On Point : Expressing by Reviewing by Christala Carmel L. Cuevas

 

The relevance of choral speaking today

Nowadays, children and young adults have to explore and experience choral speaking more because of the signs of the times and the overwhelming demands of society today. 

It is a well-known fact that most job descriptions in various industries today mostly require a minimum of communication skills which choral speaking can help contribute to. Even today, public speaking is one of the most valued and essential skills, sought in hiring and recruiting employees, especially in the business world. 

With the aid and reinforcement of choral speaking class activities, children and young adults will already emerge into the art of speaking with confidence, and discipline, and acquire different oratory skills. So, schools highlight and promote the primary importance of having good communication skills among the students (children to young adults) for their training and development. Introducing choral speaking as their early training will help them hone skills that are necessary for their future careers. 

This also emphasizes practicality in life, attracting opportunities, and making room for self-growth. Since most employers require workers to be confident in speaking and in action, using choral speaking as a training ground will higher the students' chances of getting hired in the future because they can apply their skills even during the job interview. Being self-employed is also not a problem for an individual who knows how to attract opportunities just by communicating effectively. 

Ultimately, it is for self-growth, specifically to encourage those individuals who lack confidence. This guided practice strengthens their articulation, fluency, intonation, pace, volume, diction, and more. This also reinforces the children's achievement of their phonic skills. Lastly, the peer-support idea established by this activity fosters a strong bond among the other choral speakers. In a real-life scenario, the things they will learn from choral speaking will encourage them to amplify their voices, speak their minds, and use their ability to speak as a powerful weapon in advocating for the change that they desire for society. 

The Gift of Gab? Or God?

This posed an important question: how can choral speaking be done and performed well? 

If you are an educator who teaches choral speaking, there are many ways you can initiate this activity. 

First, you have to be aware of the basic choral arrangements. Next, you have to introduce appropriate selections of choric materials by considering their age, preference, and interests. Then, apply variations and the elements of choral speaking in a gradual process. Let the piece or the choric material sink in the students' minds and internalize the interpretation value of the said material. Fourth, integrate sound effects, actions, and more conviction in speaking to make the activity more engaging. Fifth, you have to truly immerse them into the learning process so that they will absorb the whole idea of choral speaking. There should be consistent practice and discipline, constructive criticisms, and praises or rewards for them to do better. Lastly, do not forget to incorporate life lessons or significant truths in life so that they will also find the activity purposeful.

With determination and self-discipline, only then can the child or young adult fully unlock their potential and discover their gift of gab—the ability to speak easily and confidently. Of course, this is just a term for expression, but these recognizable skills all originate from God and not Gab. 

Therefore, it's important to teach students of all ages to speak confidently while remaining humble, acknowledging that their abilities stem from a divine origin. Conversely, individuals, especially children and young adults, who haven't received guidance on humility may fall into the trap of becoming boastful because they get used to excessive praise and compliments. Thus, it's essential to cultivate confidence alongside humility in speech.

Raising a relevant topic
for choral speaking

Nowadays, the usual choric materials and contents are for entertainment and educational purposes for shaping young minds. However, if one intends to use choral speaking as a vital tool for instruction, then one can truly that it is being utilized for good use and educational purposes.

Schools and teachers should shape and produce socially and environmentally concerned citizens in society. We can open the eyes of the children and students by presenting relevant topics like the abnormal heat index experienced in most parts of the world due to climate change and global warming. 

These topics may be too typical and frequently raised by most people in most places, yet there is still no change or improvement. So, as an educator, we can try to implement class recitals or class activities that require choral speaking to be performed on bigger and wider platforms to reach many hearts and ears. 

Children need to be well aware of reality because they can also take part in doing and making changes in baby steps which are still very vital. Young adults also need to explore this relevant topic to assess themselves on how they could better proactively help themselves and the community.

As for me, this is not the time to baby talk with children and instill the idea of 'having fun while you're young' in the minds of young adults if, in reality, they could no longer have the world to live in. While they're young, they should already be taught about eco-literacy at all levels.

More importantly, I also find choral speaking an appropriate avenue to voice out the realities of the world. Choral speaking has inherent natures where the speakers vocalize in unison, with synchronization, conviction, emotions, and actions, and use it to convey an important message or story to the audience. This could be used to persuade people since the overall performance of choral speaking suggests "togetherness" and "unity" among the speakers. This would also be more effective if the performers were the children and the young adults themselves.

ENJOY CHORAL SPEAKING!

REFERENCES

            Choral Speaking: The opportunity to learn, advance and win. | British Council. (n.d.). https://www.britishcouncilschool.es/en/blog/choral-speaking-opportunity-learn-advance-and-win

                        

                             Choral Speaking: Reciting, explaining and convincing! | British Council.
              (n.d.). https://www.britishcouncilschool.es/en/blog/choral-speaking-
              reciting-explaining-and-convincing    

          

              THE GIFT OF THE GAB definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary. (2024). In Collins Dictionaries. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/the-gift-of-the-gab#:~:text=phrase,gab%2C%20especially%20in%20American%20English.

       

              What is Choral Reading? (n.d.). Twinkl. https://www.twinkl.com.ph/teaching-wiki/choral-reading