How to read aloud beautifully? 7 tips and exercises - article - Russian Textbook Corporation (Drofa Publishing House

He spoke about this at the open master class “How to read aloud beautifully?”

of the project “Parent University: PRO-Parents”, professional speaker, teacher of speech techniques and oratory skills
Maxim Levchenko.
The event was held in face-to-face and remote formats, which allowed viewers to practice reading poetry and prose with the mentoring support of an expert. The master class is available in the recording at the link, and in this material we have collected the main exercises and practical tips from the speaker, with the help of which you can change your speech and make it expressive and understandable to listeners.

Speed of thoughts and speed of speech

Speech is, first of all, practice. You can listen to hundreds of lectures on how to ride a bike, but this will not allow you to get on and ride.

Our thoughts work at great speed, and when we read to ourselves, we do it very quickly. Sometimes we skip huge paragraphs, not just sentences, descriptions of nature, the author’s reasoning and lyrical digressions.

But expressing thoughts out loud requires a certain skill, because we speak and read out loud for someone. This someone - an adult or a child - must clearly understand what idea you want to convey.

Painting by Ilya Repin “Pushkin at the Lyceum Exam”, 1911

Key words in the text when teaching expressive reading to schoolchildren

Identifying key words to focus on during literary reading can be challenging for younger students.

To help them with this, the work needs to be analyzed sentence by sentence, highlighting the main words in each phrase.
After reading the first sentence of the text, ask the child: “What word is the most important in meaning here?” and offer to read the phrase, placing emphasis on the key word.

The ability to highlight key words and concepts in a text will also be useful when studying rhetoric and the art of public speaking, because this skill helps to hold the audience’s attention and clearly convey your thoughts without being distracted by unnecessary details.

The body and our speech

Our speech is inextricably linked with our body: how our body behaves is how we speak.

Experimental exercise “Counting to five”

Raise your hand up
Say the numbers out loud and bend your fingers
Count to five loudly and expressively

You may not have noticed, but each finger curled the moment the number was announced.
You spoke energetically and your fingers flexed energetically. Now count loudly and slowly, also slowly bending your fingers.

The third part of the experiment: say the words loudly and quickly, but bend your fingers slowly.

As a result: nothing works! The reason is that our speech is synchronized with the body, and when we throw the system out of balance, we feel discomfort, it is inconvenient for us to either speak or bend our fingers.

What happens when we read a poem? Thoughts, beautiful and bright, on the one hand rush us forward, and a pinched body with arms crossed behind us pulls us back. At this point, the speech may not be interesting. Whether you are standing or sitting, try to keep your arms hanging, let them help you.

Logical speech and correct breathing

The first thing that is important to remember is the logic of speech, something that reflects the relationship between language and thinking. If you want to express a bright thought, the speech should sound bright and loud, if you want to express a sad thought, it should be quieter, but still clear. In any case, breathing will help.

Without logical stress it is impossible to express thoughts, since one word in a sentence must still be the main one.

A classic example is the question “Is this your grandmother?”

. Try to rearrange the emphasis on different words, and the meaning of the question will change depending on the emphasis.

The second, even more classic example, is Krylov’s famous fable.

Sweated, sweated;
but, finally, he got tired, fell behind the Chest , and couldn’t figure out how to open it. And the Chest simply opened to I.A.
Krylov

Illustration for the fable “Larchik”. Source

Where should I put the emphasis on the last line?

When we put emphasis on the word "simply"

, then the question arises:
“simple” - how is it?
After all, the end of the fable is before us.
There is a feeling of incompleteness. The whole point is that the logical emphasis falls on the word “opened”
. The author does not mean the simplicity of the method, but the need to simply open the chest.

The poetry is reminiscent of the process of unwrapping gifts:

You first carefully examine the box, remove the gift paper, unwrap the packaging, and only then take out the surprise itself.

This is how we look for the meaning of a poem in our courses - we carefully unpack the verse, remove the unnecessary, place our stresses and accents. After all, each participant sees his own meanings and his own accents in the poetic work.

