BIG news about Haptic Pronunciation Teaching!

Size DOES matter it turns out, according to research by Masarwa, Kreichman, and Gilaie-Dotan of Bar Ilan University and University College London, summarized by NeuroscienceNews.com as "In visual memory size matters." One of the key features of Haptic Pronunciation Teaching (HaPT) is the use of relatively large sweeping gestures across the visual field in front of the class to represent sounds and patterns of the language. (As students do it along with the instructor, typically.) We have known for a couple of decades that that "larger than life" visual representation of the sounds in communicating with the class is highly effective. 

Now we have a little more evidence as to just why. In the study, simply put, under various experimental conditions, it was demonstrated that the larger image was remembered better. The researchers' conclusion:

" Our study indicates that physical stimulus dimensions (as the size of an image) influence memory, and this may have significant implications to learning, aging, development, etc."

Fascinating study, linked below. In other words, our method is "bigger" than your method. There is actually much MORE to the story, of course! Go here to find out!

and, of course, keep in touch!

Bill

Link to original research: Larger images are better remembered during naturalistic encoding

Confident English Speaking, Fluency and Pronunciation--in 10 weeks!

As announced here on the blog, the new KINETIK English Fluency and Pronunciation Course is on. 

Especially designed for students who do not have much opportunity to practice speaking English outside of class! (But great for everybody else, too, of course!)

Gives you confidence to use what you “know” but may not always be able to access in speaking 

• Applicable for literate adult learners, upper beginner level and above
• Online, on Zoom, 2 hours of "live" class per week and about 2 hours of homework (20 minutes a day is best)
• Weekly live Zoom class: Thursdays, 4~5 p.m. (PST) or recorded
• Weekly live Zoom follow up: Wednesdays, in small groups, by appointment
• Cost: $500USD (or $60 per lesson)
• Use of embodied haptic techniques (using gesture and touch) for improving students’ fluency, memory for course content, vocabulary and intelligibility
• Makes you easier to understand and develops better posture and breathing
• Fixes most important pronunciation problems, or at least gets you well on the way.
• Makes self correction easier
• Includes effective system for continued study after the course
• With some slight modifications is also an excellent professional development system for any instructor, native or nonnative speaking. 

Still time to sign up! February 10th ~ April 24th! Contact me: wracton@gmail.com for required initial  Zoom interview.

Improved pronunciation "in the blink of any eye!"

How important is general/not directly task-based body movement, especially the lack of it, to learning pronunciation, creativity or just learning? In haptic pronunciation teaching learners are encouraged or required to move almost constantly, primarily through speech-synchronized gesture, but also through "Mindfulness-like" practices that monitor the state of the muscles and posture of the body, along with breathing patterns. 

But what about the impact on learning when students' bodies are held more in check, with restricted motor engagement? A new study by Murali and Händel of Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Motor restrictions impair divergent thinking during walking and during sitting, summarized by ScienceDaily.com, not only affirms our intuitions about the central role of embodiment in thought and learning, but suggests something more: even while seated, a little movement appears to go a long way in maintaining creativity and attention. (What a shocker, eh? Hope you were sitting down when you read that!)

Ciker.com

The actual protocols of the research, which involved measurement of eye "blinking" responses as indices of degree of engagement, are not described in the summary, but the title of the original piece is interesting. To quote from the summary of the study: "Our research shows that it is not movement per se that helps us to think more flexibly," says neuroscientist Dr Barbara Händel from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) in Bavaria, Germany. Instead, the freedom to make self-determined movements (emphasis, mine there) is responsible for it." 

In other words, messing with the body's incredible range of what appear to be random movements, apparently unassociated with the task being consciously in focus, may have dramatic consequences. An extreme analogy might even be talking with friends who are somewhere on the autism or ADHD spectrums. Their body and eye movements seem to suggest that they are not pay sufficient attention when in fact that is not the case at all. 

Now I am not saying that "thinking more flexibly" at any moment in instructional time is necessarily a good thing, of course, but the principle of allowing the body to also think and create on its own on an ongoing basis, in some sense "non or extra-verbally," if  you will, certainly is. On behalf of all elementary school boys on the planet who have had to sit in/through years of class to learn with girls when we should, instead, have been outside learning with our hands and whole bodies, I can only say, AMEN! 

