10 Activities to Help Middle & High School Students with Conversation Skills - Speech Paths Teaching conversation skills to middle and high school students can be a challenge. Part of the challenge is that today’s social skills are defined by texting, instant messaging, and social networking. Unfortunately this does not help our students develop the conversation skills necessary for successful interactions with peers OR in the academic or future workplace environment. Of note, some of the visuals and activities in this post come from my conversation resources. They’ve gotten incredible reviews from many SLPs and are super easy to implement. For older students, check out this resource. Conversation skills are a consistent focus in my speech room. 1. A great way to discuss the reciprocity or the “back and forth” nature of conversation is by watching the “Talking Twins” YouTube video. I like to encourage students to infer what the babies might be saying based on what they observe in the video clip. 2. 3. 20 questions 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Language Therapy. A sequence of language intervention steps. Text-Based Language Intervention Just to recap, text-based language intervention uses fiction and non-fiction children's books as a basis for therapy. The books provide an excellent context for students to learn new words and difficult language concepts. If you haven't yet read the information about shared reading as a language teaching tool I recommend you leave this page, access the information there, and then return here. Much of the language intervention I do is based on CRS,(communicative reading strategies) developed in the early 1990's by Janet Norris. CRS has been shown to significantly improve language disordered students' oral and written language abilities. Janet Norris' early work has been adapted, used and expanded by several prominent school-based speech pathologist/researchers since then, such as Geraldine Wallach, Teresa Ukrainetz, Carol Westby and Kathryn DeKemel, among others. Authentic, Real Life Conversations Each page features me (the clinician) engaging with a student.
Theatresports and Drama Games | Theatre Links Theatresports is a form of improvisational theatre, which uses the format of a competition for dramatic effect. Opposing teams can perform scenes based on audience suggestions, with ratings by the audience or by a panel of judges. Developed by director Keith Johnstone in Calgary, Alberta, in 1977, the concept of Theatresports originated in Johnstone’s observations of techniques used in professional wrestling to generate heat, or audience reaction. Arts 4 All Article titled ‘Improv – The Invisible Part of the Play’ by John Koprowski. Brigham Young University Webpage with about 20 games. Creative Drama Resource Site About 16 games. Drama Resource Drama games and techniques for education on David Farmer’s excellent resource website. Friday Night Improvs Website detailing about a dozen of the most popular Theatresports™ games. Fuzzy’s Games List Webpage with about 100 Theatresports™ games. Idiotica Website with over 100 theatresports games listed alphabetically, plus another 60 exercises.
7 Ways to Use a Letter Board to Motivate Older Students | Cooking Up Good Speech.... February 19th, 2018 Cooking Up Good Speech! Letter boards are everywhere! You can find them in Target, Walmart, office supply stores and Amazon. Instagram has hashtags and Pinterest has pinboards dedicated to these clever posts. We use them to make grand announcements about engagements, pregnancy due dates and those adorable baby milestones. Here are a few ideas: 1–Syllabification: the division of words into syllables, either in speech or in writing. 2- Categorizing/Association: I worked on generating words within a category by having students pick a letter out of a bag. 3– Inspirational Quotes for addressing critical thinking skills: My older language students use the letter board to choose and spell out the words to an inspirational quotation (see my FREEBIE TpT product for quote cards that you can use for this activity.) 4–Parts of Speech: Right now I’m focusing on nouns, verbs and adjectives with several of my students. 5-Acrostic Poems: Brainstorm a word/idea with your students.
Category Cards Creating a Communication-Rich Environment for Your Preschoolers to Improve Literacy and Independence In this full day workshop, we will explore methods to increase vocabulary, literacy skills, independence, and communication skills in your preschool students! The day begins with an in-depth look at the importance of building vocabulary for all preschoolers. Increased vocabulary will lead to more advanced reading skills in early elementary and overall school achievement. Acting Exercises: For High School Students and Beginners Here are a few acting exercises you can use to sharpen up your craft. Some of them are simple theatre games, while others are more complex. All of them are designed to help your acting abilities. Please note: Some of these acting exercises require the use of a character. Go read a play that you've never heard of and choose a character that interests you. Middle and High School Alphabet SceneTwo students are selected. For example: If Y is the letter chosen, the first line of the scene starts with Y. If you want to make it harder, add more actors. Why? Zip Zap ZopGather everyone into a circle. Why? Freeze! Why? Question SceneTwo students improvise a scene where the all lines must be questions. Why? Backwards SceneTwo students are selected. Why? Party QuirksOne student plays the host of the party. Why? College Level Public SolitudeThe student will play out their morning routine in the studio as if they were alone. Why? "Stop looking at my shirt!" "Stop looking at your shirt?" And so on. Why? Why? Why? Why?