Hapticanar #11 - 20 Haptic Techniques (in 30 minutes!)

 If you'd like a preview of the new KINETIK Method Pronunciation Teaching Certificate Course, join us later today at the next Hapticanar, at 6 p.m., PST. Go to: https://www.actonhaptic.com/ to sign up for the free webinar. If you have missed any of the haptic (web) inars, or you can't join us live, you can always get caught up at: www.actonhaptic.com/archives.

For more on the certificate course: https://www.actonhaptic.com/kinetic or info@actonhaptic.com

Bill

KINETIK Hapticanar #5: Double Vowels and (haptic) friends

The next Hapticanar (Haptic webinar) is part two of the haptic system for teaching the vowels of English, at the regular wenbar time, July 13th, at 6 p.m. (PST). To sign up for the series of 12 webinars, go to www.actonhaptic.com. 

The "double vowels" in general North American pronunciation in the haptic system are these: (A common set used in student pronunciation texts.) 

• 1y [iy] “me”
• 11w [uw] “moo”
• 3y [ey] “may”
• 9w [ow] “mow”
• 6y [ay] “my”
• 8y [Ɔy]“boy”
• 6w [aw] “cow”

Their "friends" are simple tense vowels in English: ([i], [e], [u] and [o]. To do the double vowels, students need a little work on the simple tense vowels first. 

As usual, come for the singalong, stay for vowels!

Keep in touch!

Bill

KINETIK Hapticanar #4: Single Vowel-arama! (Or: How I learned to love stress and vowel it!)

Haptic pronunciation teaching does an especially good job of teaching vowels and basic word stress. In this webinar we begin with what we call "single vowels," that is simple, not complex "short" vowel sounds such as in: chicken, cooks, best, with, salt, fat, love, hot. (Later in the system we do work on some other simple vowels such as tense vowels that are not stressed, such as: [i] in 'pronunciation' or [e] in 'atypical'. You'll have to wait for webinar #10 for that, however!)

If you have missed the first four KINETIK hapticanars, Introduction, Rhythm, Fluency and Consonant Supreme 1, you can both get caught up at www.actonhaptic.com and sign up for the coming webinars! 

See you there!

 

KINETIK Webinar #3: Consonants Supreme 1 (The Best, most moving way to teach the pronunciation of 'th' and beyond!)

Duh best, most moving and efficient technique for duh 'th' sound and den some! One reason dat many metodologists advise not making 'th' a priority is dat dey don't know how to teach it well or teach others how to teach it well. Duh Haptic Pronunciation Teaching "Movement, tone and touch technique" (MT3) for 'th', inspired by a close encounter wit a popsicle stick in Japan two decades ago, is wort duh (free) price of admission for next week's webinar!

Seriously, the Haptic MT# for θ/ð is amazing . . we'll also do f/v, and y & w onglides. Don't believe me; come and try it on yourself next Tuesday, July 29th. 

Almost forgot. Bring along a coffee stirrer or popsicle stick. (Most MT3s use one!) 

Go to www.actonhaptic.com, to sign up!

KINETIK (Haptic Pronunciation Teaching) Method Certification Course

 Three ways to take the course!

1. (FREE) Attend the weekly Haptic(web)inars, Tuesdays at 6 p.m. PST. Learn one technique per week. Tomorrow is Week 2. The technique this week is the "TaiChi - Finger-flow-fluency,," a great procedure for encouraging overall fluency and integrating new or changed sounds into spontaneous speaking. To join, go to www.actonhaptic.com and sign up! 

2. Attend the webinars and also get the student training videos and teaching handouts. (at very minimal cost!) 

3. Take the Certification Course (available beginning August 1st!) Here are the details:

KINƐTIK METHOD™applies the basic Movement, Tone and Touch Techniques (MT3 - gesture plus touch routines) of HaPT to enhancing learning and memory for any class content and language, not just specifically pronunciation. It also promotes general intelligibility, using more pronunciation-oriented techniques. The haptic gestures serve to “complement” instruction in all skill areas, speaking, listening, reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar . . . and even pronunciation!

The course contains four modules, three lessons each. (Each lesson takes about a week to complete)

• Module 1

• Lesson One - Syllable Butterfly and rhythm

• Lesson Two - Finger-flow Fluency

• Lesson Three – Haptic phonetics: th/th, f/v, p/b, y, w, consonant clusters

• Module 2

• Lesson One - Single vowels, word stress, and word-final consonants

• Lesson Two - Double vowels and phrasal and sentence stress.

