October 1, 2020

1. Do the short homework assignment posted in the Moodle site for this course.

2. Download the transcript and exercises for the lecture about Formal and Informal Language.

3. Do listening and reading aloud practice with another version of the lecture about Formal and Informal Language. In this video I read the lecture in short groups of words. Practice reading each group of words in a fast, smooth, connected way. Listen to the stress on words and syllables and try to imitate the speaker's way of pronouncing the words. After you listen to it and practice reading it aloud a couple of times, turn down the volume and play the video while you make a recording of your own voice reading the words aloud. You do not need to submit the recording. It is for you. Listen to it and think about how to improve your voice and pronunciation.

During the lesson on September 30, we talked about voice training. Voice training is important for all public speaking and performing. Professional actors and speakers do voice training in their native language. Students who are learning a foreign language should also think of themselves as actors. They have to imitate the way other people speak. Your public speaking skills and pronunciation will improve if you practice exactly the way native speakers of English practice when they are training to become actors, announcers and so on. Here are the links to the videos about voice training that we watched during the class:

2. Amy Walker, voice coach, gives advice on how to gain confidence in your own voice.

If you search for "voice training" on YouTube, will find many videos like these.

The next class is on October 15.

September 17, 2020

Write a few sentences about what was covered in the first class.

Review the video that we viewed in class: How to Speak so that People Want to Listen. You can view it with English subtitles, Japanese subtitles or no subtitles.

The next class is on October 1.