Think about it. While you were reading this blogpost, what "else" was your body doing? If you can't remember . . . Q.E.D (quod erat demonstrandum)

Keep in touch!

Bill

Original source: 

Supriya Murali, Barbara Händel. Motor restrictions impair divergent thinking during walking and during sitting. Psychological Research, 2022; DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01636-w

Body-full-ness and (haptic) pronunciation teaching--make no mistake or at least fewer!

Avoiding, correcting, accepting, embracing errors . . . take your pick in pronunciation (and all) instruction as to how you respond when learners come up with something overly "creative" or slightly outside their optimal L2 target inventory. A 2019 study by Lin and colleagues, "How meditation can help you make fewer mistakes - Meditating just once proves to make a difference," summarized by ScienceDaily.com, draws a fascinating but not surprising connection between meditation (or mindfulness training) and "making fewer errors." 

In essence, subjects that were given 20-minutes of meditation and then, hooked up to brain monitors,  were better at performing an error avoidance task, a "computerized distraction test." This was a simple laboratory experiment, of course, but one implication, for the researchers at least, was more empirical support for the current widespread application of "mindfulness" training in education. 

If you have been following the blog, you'll recall that from a haptic perspective, I see mindfulness training, which basically focuses on body states to hold the conscious, modern neurotic mind at bay, is more accurately described as "body-full-ness" (BFN) training. BFN is the basis of haptic pronunciation teaching, prioritizing body-based rhythm engagement and then changing speech patterns through manipulation of upper body torso movement and gesture. In other words, in Lessac's words, "training the body first," is key to effective and efficient speech change and instruction. 

To learn how to teach more "haptically," in the new KINETIK Method system, goto: www.actonhaptic.com or email me directly: wracton@gmail.com and I'll be happy to Zoom you in!!!

Bill

Source:

Michigan State University. (2019, November 11). How meditation can help you make fewer mistakes: Meditating just once proves to make a difference. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 9, 2022 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191111124637.htm

Unemotional, improvement in conscientiousness in school (and homework and pronunciation) !!!

Here is a pair of studies just too good to believe which suggest that you can train subjects (students?) to become more conscientious without much if any conscious buy in, but (SURPRISE) to train somebody to greater emotional stability takes genuine commitment on their part. Part of the "trick" apparently is to do the conscientiousness training very carefully and incrementally (and unemotionally?) so that subjects don't catch on and react negatively. 

A quick summary of the studies by Hudson of Southern Methodist University, as further summarized by our friends at Sciencedaily.com. In the first study, college students were, in essence, asked which personality trait they'd like to improve, conscientiousness or emotional stability. They were then randomly assigned to one type of treatment without being informed as to why. The "conscientiousness" training included tasks such as being better organized. 

Regardless of the students initial selection those who were trained in conscientiousness reported improvement. In a second study, students were asked the same question but some were, instead, purposely assigned to "greater emotional stability," even though that was not their choice. Believe it or not, that intervention did not work for some reason . . . 

Now setting aside the "silly" second study, that you can train students to better emotional stability without their active commitment, the idea that getting students to improve in terms of conscientiousness without their active buy in is, of course, worth considering. Highly successful instructional systems all accomplish that. 

The question is how do you "unemotionally" but effectively and consistently promote conscientiousness, especially more autonomous engagement from that perspective, even when that is not initially a conscious priority for leaners? How does your course presentation and instructional system make that work? How does culture play into that type of discipline? Let us know!

In haptic pronunciation teaching, and especially the v6.0 KINETIK Method, effective homework is critical, at least a total of two hours weekly, to achieve substantial improvement. That is accomplished, in part, by first foregrounding disciple as a key feature of the system in the course introduction and then by proscribing almost minute-by-minute, 20-minute practice routines to be done daily, best case. Be delighted to tell you much more about that, in fact: www.actonhaptic.com/KINETIK

 

Ciker.com

New! 2022 Acton Haptic English Fluency and Pronunciation Courses!

As promised, the new (Amazing!) KINETIK Method student and instructor courses are ready to go! 