• Lesson Three – Haptic phonetics: n/ng, l, r, s/z/sh/zh, tsh/dzh

• Module 3

• Lesson One - Basic intonation

• Lesson Two - Advanced intonation

• Lesson Three - Baton integration and linking

• Module 4

• Lesson One - Advanced rhythm and fluency

• Lesson Two - Tense, unstressed vowels and secondary stress,

• Lesson Three – KINƐTIC review, advanced integration, and Certification test

The structure of a typical lesson is something like this:

(A) Attend the weekly Hapticanar on that lesson or do the video of it. (About 30 minutes),

(B) Do the training video for that lesson, the same one you would use to train you students (5-10 minutes, but you might want to do it two or three times),

(C) You identify a short section of a text of some kind from your current course content or a previous course, and figure out how you could use the MT3 of that leson with in a short embodied oral reading, usually about 25-50 words.

(D) At the end of the week, you meet for an hour or so with 3 or 4 other instructors like yourself, hopefully who are teaching the same type of students, and ME (or another experienced Haptician) to go over the Embodied Oral Readings that the four of you have come up with.

After Module 4, you take a REALLY easy little certification test where you create a video showing that you can do some of the MT3s and write up a couple of pages telling me how you would sell your KINETIK MT3s to your students, your colleagues and your boss!

The cost will vary, depending on how many students there are in a course. If there are 6 students, the cost will be about $300 per student. (There are a maximum of 6 students per course,) If there are 2 students, the cost will be $800 per student. Special programs are available for schools and larger groups.

For more information, contact info@actonhaptic.com.

The course will be rolled out in Auguet 1, 2021. It will be featured and discussed in Acton Haptic Community on Locals.com. Stay tuned here for more information as it is released!

Haptic Webinar #2: How can a little "TaiChi" enhance uptake and speaking fluency?

Come to the next Haptic(web)inar and find out! To get there, go to the website and register. While you are there, check out videos of the Introduction to KINETIK Method and Webinar #1: The Syllable Butterfly technique!  (And, of course, Keep in Touch!

Where does really great pronunciation teaching begin? "GrammaRhythm-ing!"

Note: This is definitely NOT your "grandma's way" of teaching pronunciation or grammar!

Classroom work using the KINETIK Method of Haptic Pronunciation Teaching always begins with a  grammar and rhythm process, what we call "GrammaRhythm-ing."

1. Breaking up a written text / of some kind / into rhythm groups / of up to seven syllables, / based primarily on grammatical structure./ In other words, /you pause at places / where one grammar structure begins / and another leaves off. 
1. You also identify / what is probably the syllable / in the word with the strongest energy / or stress, usually the one off to the right. 
2. Reading the text together, once through, with hands touching in some way on each stressed syllable--to get the rhythm of the text.

THEN: You work on something in there using gesture and touch, maybe some vowels or consonants, intonation, expressiveness, or maybe just so that the text is remembered better. 

FINALLY: Use a different fluency and integration-oriented gesture as you read the passage together one last time to help encourage uptake of the haptic work. 

To get a good idea of how this done, join us at Hapticanar #1, Tuesday, June 15th at 6 p.m. (PST). Click HERE to reserve a spot for that!  

In case you missed the Introductory Hapticanar this week, check HERE or earlier the Haptic Story Promo, check HERE.

Introductory (Free) Haptic Webinar Tonight!

 6 p.m. PST (1800)! The first of the (free) weekly, one-hour "Hapticanars." Here is the link to tonight's! Just click and you are in!

 The format is (usually) something like this: 

• 30 minutes of "embodied" training on 1 or 2 haptic pronunciation teaching techniques
• 30 minutes of Q&A

Tonight's will involve a little more talk on my part as I introduce haptic to those new to it, but there will be the usual "embodied" engagement and fun that will alway be the case! 

Follow up on the Hapticanar happens at actonhaptic@locals.com. That is free to sign up for to receive updates follow the discussions. (f you decide to support the Acton Haptic Community on Locals.com, you get to join the conversation, post your thoughts and questions and get free swag, like student training videos and Haptic Pronunciation Teaching posters and charts. 

See you tonight!

Bill 

The Thrill of the Drill in Pronunciation Teaching! (The First Hapticanar is coming!)

 Here is the full "Hai(ptic)ku" (And here is the link to the June 8th Hapticanar: www.actonhaptic.com)

• The thrill of the drill
• Springs up in sound instruction
• Instead of the shrill!

