A near perfect pronunciation course! (Fun, efficient, effective, memorable. . . and almost . . . free!)

If your students need help with basic pronunciation work--and remembering it--and you don't have the time or training or cash on hand to afford it . . .  I may have a solution for you: the new KINETIK "Feed-forward" Project (KFP), beginning on September 14, 2022. It is both a course and an ongoing celebration of haptic pronunciation teaching. (A new introductory video on the project will be available shortly!) 

There is a course for students, a regular, bi-weekly recorded, 30 minutes to 1-hour lesson, with an optional live follow up the following week. The recorded lesson with chat follow up will be free. The optional, live "Feed-forward" follow up the next week will probably be about $5 per session or $10 per month! For great results, students do the homework, too, about 3 hours per week. 

There is also an ongoing seminar on haptic pronunciation teaching and an optional teacher certification course that accompanies the student course. 

How does it work?

• Students are trained in specially designed haptic movement, tone and touch techniques (MT3) that both teach and are used to practice aspects of course content and pronunciation. 
• The use of MT3s make the training and course content very memorable
• Later they can be used for enhancing recall of any content or vocabulary, correction and feedback. 
• Students are trained to do the 2 weeks of homework for that module, using a special kind of oral reading, a haptic-embodied oral reading that keeps active learning and exploration going.  
• The next week, students have the option of just doing the homework or also attending a live, 75-minute practice and feedback session on Zoom with Bill Acton.
• The entire KFP curriculum cycle is completed in about 8 months.

More about KFP

• Teaches the basics of rhythm, stress, intonation, vowels, consonants, and other key features of English pronunciation in 2-week modules
• Bill Acton is the instructor, with support from other "Hapticians"
• For any student, upper beginner and above, almost any age (7+), and any place! 
• Fits in with or complements almost any English course
• Based on the idea of developing rhythm first and regular, instructor support during the learning process
• Uses the new KINETIK "Feed forward" system (using gesture and touch, plus innovative haptic feedback learning and self-monitoring techniques on Zoom or f2f to keep active learning going!)
• Each module is 2 weeks long, one hour (recorded) available on Monday in Week One and 75 minutes (live) on Wednesday in Week 2 (Done twice, 6 a.m. PST and 6 p.m., PST)
• Trains students to self correct and develop disciplined practice routines. 
• Recommended minimum 2~3 hours of (active, movement-based, haptic) homework per week
• Materials and video models provided
• KINETIK METHOD teacher training certificate course can be taken along with student course (You basically do the student course work along with your students, and also do some additional reading and attend the weekly KFP seminars.)
• Other custom-made student courses also available.

Introductory video, more details and curriculum coming soon! 

For more information: wracton@gmail.com 

Keep in touch!

Bill

Gollum Speak: Making language improvement less stressful by talking about me

Bill is impressed with a new study by Moser et al at Michigan State University, reported by Science Daily, entitled Third-person self-talk facilitates emotion regulation without engaging cognitive control: Converging evidence from ERP and fMRI. In fact, he finds himself talking about himself thinking about it in the 3rd person constantly . . . He has even given it a name: Gollum Speak. If you are not a fan of Tolkien, you might want to go here, to get a sense of what that sounds like! One implication of the study is that you can use Gollum-like grammar to control emotion--without interfering with "cognitive" functioning. (Really?) The longer term effects of becoming gradually more "Gollum-like" by talking like that are not examined, however.

Bill's local psychotherapist informs him that some form of that technique, making the patient temporarily distance themselves either verbally or visually is a long established trick in the field. Works well sometimes but should NOT be just tossed out as an option for those not supervised or not  up on how to "talk themselves out of it", too. In other words, do NOT try that at home!

On the other hand, Gollum Speak used with language learners may have possibilities. It is, in effect, after all not all that far from role play and drama work, taking on not just the language of the character but the "voice" or perspective as well. Even in working metacognitively with learners on their progress or problems, being detached and "objective" has it merits--although that type of talk can easily devolve into deeper "Gollum": neurotic, uncontrolled self-reflection and . . . doubt. 