KINETIK Method: Embodied fluency, content and pronunciation enhancement

Features

• Instructor training certificate courses (12 weeks) 
• Student courses (applicable for literate adult learners, upper beginner level and above--10 weeks)
• Available for individuals or groups
• Online only, on Zoom, 2 hours of "live" class per week and 3~6 hours of homework
• Cost varies, depending on class size, from $200~$1500
• Use of embodied techniques for improving students’ fluency, memory for course content, vocabulary and intelligibility

For the instructor:

• Training in doing effective in-class feedback and correction
• Requires no previous formal training in pronunciation teaching or basic pedagogical phonetics
• Designed for instructors who do not have enough space in their lesson plans for pronunciation and effective homework assignments
• Designed for instructors who value greater engagement of the body in instruction and general body “consciousness and agency.”
• Provides improved personal “pedagogical voice” in classroom and classwork
• A complete method: one adaptable for most learners and contexts

For the student:

• Makes you easier to understand
• Fixes most important pronunciation problems
• Makes correction easier. . . self correction, correction by teachers and peers
• Increases confidence in speaking in conversationi
• Allows you to use what you “know” but may not be able to use in speaking 
• Especially good for students who do not have much opportunity to practice speaking English outside of class
• Includes effective system for continued study after the course

Why rhythm first, using gesture and touch:

• Rhythm is basic to speaking and understanding language!
• Gesture helps us emphasize rhythm and remember language.
• Touch helps us bring our senses together to learn. remember better and control attention and body movement, in general.
• Rhythm is key to integrating changed sound patterns.

Classes are available, beginning February 1st.

For more information: www.actonhaptic.com/KINETIK or email me directly at wracton@gmail.com

 

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 

Greatest Hapticanar Ever! Tomorrow!

 Well . . . first one, actually! Just a little over 24 hours before the  Introductory free Hapticanar. No need to register in advance for this one, just go to the Acton Haptic website, and click the button! You can also view the new KINETIC Method video while you are there. 

The weekly free Hapticanars (Haptic Webinar) go live every Tuesday at 6 p.m. (PST). 

The format of the Hapticanar is generally:

• 6-6:30 - Training workshop on one or two haptic pronunciation teaching techniques
• 6:30 - Q&A until 7 or when we are done, whichever comes first!

If you can't make it, email me at wracton@gmail.com and I'll put you on the list to have access to the recording later this week. 

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

Haptic: The future of Pronunciation Teaching (and technology!)

Nice piece on some of the areas of new development in virtual and augmented reality using haptic technology, Touching the air may be possible with new research on haptics, by Verris at Youris.com. From the beginnings of our work in haptic pronunciation teaching, the obvious "embodiment" of the gesturing and TOUCHING hands at multiple points across the visual field connected to sounds and sound processes would one day be in virtual/augmented reality. To get a glimpse of the haptic "future" of pronunciation teaching, join us at our first FREE weekly Haptic Pronunciation Teaching Webinar, this coming Tuesday, June 8th at 6 p.m. (PST). For details and to sign up, got to the Acton Haptic website until June 6th!

Source: 

https://www.youris.com/society/future-tech/touching-the-air-may-be-possible-with-new-research-on-haptics.kl

KINETIK Method Roll Out Video and What's Next!

Go to the Roll Out Video

The development of the KINETIK Method was inspired by classroom teachers who not only had little or no background in pronunciation teaching but also were given no space for it in their lessons and, in many cases, had been “ordered” not to waste time on it. Given the generally disembodied and “out of context” nature of much of what passes for pronunciation work in integrated textbooks today and advice from leading methodologists on how to “work in” pronunciation or just teach it in a class by itself, it can be difficult to justify carving out time and resources for it.

 

The KINETIK innovation: Aspects of what is traditionally thought of as pronunciation, when “delivered” by the body, primarily with gesture and touch, actually become more immediately valuable and relevant to the learner by:

• · Greatly enhancing memory for the text as it is spoken
• · Allowing a broader range of expressiveness to be attended to
• · Providing greater attention, or emphasis to places of interest in the text
• · Improving clarity—what is normally thought of as the role of pronunciation

Of course, in reality all those, and more, are the “job” of the sound system of the language, especially rhythm, stress and intonation.

