Modern learning systems are based on communication, that is, they are communicative in nature. The teacher has an important task - to teach children to use their native language correctly, to instill a desire to regularly improve it and enrich it, to express their thoughts competently and fully, to prepare for effective verbal communication and information exchange. For these purposes, speech warm-up is the best suited, which helps develop pronunciation skills, expressive reading, and also prepares for creative activity. Such classes received a lot of positive feedback, both among professional teachers and among schoolchildren's parents.
Goals and objectives
Speech warm-up (speech exercise) is a set of short dynamic exercises. This is an important aspect of teaching preschoolers and children of primary school age who have not yet achieved a high level of oral communication and fluent reading skills. Also, speech warm-up for children is carried out inat the beginning of a reading lesson to improve the articulation of sounds and practice clear speech. Regular conduct of such exercises contributes to the rapid elimination of defects in the pronunciation of sounds that cause difficulties in children, which is also confirmed by the reviews of speech therapists. The concept of speech warm-up may vary depending on what goal the teacher is guided by when performing a particular set of exercises. It is advisable to distinguish between speech warm-ups to develop articulation skills, as well as to improve communication skills.
Methodological recommendations
When preparing a warm-up, you should adhere to the following recommendations:
- It is necessary to carefully select the material for classes, based on an assessment of the psychological and pedagogical situation in the classroom.
- Exercise should contribute to the development of children's horizons and replenish their active vocabulary.
- You should do the exercises regularly, for a few minutes at the beginning of the session.
- Gradually move from simple to complex.
- Enabling children to be creative and curious.
Speech breathing
An important preparatory stage for performing a speech warm-up is the development of the skill to inhale and exhale correctly, hold your breath. The well-known teacher, Russian language methodologist M. R. Lvov, put the breathing technique in the first place. Breathing technique:
- breathe through the nose;
- do not lift shoulders;
- inhale briefly, exhalesmoothly;
- do not puff out your cheeks;
- take breaks between exercises to avoid dizziness.
Breathing exercises are performed without voice or with voice. Exercises without voice can be performed in a playful way using improvised materials. For example, in the “Football” exercise, students must blow a paper ball into the goal, in the “Butterfly” exercise, they must make a paper butterfly suspended on a thread flutter. Sometimes it will be enough just to turn on the fantasy - gently blow on an imaginary dandelion or blow out candles on an invisible birthday cake without puffing out your cheeks.
Speech warm-up to develop articulation skills
Speech warm-up of this type is traditionally carried out in several stages:
- Exercises for the development of the speech apparatus or articulatory gymnastics. Aimed at training the articulatory apparatus (tongue, lips, soft palate).
- Exercises for practicing diction allow students to instill the skill of clear pronunciation of words, teach accuracy in constructing statements and self-control.
- Intonation exercises allow students to acquire the skill of expressing thoughts with different emotional coloring, as well as recognizing the emotions of other people by voice.
Sample Speech Warm-up to Develop Articulation Skills
Articulation gymnastics - exercises "Frog", "Elephant", "Watch". During these exercises, children playfully train their lips and tongue. Speech warm-up for articulation is performed under the count, the rhythm can alsoset a simple theme rhyme.
Exercises for practicing diction. Students clearly pronounce a series of vowels (i-e-a-o-u-s), and then syllables (ar-or-ur-yr, rya-ro-re-rya). Cleanliness. It is also a fairly common and effective speech warm-up. Reading tongue twisters is aimed at repeated repetition of a sentence consisting of words with complex articulation (Four turtles have four turtles).
Intonation exercises. "In the cold of winter everyone is young". You need to read the saying with different intonations - first with a feeling of joy, then sadness and surprise.
Speech warm-up to develop communication skills
Q&A. It makes you think broadly, show curiosity, provides a tool for finding the right information. Primary school students have difficulty in taking the initiative in speaking and asking various questions. Therefore, at the initial stages, it is recommended to give not too generalized, specific tasks.
Dialogue game. Helps students to find themselves in a new communicative situation, makes imagination and ingenuity work, contributes to their emotional disclosure.
Description of the situation. It teaches how to build a monologue correctly, talk about something relatively long and coherently. For the development of horizons, it can be performed using reproductions of famous works of Russian artists.
Example of speech warm-up for the development of imagination
Answer-question. This is a kind of question-answer speech warm-up, only it is performed in reverse. You can come up with a fun name that kids will love, such as the game "Inside Out" or "Upside Down". At the beginning of the exercise, the teacher reads a short story or shows a picture, according to which the children themselves make up a story. Then each student receives a card with an answer (“Four”, “In the forest”), questions for which he must come up with on his own. (“How many paws does a fox have?”, “Where does she live?).
Dialogue game. After the children have practiced asking questions, they can start asking each other questions. One student (“guest”) receives a card on which his role is written, but does not show it to others. The task of the rest is to guess who is in front of them by asking various questions. Topics may vary: professions, magical creatures, fruits and vegetables.
Useful exercises in teaching a foreign language
Speech warm-up (English warming-up) is especially important in the classroom in a foreign language. Speech warm-up in English lessons allows the teacher to make the beginning of the lesson bright and attract the attention of students, helps children tune in to the lesson and switch from their native language to a foreign one. On the one hand, such exercises in English can be aimed at repeating and consolidating the material covered in the previous lesson. On the other hand, a speech warm-up can serve as an introductory part for a new topic. There are several types of such exercises:
- Phonetic warm-up speech. English presents a challenge for students when it comes to pronouncing the interdental sounds "s" and "z", which are absent in their native language. Phonetic warm-up helps to prepare the speech apparatus for the pronunciation of complex sounds. This type includes tongue twisters, rhymes, phonetic "ladders" (we - win - wind - winter - window).
- Lexical. As a lexical speech warm-up, you can use the snowball game, when each student adds one word to the original sentence. The teacher offers a model sentence and shows an example: “A lady went to the market and bought … a pumpkin”. Students continue to add one word to the sentence, while repeating all the previous options. The task encourages repetition. Memorizing the order of words in a sentence, the past form of irregular verbs (went, bought), vocabulary is worked out on a specific topic.
- Grammar. Helps to reinforce a specific grammatical topic. The work can be built in a question-answer form. For example, students stand in a circle, throw a ball to each other and take turns asking the question “Have you ever…?”;
- Dialogue speech warm-up in English helps to develop the skill of forming different types of questions, as well as a short and concise answer. The teacher offers the students cards with a description of the situation and the distribution of roles. For example, acquaintance, dialogue in the library, dialogue in the clinic, etc.
Throughout life, a person's speech is improved and enriched. The most important period in its formation and development is childhood. At this time, there is an active development of language means, vocabulary is replenished and activated, reading and writing skills are born. Speech warm-ups in elementary school help children move to a new level of speech activity, improve pronunciation, learn to communicate, as well as overcome emotional barriers and believe in their abilities.
