and no obvious rhythmic structure. The Tai Chi technique made little difference, other than speeding up his speech a bit. 

For the first time ever in working with vocabulary, I had him do the Butterfly first, which exaggerates both stress contrast and rhythm/length of each syllable, and then the Tai Chi. The student and the class were almost blown away by the improvement. He sounded almost  . . . Canadian! Actually, his pronunciation of the segmentals, per se, did  not change much if at all, but the relative amplitude and length of the syllables certainly did! The same happened on another dozen words or so after that. In subsequent weeks, the final segment of each class has become basically problematic vocabulary done to the tune of the Butterfly and Tai Chi. Have already included the "Fly-Chi" in Lesson 2 of the KINETIK method!

It is well established in the field that if a learner has relatively good rhythm, including contrast between stressed and unstressed vowels, that problems with segmentals (vowels and consonants) should be less  . . . problematic. Actually, and more importantly, with unstressed syllables somewhat backgrounded, vowels tend to be "reduced" and consonant near misses are not only not as noticeable but elide (blend with) adjacent  sounds. The process is very evident developmentally in child language learning, as well as the efficacy of embodied techniques such as handclapping in facilitating enhancement of segmentals, e.g.,  Baills and Prieto, (2023.)

There are "billions and billions" of videos on the web demonstrating the phenomenon and the effect. What those demonstrations do not do, however, is show how to help learners work with the process consistently so that the changes "stick." In preparing for a recent class, I seem to have "discovered" a way . . . The problem with either just using hand clapping with sentences or longer texts, such as songs, or focusing on just one word at a time is that the learner generally not able to take the process out of class effectively, consistently, and remember what was temporarily "embodied" in the process.

Students are using the Fly-Chi now in homework. (I have three weeks of good data so far!) And at least initially, their ability to both change and remember targeted words appears greatly enhanced. Just a fascinating "theory" at this point, Help me test it--and report back! 

Baills, F., & Prieto, P. (2023). Embodying rhythmic properties of a foreign language through hand-clapping helps children to better pronounce words. Language Teaching Research, 27(6), 1576-1606. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820986716

When is EHIEP haptic pronunciation teaching best?

I got that question yesterday at the conference after our Tai Chi and linking workshop. (Shine, Olya and I will do a blogpost on the specifics of that next week.)

Quick (modest) answer: In many contexts.

Here are your basic EHIEP "Elevator talking points!")

Clip art: Clker

When . . .
A. Integrating new or changed pronunciation into spontaneous speech is a prime concern.
B. Learners' immediate need is anchoring new vocabulary or basic intonation contours.
C. Presenting new vocabulary, especially terms that are not easily contextualized.
D. Doing on-the-spot correction of mispronunciation, especially in class.
E. Holding learners' attention during pronunciation work is problematic (due to environmental distraction or other "internal" factors).
F. Doing focused peer correction of basic prosodics (intonation, rhythm and stress) using oral reading conversational texts.
G. Learner pronunciation homework is critical to success.

Those are EHIEP-based (Essential Haptic-integrated English Pronunciation), the basic model we have been developing here and elsewhere for sometime. (For more info and a free copy of the draft v2.0 AH-EPS Instructor's guide, email: actonhaptic@gmail.com.) For demos of what the basic pedagogical movement patterns look like see this earlier blogpost. (Do that soon; the links are only live until 11/30!)

Tomorrow's post will be focus on when AH-EPS, the haptic video system for doing EHIEP, is best.

Keep in touch!

Teaching linking in speaking with touch and Tai Chi

Clip art: Clker

This one will be fun. If you are in Vancouver next Saturday, join us: 

Workshop to be presented at the BCTEAL Lower Mainland Regional Conference in Vancouver, BC, at Columbia College, November, 23, 2013, 1:30-2:30. 

(Hapticians: JaeHwa Hong, Olya Kliuyeva and myself)

Pronunciation teaching depressing? In a phonological phunk? Try some Tai Chi!

Clipart: Clker

This is a fun article from the UK Independent (not exactly @ the top of the list of my favorite sources of research studies . . . ) on the potential effect of Tai Chi on depression. The claims for the benefits of Tai Chi are extensive, from bigger brains, to longer life . . . to antidepressant. One of the EHIEP protocols, in fact, is termed the "Tai Chi fluency protocol," inspired by watching amazingly flexible and "tranquil-looking" seniors do Tai Chi every morning out in front of my apartment in Japan. In addition to bilateral brain engagement (basically making both hands touch on every pedagogical movement pattern), each of the protocols has at least one other distinct meta-function:

Clipart: Clker

• Warm up Protocol - Expanding the visual and physical field of operation
• Body Flexibility Protocol - Muscle flexibility of the face, shoulders and hips
• Vowel Resonance Protocol - Focus vowel centers (between the eyes, voice box and upper chest)
• Matrix Anchoring Protocol - Precision of node positions (points where hands touch)
• Vowel/Word stress Protocol - Establish relative conceptual, spatial and haptic "distances" between vowels
• Sensuous Syllable Butterfly Protocol - In addition to bilateral grounding (bringing the learner back into the room, etc.), establish the felt sense of English rhythm groups--up to 7 syllables
• Touch-i-nami (intonation) Protocol - Anchor basic intonation contours and expressiveness
• Tai Chi Fluency Protocol - Fluency and expansion of general pitch range
• Rhythmic Feet FIght Club - Compact conversational phrases and anchor pause structure
• Baton Integration Protocol - Integrate most of the above . . . 

If one of those won't "move" you and your class out of a temporary "phonological funk," nothing will!