KINETIK employs the “Movement, Tone and Touch Techniques” (MT3s) developed by Haptic Pronunciation Teaching, in working with any and all texts, stories, narratives, dialogues, word lists, instructions (and even drills!) Any time or place one of those functions is needed during a lesson or homework, the KINETIK Method consistently . . . delivers, through use of a variety of “Embodied Oral Reading” frameworks. The MT3s serve as a “handy,” integrated “complement” to your lesson content.

After watching the four-part video, I hope you’ll not only join us at the weekly “Hapticanar” (Sign up on the Actonhaptic.com mailing list to be updated on that.), but also become part of the Acton Haptic Community on Locals (Actonhaptic@locals.com), even if you are not teaching in the classroom now. Membership is free but supporters get all kinds of goodies, and our eternal gratitude!

Please do pass on the word, forward this email on to friends and colleagues. Invitations for the June 8th Hapticanar will be sent shortly!

And above all, just KEEP in TOUCH!

 
Bill

KINETIK Method Roll Out Day: The Course, of course!

 The Roll Out Video will be "out" later today. You can engage with it here and on other social media, of course! I'll be on Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) for my follow up for the  most  part. The bottom line of the previous post, and the "bottom line" of the KINETIK Method is the Certificate course (of course!) Just to give you an idea of what the content of this content-based teaching certificate course is about, here is a sketch of the curriculum: Module One (Basic Rhythm, Basic Fluency, and some basic consonants; Module Two (Single vowels, double vowels and some basic consonants; Module three (Basic intonation, Advanced intonation, Basic integration, and linking); Module Four (Advanced rhythm and fluency, Secondary and unstressed vowels, Advanced/spontaneous integration) The course ends with brief review and certification test modules. Each module takes three weeks or so. (See the previous post for more details.) Classes begin whenever 3-5 students sign up who can meet together weekly for an hour on Zoom! Bring along 2 or 3 friends from work and you are ready to roll!

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 22 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website.

Penultimate KINETIK Method Roll Out Day 22: Your KINETIK TBD List!

 The KINETIK Method Roll Out video will be out tomorrow! (Tomorrow's blog post will include all details on the video.) Here's your Haptic TBD list:

1. Watch and share the Introductory Video with your network!

2. Go to actonhaptic.com and get on our mailing list. (We'll automatically send you invitations for the weekly Hapticanars.) While you are there, check out all the information there on KINETIK and the Acton Haptic Community.

3. Join us every Tuesday at 5 p.m., beginning June 8th, for Dr Bill's Weekly Haptic Technique Hapticanars (30 minute workshop and 20 minute Q&A) on Webinarjam.com. 

4. Sign up for the Acton Haptic Community at actonhaptic@locals.com. Signing up is free but if you become a supporter for $5 monthly or more, in addition to being able to be involved in the conversation there you get:

• Downloads of Hapticanars
• Downloads of 5-minute student training videos for each lesson
• Downloads of special features, including interviews with experienced "Hapticians"

5. Sign up for the 3-month, KINETIK Method Teacher Certification Course. (For details, go to the website, www. actonhaptic.com.) 

6. Keep in touch!

Bill

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 21 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website.

Day 21 Roll Out: Take the KINETIK Method Pronunciation Teaching Certificate Course!

In addition to the free weekly technique hapticanar (on Webinarjam) and connecting with the Acton Haptic Community, the best way to get the full tool kit is to sign up for the certificate course, which begins anytime there are 3 or 4 students who want to do it. (See earlier post on the "KINETIK-shop Quartet.) Key features:

• Four modules, three lessons each (takes 3 to 4 months to complete)
• Each lesson takes about a week (and usually about 2~3 hours, total)
• The pieces of a lesson: (a) Do the Hapticanar, (b) Do the 10-minute training video, the one your students would do, (c) Find someplace within a text or story in one of your lessons where the technique from the Hapticanar would "work," that is improve clarity, memory or expressiveness, and then (d) meet on Zoom later that week with 3 or 4 other students and a haptician (like Bill) to review your plan. 
• The cost is variable, from about $300 up to to $1600 USD depending on how many students are in the class. (Special arrangements available for schools and larger groups.) 