The "Godfather" of language teaching, Jack Richards, consigned the poor, hapless practice of drill in language teaching to the category of "mechanical and meaningless" forever with notes such as this:

"Mechanical practice refers to a controlled practice activity which students can successfully carry out without necessarily understanding the language they are using. Examples of this kind of activity would be repetition drills and substitution drills designed to practice use of particular grammatical or other items. Activities of this kind are of limited value in developing communicative language use."

(Just in case you have forgotten or never been really taught the types of drill, Juicy English has a concise of what drill is.)

Actually, I'd have to agree with Richards if drill is done in the context of " . . . without necessarily understanding the language." In haptic pronunciation teaching, drill is used but with language that is part of the course content, generally pulled out temporarily from a story or text or dialogue, not just a random list of words or grammar structures. 

However, what we have learned over the years from our student-teachers who are "trapped" in systems that allow no leeway in what is done in class is this:  Even if your textbook and your curriculum demands  "decontextualized" drill of the type Richards is describing, just performing those activities "haptically" with gesture and touch can make a real difference in student engagement and ability to remember at least more of the words and patterns being, and impact the mood and energy of the class. In one of the upcoming hapticanars I'll have an interview with a teacher who demonstrates just how that works!

Join us Tuesday!

KINETIK (Pronunciation Teaching) Method: Embodied cognition-centered, the way kid's learn . . . math!

One of the most intriguing parallels to haptic pronunciation teaching is with embodied math instruction with children. In a 2021piece in Frontiers in Psychology by Berman and Ramani, Integrating Embodied Cognition and Information Processing: A Combined Model of the Role of Gesture in Children's Mathematical Environments, of University of Maryland, propose a comprehensive model that also applies in very interesting ways to the new KINETIK Method. Beginning from an embodied cognition perspective (that is the learning experience must be understood as anchored in both the body and the "outside" milieu, the social context,) it connects more explicitly the critical role and function played by the hands-on methodology in that problem-based context, to math concept learning. 

The contribution of the haptic (gesture, plus touch) techniques of the KINETIK method, especially the several ways in which the hand engagement defines what an object is and how it relates other objects and the focus of the task "at hand," provides a framework for interpreting the place of the various components of the gesture and touch based techniques. 

To see more about just how that framework connects to classroom instruction in pronunciation with children and adults, join us at the weekly haptic webinars (Hapticanars) beginning on June 8th! For more information on the (free) Hapticanars and sign up, go to www.actonhaptic.com. 

Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.650286/full

(New) v5.0 Haptic Pronunciation Teaching as "Metanique": any text, story, class or time

If you are new to haptic pronunciation, here is a quick history. (If not, drop down to after the bullets!) To understand the importance of this new development, Haptic as Metanique, a little background is helpful:

• 1970's - I was trained in pronunciation teaching, especially from a speech pathology, highly tactile and kinesthetic perspective
• 1980s - Extensive work in accent enhancement involving both kinesthetic and psychological models
• 1990s - Large class teaching of pronunciation in Japan and research on uses of gesture in ;pronunciation teaching
• 2000 ~ 2020 - Development of haptic pronunciation teaching, inspired in part by work in psychotherapy for PTSD, especially use of the visual field and touch.
• 2020 - v5.0 Haptic pronunciation teaching as "metanique" (a system of procedures where attention to pronunciation can be mapped on to any meaning or narrative-based classroom teaching text or technique. 

Haptic (Pronunciation Teaching as) Metanique is, in effect, a series of complementary overlays to any L2 instruction that can be applied in any class any time that any learners (all ages and contexts) are engaged in meaningful texts or interpersonal communication practice. 

We use the Butterfly above as our symbol of metanique, in general, a gesture complex that, in a sense, floats above or lands on any word, phrase, clause of sentence, embodying it. The Butterfly pedagogical movement pattern has been central to the haptic system from the outset. (See a demonstration of early butterfly and other PMPs.) and others from v1.0. Here is an example of how  metaniques, in this case the Butterfly and the intonation PMP, Touchinamis, might be applied to presentation of a model dialogue to embody lexical items (words), the rhythm patterning or the intonation contours:

X is Y /and Z, / but A, / who is from B, / is very much C, / to be sure. 

ooO        oO       oO              oooO                 ooooO                 ooO  (using Butterfly)

--/           -/          -/ \               ---/ \                  ----\                     --/ \   (using Touchinamis)

The concept is that anything that is the focus of instruction, where it is embedded in a vivid context or narrative, where some complementary attention to form would fit in relatively seamlessly without disrupting comprehension or production, can be "metaniqued!"