Bill has tried a bit of that already and will do it again with a class in a couple of days. His current read on the use of Gollum in the classroom is that students so far have found it hysterically funny--and grammatically a great game-- but were also apparently able to talk with a little more ease about themselves, just as Moser et al would predict. See just how "Gollum-able" you and your students are!

He looks forward to his follow up report--and yours!

KIT

Michigan State University. (2017, July 26). Talking to yourself in the third person can help you control emotions. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 7, 2017 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170726102906.htm

Hot Haptic pronunciation teaching topics for upcoming conference proposals!

Here in Vancouver we are getting ready to collaborate as usual in writing haptic proposals for a couple of upcoming conferences. Here is our current list, most of which are new or emerging topics for us:

• Introducing AH-EPS v3.0 Bees and Butterflies (Serious fun!) 
• A haptic approach to teaching West Coast, BC pronunciation to others! 
• Workshop in basics of haptic pronunciation teaching
• Teaching conversational discourse orientation (the skills involved in matching the prosodics of your speech to that of the person you are talking with) 
• Embodied Confident speaking practice (The Fight club) for nonnative non-male professionals of Asian ethnicity only
• 10 warm ups for pronunciation and speaking instruction
• Stressing unstressed vowels
• Going from L1 to L2 pronunciation: Using the L1 vowel system as a point of departure
• Giving voice to voiced medial and final consonants 
• Moving conversations: the haptic talk-about walkabout (peripatetic attending skills)

There was an earlier post (March, 2014) this spring as we were cranking up for TESOL international proposals that had a few others:

• Reports from the classroom: Haptic pronunciation teaching (academic sessions)
• Research project on haptic-assisted fluency (paper)
• Haptic-assisted Rhythm instruction (Butterfly and Fight club) workshop
• Haptic phonetics (anchoring L1s in addition of L2s) demonstration
• Haptic techniques for consonant repair (workshop)
• (Haptic-enhanced) Embodied confidence (Research paper)
• Haptically anchoring word stress rules and word stress (workshop)
• Linking linking with fluency: haptic circles (mini-workshop)
• Basics of haptic-integrated pronunciation teaching 
• From intonation to expressiveness: dramatic, haptic bridges for Non-native speakers
• Haptic and kinaesthetic listening (Research paper)
• On the spot, impromptu haptic pronunciation modelling, feedback and correction 
• Haptic anchoring of Academic Word List vocabulary (demonstration or workshop)
• Sentence diagramming with movement and touch 
• Songs that touch on pronunciation: haptic anchoring of rhyme and reason (workshop)
• Teaching pronunciation to young children (workshop)
• Embodied conversational discourse markers (demonstration)
• Phonics "a la haptique!" (demonstration or workshop)
• Haptic Handwriting for L2 English learners (demonstration)
• Embodied conversational listening: haptic anchoring of attending skills
• Haptic or kinaesthetic self-monitoring

Several of those or adaptations of them were submitted to three upcoming conferences. See any you like? If a proposal was done, I can probably get that to you. If not, how about you join one of us in submitting one for a conference you are planning to attend? 

Keep in touch!

Acton Haptic - English Pronunciation System™

AH-EPS (pronounced "apes") will be the official name of what we earlier referred to as "EHIEP" (pronounced: "ape"). Most of the system will be available in about 6 weeks, at the TESOL Convention in Dallas. Here is an excerpt from the Instructors Manual:

Acton Haptic – English Pronunciation System (AH-EPS) is a multi-sensory system for learning basic aspects of intelligible English pronunciation for classroom or independent study. It is appropriate for:

• Learners of most levels
• Classes of up to 40 students
• Instructors with little previous training in pronunciation teaching
• Non-native English speaking instructors

The most innovative feature of the method is the extensive use of haptic anchoring (movement plus touch.) The overall framework has been developed to provide: 