More about that on the 25th! 

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 20 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website.

KINETIK Method Roll Out Day 20: The story, telling!

One great feature of the KINETIK method is that the materials are absolutely free . . . in fact, there aren't any, because you provide them, text from your course teaching materials that are what we call "context-rich." By that we mean that pronunciation techniques are used to produce greater clarity (sort of like traditional pronunciation work) or greater emphasis, expressiveness or nuance WITHIN course materials that are good stories, in some sense, vived, memorable narratives of some kind. (Might even be a tightly organized set of theme-based vocabulary . . . but usually not.) In other words, KINETIC method is situated or target in dialogues, a readings, a sets of instructions, scripts from listening tasks, even students' draft compositions . . . where the "story" is . . . telling.

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 19 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

Roll Out Day 19: The KINETIK-shop Quartet (way of learning to do haptic!)

In the KINETIK Teacher Training Certificate Course, (a) after you do a little reading, and (b) a little "full body" training just like what your students will do, (c) you get together with three other teacher trainees and a certified Haptician (like me) on Zoom and (d) go over your homework, a piece of text from your regular course-content materials that has been "choreographed" with haptic Movement, tone and touch techniques (MT3s). Each session concludes with the "Happytic Dance" embodying the technique from the lesson, the one you were introduced to in the weekly "Hapticanar" (haptic + webinar)!

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 18 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

KINETIK Roll Out Day 18: The walkabout-talkabout . . .

 . . .  for improving memory (for content and pronunciation). Check out this great summary from Neuroscience News on a study by Reser et al at Monash University, Ancient Australian Aboriginal Memory Tool Superior to ‘Memory Palace’ Learning. The bottom line parallel to pronunciation teaching:  content (or pronunciation focus) embedded in a good story in a good "place" is more memorable than just being the focus of a loosely connected class mini-lesson sitting in the third row . . . 

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 17 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

Roll KINETIK Out Day 17! - Haptic Pronunciation teaching "Pas de deux"

To  quote one of my favorite lines from one of my all time favorite country western songs, "I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance." One "dance" in haptic pronunciation teaching happens when instructor and students move in synchrony as they do a Movement, tone and touch technique (MT3) to model, correct or provide feedback on some bit(s) of language in class--one of the two dozen or so that I'll be introducing each week in the Hapticanars, in fact.  

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 16 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

 

KINETIK Method Roll Out Day 16: Correction!

Probably the most "unique" (or really awesome) feature of Haptic Pronunciation Teaching is that in-class correction and feedback should be (almost) enjoyable and very much stress-free. Part of the reason for that is that basic "repair" or related practice or "reminders" are synchronized with gesture or some other part of the body. It is a bit like using sign language to signal change or a specific vowel, as is a common practice, except that the haptic signal connects to a set of gestures associated with sound or process. Communication in that paralinguistic channel between students and instructors, and students and students, does not seem to interfere much if at all with class activities or "thinking" or generate serious distraction or nervous, self-consciousness. 

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 15 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

KINETIK Method Day 15 Roll Out: To gesture or not to gesture (That's not the question!)

 It is not easy to speak a language without gesturing, but you can, of course. Teaching a language without body movement also may be possible, but certainly not efficient at least at this point in development of virtual reality. In the KINETIK Method, instructors must learn to perform a set of Movement, tone and touch techniques (MT3s) that they use in modeling, feedback and correction. Students, on the other hand, depending on age and context, may or may not have to be trained or even informed about the MT3s. For young, elementary age learners, instructor MT3 are often enough; the kids pick them up naturally, their mirror neurons fully online!  For older learners, training in some MT3s may be effective, but even then only so that when the instructor uses one, the learners "get" what is being corrected or enhanced. At the "top" level, especially where fossilization has set in,  instructors and learners generally do the MT3s together whenever they are used. 

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 14 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

Roll KINETIK Out - Day 14: Readiness for memorable and palpable pronunciation teaching!