For more on metaniquing and v5.0, join us at the upcoming webinar in November (or possibly the webinar upcoming on 10/2 -- if you hurry and register at info@actonhaptic,com!

Haptic pronunciation teaching (un)masked!

A student just asked the question: How can I teach pronunciation in a mask? Where he is, already back in the classroom, he and most of his students are wearing masks. It can be difficult enough when you can't see your students' faces, let alone when they can't see yours! The end of pronunciation teaching as we know it? No, not at all. Here's how . . .

In 2014, I was in the Middle East doing teacher training workshops. I was scheduled to do one at a women's college. NEVER occurred to me that the (150) students might be wearing burqas . . . which almost all of them were, covered, head to foot. One of the most successful and well received sessions I have ever done. (See the blogpost on that for more detail as to how it happened and my thoughts as to why it seemed to go so well!) 

With the exception of most consonants and a few features of vowels, most everything else of real importance in pronunciation work can be done in a mask . . . haptically. By that I mean, taught "from scratch," except where the learner has relatively little idea of where things in the vocal track have to go and touch to come up with a vowel or consonant sound.

Suprasegmentals (rhythm, stress and intonation) done in masks is a piece of cake, in fact, maybe even preferable in some cases. If you haven't already, go to www.actonhaptic.com and watch the demo videos. Even for vowels, you can do correction and feedback in a mask effectively, as long as the learner has the basic physical routine stored "in there" somewhere that can be recalled.

Clker.com

Doing a new demonstration shortly of more ideas on effective "masked" pronunciation as part of the upcoming webinars. July 24th and 25th. Contact info@actonhaptic.com for reservations.

Cognitive Restructuring of Pronunci-o-phobia - (and Alexa-phobia): Hear, hear! (Just don't peek!)

Clker.com

Caveat emptor: If you are emotionally co-dependent on Alexa, you might want to "ALEXA, STOP ME!" at this point. We love you, but you are lost . . .

New study by "a team of researchers at Penn State" (Summarized by ScienceDaily.com) explored the idea of using ALEXA to help you "cognitively restructuring" your public speaking anxiety, Anxious about public speaking? Your smart speaker could help. Actually what they did was to compare two different ALEXAs in talking you through/out of some of your public speaking, pre-speech anxiety, a more social one with a less social one. (Fasten your seat belt . . . ) Subjects who engaged with the former felt less stressed at the prospect of the giving a speech. From the summary from the researchers:

"People are not simply anthropomorphizing the machine, but are responding to increased sociability by feeling a sense of closeness with the machine, which is associated with lowered speech anxiety . . . Alexa is one of those things that lives in our homes, . . As such, it occupies a somewhat intimate space in our lives. It's often a conversation partner, so why not use it for other things rather than just answering factual questions?"

Houston, we have a problem. Several, in fact. For instance, if ALEXA can do that, imagine what a real person online, just audio only, could accomplish! Forget Zoom and SKYPE! I'd predict that that may even account for some, if not a great deal, of the reduction in anxiety alone. In that condition, a real person might be exponentially more effective . . . worth checking on, I'd think. In addition, from the brief report we get no indication as to what ALEXA actually said, only that "she" was more socially engaging in one condition, than the other. 

What it does suggest, however, is that we should be able to use the same general strategy in dealing with the well-researched anxiety on the part of  instructors and students toward pronunciation work. The impact of a person facing you as you try to modify your pronunciation is important. For many learners, they literally have to close their eyes to repeat a phrase with a different articulation--or at least dis-focus their eyes momentarily. That is is an especially critical dimension of haptic and general gesture techniques in pronunciation teaching. 

This idea is explored in Webinar II in the upcoming Haptic Teaching Webinars I and II, June 5th and 6th. Please join us! (Contact info@actonhaptic.com to reserve you place!) 

And if you'd like to continue this discussion, give me a call . . . Keep in Touch!

Source:
Penn State. (2020, April 25). Anxious about public speaking? Your smart speaker could help. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 18, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200425094114.htm

Haptic Pronunciation Teaching Webinars!

