Transcript Reading Aloud-1 - phss-3n3-2011

ORAL
COMMUNICATION
SKILLS
Reading Aloud
Prepared by Bernard Kang
PHSS 2009
ORAL EXAM
Syllabus A
Part 1 – Reading aloud
– 12 marks
Part 2 – Picture Discussion – 12 marks
Part 3 – Conversation
– 16 marks
[10 min for preparation]
Reading Aloud Objectives
• Fluency
– This means smoothness in the flow of speech
without stumbling over words or repeating
words or missing out words
• Clarity
– All words are received conveniently by the
listener
• Expressiveness
– Reflects understanding and interest on the
part of the reader
How to ACE Paper3
• To score a distinction (A1 or A2),
candidates will need to score 28 marks out
of 40 (A2), and 30 marks out of 40 (A1).
Example: Reading – 9/12
Picture – 9/12
Conversation – 12/16
Total : 30 marks (A1)
Reading Aloud
•
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
There are SEVEN main things oral candidates
must look out for in reading passages: (COPY
THIS DOWN)
Tenses
Plural Forms
End consonants
Punctuation (Passage)
Punctuation (Dialogue)
Contractions in grammar
‘Th’ sounds
1. Tenses
•
Students tend to make the errors of not stressing the ‘-ed’ or ‘-d’ of a
verb in its past tense.
E.g. He decided not to go home, thus he joined his friends for a game of pool.
• Students are also careless with irregular verbs in their past tense.
E.g. She chose not to attend classes as she had overslept.
*When the verb is spelt the same way in the present and
past tense, the candidate is expected to infer the tense form and pronounce
the verb accurately.
E.g. Read (Present tense), Read (Past tense).
I like to read.
I read a book last night. (In this context, the candidate has to be careful
and pronounce the verb in its past tense form)
2) Plural nouns
- this is a very common mistake made by candidates
as they forget to stress the ‘-s’ or the ‘-es’ in the
plural nouns found in the passage.
E.g. They usually meet up with their friends once a
week to chat about their lives.
- Candidates should also be careful about irregular
forms of plural nouns.
E.g. Child -> Children , Man -> Men, Woman -> Women
Fungus ->Fungi
3) End consonants
• The end consonants are the last
consonant of each word. The common
errors made by candidates who do
not stress the end consonant of
certain words usually end with ‘k’, ‘t’,
‘d’ or ‘s’.
E.g. argues, felt, bank, died
4. Punctuation (Passage)
- These are the punctuation marks found in the passage itself
(dialogue will be covered separately). They will include the
usual periods (.) or commas (,). Students must learn when
and how to pause appropriately.
pause
E.g. Firstly, Adam Lo, the captain of the team and the fastest
sprinter by far, had to go away because of a family problem
and was not expected back before the competition. (2007
Day4)
*In the above example, you are expected to make short
pauses as indicated in the commas (red). You are expected
to read the other parts (blue) WITHOUT pausing.
However, if necessary you can pause before or after a
conjunction.
4. Punctuation (Passage)
cont’d…
There might be other forms of punctuation like semi-colons (;) and dashes
(-). Students must learn to take them into consideration and pause
appropriately.
E.g. When only one child arrived – and a baby at that – the organisers were a
little taken aback. (2006 Day 9)
NOTE: Identify the difference between dashes and hyphens. There is no
need to pause for hyphens.
E.g. “You are doing pretty well for an 85-year-old,” replied Sheila, who had
reached the not-so-young age of 50 herself. (2006 Day 9).
In this case, ignore the hyphens.
5. Punctuation (Dialogue)
There will usually be dialogues in the
reading passages. The dialogues would
usually involve punctuation that involve
pitch and tone.
E.g. “Think of all the pressure! I’m not sure
I could stand the stress.”
“Do you still regret not having followed our
dream of cooking for a career?”
(GCE ‘O’-Levels 2007 Paper 3 Day 10)
6. Contractions in
Grammar
-
Contractions are words which have been shortened. Certain alphabets are replaced by
an apostrophe (‘)
Contractions are used in speech and informal writing.
Examples: I’d (I had or I would), We’ll (We will), They’re (They are), I’ve (I have), You’re
(You are)
Candidates have to learn how to pronounce these contractions as a single word and
NOT as two separate words in their individual forms.
E.g. “… I’m sure it must be worthless – I mean junk is worthless isn’t it? So I figured I’d
just throw it away. It can’t bother you any more now, can it?” was Michael’s
frustrated reply. (2004 Day 3)
Fun fact: Do you know that ten o’clock is actually a contraction of ten of the clock?
7. ‘Th’ sounds
Candidates usually struggle with the ‘th’ sounds. For example, candidates will
pronounce ‘three’ as ‘tree’ and ‘think’ as ‘tink’.
- The ‘th’ sound can appear in the beginning, middle or end of a word.
E.g. Theme , Brother , Month
- Candidates aiming for distinctions should try to enunciate the ‘th’ sounds.
Try to see if you can pronounce the following set of words
Think, tink
Three, tree
Theme, team
Thought, taught
Reading Aloud - Recap
• Pronounce well the ends of words
– (‘es’, ‘s’, ‘d’, ‘t’ and ‘n’)
• Pronounce words with proper stress
– inFER, imPORtant, ORchestra, CHAracter,
deTERmine
– Do not be worried about not being able to
pronounce some words well. However, you must
make sure they do not affect the rest of your
reading.
Reading Aloud - Recap
• Use pauses marked by commas,
semicolons, colons and full-stops
– Students should introduce differences
in tone, to show variations in tone
• Use dramatic pauses suggested by
words like “pondered”, “hesitated”,
“wondered”
Reading Aloud - Recap
• Add pitch changes
– It means loudness or softness of voice
to emphasize mood and emotional
substances to what is being read.
– It makes the reading more interesting
for the listener