• More effective ways of integrating new or improved pronunciation into spontaneous speech 
• More systematic use of kinaesthetic/body engagement in pronunciation teaching 
• Improved self-monitoring and self-correction
• Better integration of pronunciation teaching in the curriculum and classroom 
• An integrated system for pronunciation homework and self-study
• AH-EPS has several components: 

1. Set of 30-minute instructional videos (10) 
2. Student Workbook, with accompanying 3-minute audio recordings (27) 
3. Instructor’s Manual with annotated Student Workbook 
4. Set of 30-minute student, independent practice videos (27 in total--requires Student Workbook package) 
5. Video consonant mini-modules (15) - (purchased either as a set or individually, also requires Student Workbook package). 
6. Set of classroom pronunciation integration videos (6) 
7. Webcam or on-site consultations (for instructors or students) 

The complete AH!-EPS haptic video system (AHVS) is a set of 108 video clips that are structured so that basic instruction in pronunciation can be done just working along with the model in the videos and following up with regular practice as indicated. Classroom instructors can use the videos to lead the training and practice in each module for them or can chose to present the material themselves, using the video as a resource:

Classroom instruction typically requires at least (1) and (3).
The recommended classroom package is (1), (2), (3), (4) for each student, (5) consonant modules as relevant to the learner population, and possible (6) and (7) for the less experienced instructor.
 Independent study requires (1), (2), (3) and probably selected consonant mini-modules (5) and perhaps (7) in some contexts. 

Keep in touch for specifics!

Mindful, embodied (less-stressful) monitored speaking!

For some learners, monitoring their spontaneous speech can be very problematic, interfering with fluency . . .  or ability to think! In many schools of singing instruction, kinaesthetic monitoring is standard practice. I have done a few blogposts on kinaesthetic monitoring and mindfulness. When you combine embodiment theory with mindfulness, not unlike what is suggested by Stressreductionatwork.com below, you get an interesting heuristic that in various forms or adaptations  can be useful in our work: (italics, mine)

Clip art: Clker

Clip art: Ckler

"As you speak, keep your main focus on your body sensations, while focusing on what you are saying secondarily. Notice the breath as it enters your body, and be aware of it as it leaves. Notice the touch points of the body — your sit bones and shoulders on the chair, your feet on the floor, your hands in your lap. Don’t be as concerned about what exactly it is you need to say or how people will perceive you as you say it. Your words will be just as comprehensible as before, but they’ll be more in tune with your inner presence, integrity and authenticity. One way of visualizing this is that as you speak, let the words come more from your body and less from your head."

Those are typical mindfulness-type suggestions, attention-management strategies. The debilitating effect of stress on pronunciation in various contexts is well-established. Experience has shown that the "felt sense" that embodied mindfulness techniques create can be helpful, especially for the chronically stressed and uptight in dealing with their self-monitoring (or not over-monitoring) of their pronunciation. Try it out first at your next contentious committee meeting, post-election political discussion or intimate gourmet dinner. 

From rumination to pronunciation

Clip art: Clker

As previous blogposts have illustrated, the process or mental state required in changing behavior in one area of experience is often quite like or analogous to another. When I see these "How to" pieces, I am always most interested in the order in which the writer introduces the principles, especially to what extent they line up with the general HICP/EHIEP model. Here is one on overcoming excessive rumination summarized by Amy Macklin.

As you review the steps, consider the parallel to effective haptic-integrated pronunciation change:
(1) If you can, take action.
(2) Challenge your beliefs.
(3) Redirect your attention.
(4) Resist the urge to talk it out.
(5) Observe "mindfulness."
(6) Be patient.

That could almost serve as a basic reminder before any HICP/EHIEP work. With the exception of 2 and 6, those have been addressed repeatedly. 2 is, of course, almost a given with this work; 6 is possible, in part because of 1-5. Likewise, 4 is easier because of 1, 3 and 5, all three being essentially body-based acts that help one manage the pre-frontal, highly cognitive tasks represented in 2, 4 and 6. In other words, being a bit "odd" in this work is the best way to get even . . .