 A key dimension of haptic pronunciation teaching and the KINETIK Method is the ramp up or preparation for an in class intervention where something in text or about it needs improving. That can take two forms, either a body-based warm up at the beginning of class where most of the body is engaged in focusing attention and getting more blood circulating where it is needed, or a very localized "activation" of some discrete areas of the upper body. In "straight" haptic (or any type of) pronunciation training, a full-body warm up is usually essential. In KINETIK, however, the Movement, Tone and Touch Techniques (MT3s) serve both functions, engaging simultaneously both the whole body and very specific "parts: of the process, e.g, hands, arms, positions in the visual field, vocal resonance. Instant "palpability!" 

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 13 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

Roll KINETIK Out Day 13: The left hand knows what the right hand is doing!

With almost every Movement, tone and touch technique (MT3) the hands touch on a stressed syllable of a word (also, often in the stressed word in a phrase or stressed word a sentence.) When that touch happens, connections are triggered all over the brain, in fact, much more so than previously thought as recent research has demonstrated by researchers at the Max Planck Institute. In KINETIK a vowel is linked to at least an MT3, a word, a course-content context, a body and the entire milieu of the moment. Touching, eh!

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 12 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

KINETIK Roll Out Day 12 - How can I become a "Haptician?"

 At least two ways: 

One: Show up for the free, weekly "Hapticanar" (with your body) and learn about the "Movement, tone and touch technique (MT3) of the week." For some of you, the naturally kinesthetic and dancers, just the 30-minute presentation and following Q&A will be enough for you to figure out how to train your students to use the MT3 and get some idea on how to use it in "everyday" content in your class.

Two: Sign up for the KINETIK Method course, which, in addition to doing the Hapticanars, you (or technically, your body) do the 10-minute student training video for the MT3. Then later in the week, you and three or four other NewBees get together on Zoom or Webinarjam with me or another experienced Haptician. We look at how you could build in or integrate that MT3 into the content each of you are teaching. After you finish all lessons, about 12 weeks time, and take a REALLY easy little test, you get a beautiful certificate saying that you are now officially a Haptician and entitled to all the rights and kudos thereto! 

So . . . as we say, Keep In Touch! (KIT!)

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 11 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

KINETIK METHOD Roll Out Day 11 - How do you learn to teach KINETIK-ly?

The same way you learn to do yoga, dance, piano or paint: You train the body first. And most importantly that training must be done in a community of at least two . . .  In time the mind joins the party, becoming one with the body in performance once a clear threshold is crossed. It isn't "difficult" to learn how to do haptic from reading about it--it is impossible. As we have learned over the years, even just watching the demonstration or training videos (www.actonhaptic.com/hapt) is not enough to "sell" the idea of embodied pronunciation teaching to most professionals. Some time ago, Nike said it best: [You] Just [have to] do it! You'll have a great opportunity to DO that soon, in fact!

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 10 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

Rollout Countdown Day 10: CHIPS! (Covert Haptic-Integrated Pronunciation System!)

 For all of you who are handed a book and lesson plans and held to a near minute-by-minute schedule, and under no circumstances are you to waste time on pronunciation, we've got good news for you: content-based haptic pronunciation teaching. You still DO pronunciation but it doesn't LOOK like it because, with the help of the body, it is woven into other content, like oral readings, conversations, group work, your comments at the head of the class. (I'd tell you how students can be discreetly introduced to key sound concepts, too . . . but that is a secret! You'll have to join us to find out!)

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 9 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

Count down to Roll Out of "KINETIK" Day Nine: Free Pronunciation

from disembodied, out of context, meaningless, drills, exercises, diagrams, explanations, courses and expensive textbooks: Body/embodiment-centered, content-based, haptic techniques. 

Today's post from Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 8 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

Count down to Roll Out of the AHP "KINETIK Method": Day Eight!

Question: How do you learn about the, Acton Haptic Pronunciation, content-based KINETIK Method?
Simple answer(s):
A. See the links below to Locals, the blog and website!
B. join the weekly (free) webinars, beginning 5/25.
C. Become a supporter of the Acton Haptic Community (beginning on 5/20) which comes with downloads of all kinds!
D. Take the KINETIK Method course, beginning in June. (See details on the website (www.actonhaptic.com.)
---------------------

Today's post on Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 7 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website

Count down to Roll Out of new Acton Haptic Pronunciation Teaching "KINETIK Method": Day Seven!