The first new, v5.0 "double webinar" is set to go, October 2nd and November 21st, 1930~2100 hours, Pacific Standard Time. Reserve your place now. (No deposit required.) Fee: 40 CAD

The webinars are highly experiential and participatory. You'll need

•  a hands free set up, 
• preferably projected on a TV screen, laptop or iPad of some kind, but a handheld with a BIG screen is OK, too 
• positioned at eye level  
• Wireless headsets or no headset at all are best, but headsets with a long cord are adequate, 
• since you have to stand up and "dance" on several occasions! 

The 75 minute, recorded sessions are followed by 15 minute Q and A.
Enrolment is limited to 50 participants in each webinar. There may be some time-zone restrictions, depending on early registration. Reserve your place now at: william.acton@twu.ca

Webinar topics 

• Introduction to Haptic Pronunciation Teaching
• Dictionary use for pronunciation
• North American English vowels
• Syllables and phrase grouping
• Intonation 
• Haptic homework
• Select consonants
• Fluency and linking
• Conversation rhythm and pausing
• Advanced intonation and secondary stress
• Classroom correction, feedback integration techniques

Webinars can be offered exclusively for one English teaching organization, as well as "on the ground," f2f one-day workshops.  (Contact: info@actonhaptic.com for information on group packages.)

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The noncredit haptic pronunciation course meets in a weekly 1-hour webinar and includes about two  hours of practice following the session. Course completion requires passing a certification test which includes a video test. 

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The graduate course, Ling 611 - Applied phonology, is a 3-credit online seminar. It is composed of three relatively equal streams: (a) the haptic pronunciation teaching, which is essentially the same as the noncredit course, (b) a phonological analysis of learner data stream, and (c) a theory and methods of applied linguistics stream with focus on speaking, listening and pronunciation. There is a combination of synchronous and asynchronous meetings and assignments. 

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Next Advanced Hapticinar (haptic pronunciation teaching webinar)!

The next advanced webinar will be on August 8th, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. (PST).  Familiarity with haptic pronunciation teaching (HaPT) is  required, but you can do the basic Hapticanar the preceding weekend!

Cost: $25USD (limit: 30 participants)

Preliminary topics include:

• Haptic discourse orientation
• How to integrate pronunciation haptically
• Primary and secondary sentence stress
• Secondary and unstressed vowels
• Final voiced consonants
• Linking
• New super warm up!
• Transitioning from L1 to L2 pronunciation (beginning by teaching the haptic representation of the L1)
• Haptic pronunciation homework
• Special requests (submitted prior to the hapticinar - When you sign up, if you have some other problem you'd like addressed, let me know!)

Certification of participation provided. 

Enrolment is open until 8/1. If interested, email us at: info@actonhaptic.com

Anchoring L2 pragmatics (language use and context) with touch and prosody

New article just published with Burri and Baker, Proposing a haptic approach to facilitating L2 learners’ pragmatic competence. This piece is relatively practical, focusing on use of haptic pronunciation teaching pedagogy for enhancing instruction and memory recall of the stuff of pragmatics: conversational conventions, politeness, indirectness, presupposition, implicature, irony . . . . humor!

It is based on three  . . . well . . . presuppositions. First, is that it is often really difficult to remember meaning and words that occur in only very narrowly defined situations. Second, one of the key functions of pronunciation is helping to anchor expressions and their contexts in memory.  Third, touch-moderated gesture (as in haptic pronunciation teaching) is a better way to do that.

 This is also a pretty good introduction to haptic pronunciation teaching. Of course, if you want more (and you will!), join us in our next webinars July 12th and 13th!  For reservations for the webinar: info@actonhaptic.com 

Resistance to effective (pronunciation) teaching

Clker.com

And another reason why good drill "works!"

If there is a bottom line to (at least haptic pronunciation) teaching, it is this: students (and to some extent, teachers) must practice regularly.  Countless studies,  in a wide range of disciplines, at least in north American culture, come to the same conclusion:  we must establish intrinsic motivation.  Eventually, somehow students have to come to the point where they really want or need to do it!  But how do you get there?

(Caveat trigger emptor warning: This post contains references to bodily functions of “older adults”!)

Whenever I have questions about motivation, I just go to the source: fitness trainers.  If you need to get in great shape, and have the cash, hire one.  You’ll get there much faster, and may wind up with intrinsic motivation to keep going. I say “may” because those trainers also have a vested interest in keeping you coming back for more. So, in general, they may not be too good at letting you go,  but, if you study their method, you can learn a lot. About a year ago I did that in prepping for a 10k.