Our task is not to prevent the speaker from finding his own meanings in the poem, but rather to help the speaker skillfully present his meaning of the poem to the public.

Therefore, all speakers tell the same poem differently.

And it pleases!

A lesson in poetry takes place in our Second year at the School of Public Speaking.

Or in a separate online course: teaching verse online.

We are happy that the participants recite their poems during the training. Now they do it masterfully.

And it’s nice that our School has a contribution to this skill.

Education

But many popular poets, as we know, did not know how to tell their own poems well.

For example, Robert Rozhdestvensky. Rozhdestvensky did not know how to recite his wonderful poems. But other readers did it well.

Yesenin and Mayakovsky, poets who mastered the art of oratory, remained in the past of our history.

Line length and logical accents

Different poets use different line lengths, for Vladimir Mayakovsky it is a one-word ladder, for Alexander Pushkin it is 6-7 words.

As a rule, we subconsciously strive to read as many words as possible in one go. But it's not right. Each author puts not only mood and thought into a poem, he sets the rhythm.

Use the rule: read each line on one exhalation and highlight the last word, before the next, pause and inhale.

As soon as we begin to pause between lines, rhythm appears - and it is created not through intonation or emotion, but through breathing.

When reading poetry, children often do not give themselves the opportunity to exhale and get confused in fast-flying thoughts. With such a measured pace, as in the rule, you will be able to read the entire work to the end.

Try practicing with the passages below. All examples should be perceived not as literary works, but as a simulator. And you will see how emotions appear precisely thanks to breathing.

Once upon a time there was a priest
with a thick forehead. The priest went to the bazaar to look at some goods. Balda goes towards him , not knowing where. “Why, dad, did you get up so early? What are you asking for?” The priest answered him: “I need a worker: a cook, a groom and a carpenter.
A.S. Pushkin

Illustration “The Tale of the Pope and his worker Balda.” Source

- Tell me, uncle, it’s not for nothing that
Moscow, burned by fire, was given to the Frenchman? After all, there were fighting fights, Yes, they say, some more! No wonder all of Russia remembers Borodin Day! - Yes, there were people in our time, Not like the current tribe: The heroes are not you! They had a bad lot: Few returned from the field... If it weren’t for God’s will, They wouldn’t have given up Moscow!
M.Yu. Lermontov

Follow the rhythm that is laid out in the poem.

In the case of “Borodino” it is solemn, in the case of Alexander Sergeevich’s fairy tale it is measured and narrative. It is important for children to be encouraged to learn and read poetry in this format, line by line, so that they have time to pause.

Smelling flowers, catching mosquitoes

Of course, each teacher has his own methods for developing expressive reading in schoolchildren. What should we, ordinary parents, who have nothing to do with pedagogy and do not have such knowledge, do?

I found on the Internet absolutely simple advice from teachers for ordinary users like you and me, without any frills.

Breathing exercises allow you to teach measured and economical expenditure of air during speech, timely filling of the lungs imperceptibly, without jerking.

We imagine a narrow strip of paper as a candle and blow on it so that the breathing is even and without sharp fluctuations.
We imagine that we are smelling a flower: we gradually draw in air, filling our chest with it.
We catch mosquitoes: when inhaling, the arms are spread apart, and when exhaling, gradually, “so as not to scare away our mosquito,” they are brought back. Clap your hands, and no one squeaks above your ear. With this breathing exercise, children pronounce the sound “zzzzz” while exhaling.

Breathing control allows you to control your voice, which also has its own techniques for training.

In a sitting position, holding your head straight, while taking a deep breath, we pronounce smoothly and drawn-out consonant sounds “mmmmmmm”, “nnnnnn”, “llllllll”, then including in drawn-out singing the vowel sounds “lllaaa”, “mmmiiii”, “nnnnnuuu” and others, which ones do you like best? At the same time, we raise, lower, and raise the timbre of the voice in a wave.
In the same starting position, we pronounce the syllables briefly “ne, ni, mu, ma, la, lyu,” making pauses between them and gradually increasing the tempo.
We turn on the monkey, for which we stand in front of the mirror and raise and lower the extended tongue, twist the tongue with an open mouth, touch the upper and lower teeth.