Just a little more than two weeks away, on May 25th! There'll be a weekly, "Dr Bill's Weekly Embodied (haptic) Pronunciation Teaching Technique Webinar," courses and many other features. 

Today's post on Locals.com (actonhaptic@locals.com) is also listed here on the Roll Out blog page, along with the previous 6 posts! Here are links to the recent blogpost with details on the method, and more on the Acton Haptic Community on the new, upgraded actonhaptic.com website.  

Keep in touch!

Bill

Content-based Phonetics and Pronunciation Teaching: The KINETIK Method™

"KINɛTIK" . . . Full body engagement in pronunciation and phonetics--in content instruction

Next month, on May 25th we are rolling out the new KINɛTIK Method™: Content-based Phonetics and Pronunciation Teaching. (That is also, incidentally, my birthday and our celebration of beginning my 50th year in the field!) 

Basically, the idea is that teachers must still be taught how to teach pronunciation and phonetics but students really don't need much formal attention to either, just enough to introduce (their bodies to) key concepts to help them learn everything else! Let me explain. 

For a decade or more at the high the Communicative Language Teaching era, pronunciation teaching was discarded or even condemned, for a number of reasons, but most importantly the learning of the sound system and instruction in it were seen as almost entirely "physical," that is behaviorial and noncognitive, learned best by exposure or  . . . drill. In addition, attention to errors, error correction and accent reduction were understood as almost anathema to communicative and fluency development, and even worse, likely to undermine self-confidence and identity. 

(Note: From here on the term "pronunciation" will be taken to entail some limited, although essential training in English phonetics as well.) 

The current revival of interest in pronunciation began probably twenty years ago, when it became painfully evident that appropriate, systematic attention to form and accuracy were essential. What has emerged, however, is perhaps, in its own way, potentially just as counterproductive as "mindless" early behavioral and structural methods in regard to pronunciation: DISembodied instruction, where only learner's minds and mouths are engaged, and often not even all that much of the latter . . . where comprehension and intelligibility are foregrounded at the expense of fundamental accuracy developed through (full) body engagement. 

The last year of teaching and learning pronunciation on Zoom et al has made the disjunct even more "pronounced." In many, if not most programs, pronunciation has been either abandoned or at least radically deemphasized. Not being face-to-face in the classroom, not sensing even at an out-of-consciousness level that the students are engaged nonverbally or synced with you . . . gives one a more  accurate, realistic picture of what "disembodied" instruction is really like, when the body is not actively engaged, without sufficient physical, lived experience of verbalizing new and "corrected" sounds or words. 

Ironically, the early Communicative theorists, such as Krashen, actually had it right: Pronunciation or phonetics as a focus or class or "subject" taught in most programs should probably be eliminated. Both can create as much clutter and "pronunciosis" as good in many situations.  Instead, teachers should still be trained in working with pronunciation and phonetics, but within content . . . something like what we term  "haptic pronunciation and phonetics-enhanced content instruction." 

How does it work? Basically like this:

• Students are gradually introduced to one of about 24 special haptic (movement plus touch) gestures either in short 3-5 minute videos or in class. (A quick bit of explanation and then three minutes of  doing the Movement, tone and touch technique, MTTP.) Those pretty much cover the basics of what students need to be able to do (and know) about pronunciation and basic phonetics of English. 
• Later, in class, in the process of  working on any content, any accessible written text, instructor and students do what we call an "embodied oral reading," something analogous to the traditional "Lectio Divina" method, where they work with the MTTP in that class content to promote
• Attention
• Memory/recall
• Expressiveness
• Emphasis
• Clarity (pronunciation of "old"!) 
• Content and "pronunciation and phonetics" are, in effect, learned together, although the MTTPs are introduced and ready to be used whenever necessary. 
• The same basic process can often be carried out in more advanced levels using a "Spoken Embodied Oral Reframing" where something spoken becomes the focus of the MTTP. 
• But the real pay off of MTTP work in content is how it enables learners to better integrate into their spontaneous use of the language that they are being exposed to in the classroom and beyond. 

Join us next month. Beginning on the 25th, I'll be doing about weekly live stream webinars called, Dr Bill's Weekly (haptic) technique. Full details will be provided here on the blog soon. 

Keep in touch!