How to Teach Reading With Expression
Although it rarely receives much attention from teachers, reading with expression is an important skill for students. It improves public speaking, makes it easier to understand the text, and even improves communicative ability. The key is to get your students playing with verbal expression and observing it around them.
Instructions
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Read out loud in class to your students. Read humorous books appropriate for the age, and use a comical reading style. Use funny voices for the characters and exaggerate everything.
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Have your students read passages from the same voice. They will naturally follow your cue, and use silly or exagerrated reading styles. Encourage them to give voice to the characters, using a deep menacing growl for the bad guy, for example, or a brave, courageous tenor for the hero.
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Discuss voice with the students. Ask what made them read a certain passage in a certain way, or how a certain type of character should talk. Have them play with it, doing an evil voice, a friendly voice and a shy voice.
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Have the students write and act a short play out. Use a narrator and flat characters defined by simple emotions or motivations (i.e. the hero, the villain, the shy guy, the bratty little sister, the stern teacher). Have your students take turns reading the different characters.
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Introduce your students to poetry recitation. Have them listen to great poems recited by good actors, such as Basil Rathbone's recitation of Poe's Cask of Amontillado.
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Have each student choose a poem and read it herself.
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Tips & Warnings
Poe is tough. Read it with your students and make sure they understand it before having them listen to the dramatic reading.
Listening to radio drama is a great way to take in dramatic reading. Consider having your students listen to one.