To develop the diction and speech apparatus of a future skilled reader, tongue twisters are also actively used, so teach how “Sasha walks along the highway” and “cancer bites Greka.”

Speech speed and volume

A trait that you should get rid of is the desire to speak quickly.

Keep your speech slow and loud. Only in this case is it possible to convey the meaning.

Poetry is the art of squares.

Go to the board and talk so that you can be heard. Loudness does not appear due to tension in the throat, but due to exhalation.

Of course, it is impossible to evaluate speech without a psychological aspect. When you speak quietly, people may not pay attention to you. It can even be comfortable - no one is watching, everything is quiet, calm and unnoticeable. But is this your goal?

When you become noticeable, you will feel eyes turning to you. You need to get used to the fact that you are a good speaker - they listen to you attentively. Get out of your comfort zone. Let's look at another exercise:

Being famous is not nice.
This is not what lifts you up. There is no need to start an archive, to tremble over manuscripts. The goal of creativity is dedication, not hype, not success. It’s shameful, meaning nothing, to be a byword on everyone’s lips.
B.L. Parsnip

Try to highlight both the first and last word on one exhale.

There is a rhythm here - the one in which Pasternak wrote the poem. The moment you understand the rhythm, you speak in the words of the author, you understand the work.

At this stage, you should not invest sensations; highlight the words in one exhalation. We all want to express something, but we usually do it by changing our tone of voice. It is much better to try to achieve the same goal with the help of breathing.

The little son
came to his father and the little one asked: “What is good and what is bad?” “ I have no secrets,” listen, kids, “ I’m putting this dad’s answer in the book.” V.V.
Mayakovsky

Try to apply the rule of exhalation, stress and pause to a poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky. You will understand that the poet deliberately chose a rhythm similar to communicating with children: you speak slowly, emphasizing each word so that the child can understand.

All works are different. There are complex and long ones with intricate sentences. There can be several stressed words

, but the pause for inhalation after them remains.

The rose is beautiful in shape and has a pleasant scent.
Hemlock is ugly and smells terrible. Byron, and Schiller, and Scott are perfect in spirit and body, but Burenin is ugly, and his spirit is not good
S. Cherny

Sasha Cherny wants to offend and even make the reader laugh, he started a game, so follow his logic of speech. Forget that breathing is needed to pronounce the longest possible number of words in a row.

Don't be shy to speak loudly

. Reflexes are born in the process, and the body will remember how you read poetry, helping yourself with your hands and movements.

Remember the expression “to read aloud, you need to understand what you are reading.” Listen to the most professional readers and their rhythm, radio announcers: they all read very slowly, it only seems to us that they speak quickly.

Parsing the text for its meaning

Choose a reading passage that is close and understandable to your child.
Read it out loud with the correct expression.
Ask what the text or poem is about, and in what mood it should be read. It is advisable to choose a work in which the intonation changes once or twice, so that the child can experience the art of expressive reading from this example.
Ask him about the characters in the work: does he understand their feelings and concerns? Expressive reading presupposes both an understanding of the text being read and an emotional interest in the text and how the reader “presents” it.

The first lessons in expressive reading are best based on interesting children's poems, for example, stories from the lives of schoolchildren. Then it will be easier for children to understand with what expression they need to read the text.

How to read tongue twisters correctly?

Even when we read aloud a text that does not rhyme, the logical emphasis is preserved. It is still necessary to read two or three words in one exhalation and do it clearly.

White snow. White chalk. The white hare is also white. But the squirrel is not white. It wasn't even white.