A new study by Kekäläinen, Kokko, Tammelin, Sipilä and Walker. of University of Jyväskylä adds a neat piece to the puzzle. The title of the ScienceDaily summary summarizes the study well: Resistance training and exercise-motivation go hand-in-hand: Resistance training improves exercise motivation and contributes to making exercise planning among older adults. 

If you don’t lift weights, start tomorrow.

In essence, resistance training (weightlifting) as opposed to aerobic training (e.g., walking or dancing) added significantly more to motivation and meta-cognition (planning and persistence). And why should that be? I have a theory . . . . Once you get into weightlifting, it’s all about following the formula. Requires little or no motivation to at least figure out what to do, to quote Nike: (you) just do it! Before long, you can feel and see the difference. Relatively quick positive feedback and reinforcement gets you hooked in roughly 30 days or so. What the research shows, in effect, is that discipline and persistence in one area feeds over into another — but, in this case, only in one direction: matter over mind!

I’m not saying that about 60 years of weightlifting has made me a more disciplined person, but it should have! What that does explain is my fascination with the work of Lessac, and his dictum of “train the body first" and how that has guided my thinking in terms of pronunciation teaching. Gesture-based haptic pronunciation teaching is very much a form of resistance training (as is just good old-fashioned pronunciation drilling when done well!) in that it focuses on directing sound production from the body out, as it were. Some of it, in fact, is also quite physically demanding when conducted properly! And most importantly, it is relatively easy to get students to do homework regularly and (for them) to use the gestural patterns spontaneously in class for correction and modeling.  (See more on that process in upcoming blogpost.)

In other words, some selective "mindlessness" centered on physical training, not all that different from aspects of "mindFULness" today, can play an important role in developing disciplined persistence and better time management or priorities. 

If you have been "resisting" learning about haptic pronunciation teaching, now is the time to join us in the webinars next weekend. For reservations and more information: info@actonhaptic.com

Source:
University of Jyväskylä. (2018, August 16). Resistance training and exercise-motivation go hand-in-hand: Resistance training improves exercise motivation and contributes to making exercise planning among older adults. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 11, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180816101937.htm

Reserve your place in the Haptic Pronunciation Training Webinars now!

 For details on the upcoming webinars, check here!


Registration is closed! Join us in February 2019 for the next webinars!!!

Haptic pronunciation training webinars coming UpDownUnder!

The first training webinars for Haptic Pronunciation Training - English, Version 5.0, were held on December 7th and 8th, staged from Wollongong, Australia. So, why from Wollongong? Other than being there to connect with Aussie Hapticians and meet the penguins, the webinars are follow ups to the two conferences (3rd Annual Pronunciation Symposium and ALAA conference) reported on in the previous post.

You'll be able to sign up for them again in February, 2019.

Webinar I

• Introduction to Haptic Pronuciation Teaching
• North American English vowels
• Syllables and phrase grouping
• Intonation 
• Select consonants

Webinar II

• Aussie English vowels and intonation
• Fluency
• Conversation rhythm
• Advanced intonation and secondary stress
• Classroom correction, feedback integration techniques
• Consonants on demand (from participants) 

 Note: To do Webinar II you need to also sign up for Webinar I

Keep in touch!

New Haptic Pronunciation Teaching "Work-inar"!

If your organization would be interested in a 2-hour, highly interactive, experiential webinar on haptic pronunciation teaching (and you should be!), we have the answer! Our new haptic "work-inar" on English pronunciation!

Dates are available beginning in mid-August. The format looks like this:

• Introduction
• Haptic learning
• English vowels and word and phrasal stress
• Rhythm groups and rhythm
• Basic intonation
• Fluency and feedback
• Conversational speed and confidence
• Advanced and discourse intonation
• Integrating "haptic" into the classroom
• Consonants galore (done haptically)
• Q&A

Like all haptic workshops and presentations, it involves a great deal of participant engagement, including mirroring of the pedagogical gestures of the presenter (Bill Acton or colleague) and occasional "dancing" to the various rhythms of the webinar.

There is no charge for this basic v4.0 EHIEP (Essential Haptic-integrated English Pronunciation) webinar--other than the usual, tasteful, low key promotion of all things ActonHaptic.com--although there may be some additional fee attached if it is extensively customized for a local population or if by agreement there is some structured follow up, etc. In late Spring 2018 v5.0 of the haptic pronunciation teaching system and webinar will be rolled out as well!

The idea right now is just to further get out the "haptic word" to the profession.

If that sounds like fun, let us know!

Bill