Do not immediately try to pronounce the tongue twister quickly, since they were created, contrary to the popular approach, not to test speed. Highlight the stressed vowel in a word and have time to inhale after every two or three words. Our task is to understand the logic, convey the idea of the tongue twister, and at the same time practice the sounds clearly and clearly. All this will not work if you try to do it in 5 seconds.

Let's try!

Having analyzed the work, invite your child to read it expressively. Then read it yourself and compare the result, do not forget to praise the student and gently point out any inaccuracies. Try reading the text with your student using different intonation options. After several “runs”, summarize the lesson:

Today we learned that in order to learn expressive reading, we need to correctly determine the mood of the text.
When reading aloud we must convey this mood.

In subsequent expressive reading classes in elementary school, you can make them more interesting for children. For example, invite children to read a poem or monologue as their favorite cartoon or movie character would do it. This idea will not only amuse children, but will also demonstrate to them the wealth of possible intonations when reading, and will make them think about the nuances of an actor’s portrayal of a particular character.

For homework, have children start a “Mood Notebook,” where they will write down words associated with identifying moods and write a written analysis of the given poems and passages of prose.

Reading prose

Reading books like your favorite announcers is a special dream for teachers, mothers and fathers. I would like to give children a fairy tale, to convey an emotion, but it doesn’t always work out.

The fact is that we usually read several lines at once in one breath, and then we start to get lost. Return to the main rule: convey the logic of speech, make accents and pauses, because breathing here is designed for two or three words. The brain itself calculates the rhythm of the work and on the fifth or sixth line the text will go as it should.

How much effort was invested when we or our children read aloud the text of Gogol, Pushkin, the description of the oak tree from the novel “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy. But as soon as you start breathing and don’t run, the impact words will begin to appear on their own. Speech is intended to convey not only a set of words, but a thought.

Try tossing each word in the passage upward. Trust your breathing and it will build a rhythm. Don't be afraid that "tossing" will look like "grimacing." From the outside, everything looks much calmer, and, most importantly, clearer:

It was a huge oak tree, twice the girth, with branches that had apparently been broken off for a long time and with broken bark overgrown with old sores. With his huge, clumsily, asymmetrically splayed, gnarled arms and fingers, he stood like an old, angry and contemptuous freak between the smiling birch trees.

L.N. Tolstoy

Painting by Jules Dupre "Old Oak", 1870

But what to do if the author’s text has ended and dialogues begin? How to dub the voices of different characters?

There is no need to change your voice or speak unnaturally. The main rule is the same pauses. Remember how you speak in everyday life. If the hero whispers, whisper. If a mischievous boy speaks, be naughty! In addition, the author always leaves hints by adding descriptions to the dialogues.

Parting words

Don't doubt yourself, the ability to read expressively can be learned. The main thing that is needed is practice. It will take effort to get used to the new you: breathing, rhythm, tone. But such a person will always attract the attention of both young and adult listeners.

The master class was organized by the “Parent University: PRO-Parents” project of the Prosveshcheniye Group of Companies and the HEROES project with the support of the Yana Poplavskaya Foundation.

The next in-person and online lesson with Maxim Levchenko will be devoted to the topic “Punctuation Marks in Speech” and will take place in May 2021. You can register for this and other events on the official website.

In verse studies, we teach not only how to recite the poems themselves, but also how to present them.

By this time, speakers should have mastered the Basic techniques of public speaking. How to recite poetry without gestures? Without pauses? Without intonation?

Today it is difficult to find a modern poet-speaker. Poems are art, and you need to be able to present this art correctly.

So if you like poetry, you like to read poems or write your own and want to recite them beautifully, you will find our course on verses useful.

In addition, you will learn to beautifully recite not only poetry, but also prose.

Emotions, voice acting, penetration, power of delivery, of course, are useful for any other speech.

Prose

And just imagine, having gathered at a party or at a special event, your friend wants to say something or show himself in some way. And you may begin to read the poem. And not just like that, but beautifully. And now the evening will cease to be languid...

It’s not for nothing that they say that poetry is the best words in the best order.