WARM-UP EXERCISES

The following exercises should be practiced on a regular daily basis. This will help to strengthen and give flexibility to the speech organs and ultimately to ensure better articulation and clearer speech.

POSTURE EXERCISES All exercises to be repeated 4 times 1. Stand with your back to a wall with your heels, buttocks, shoulders, and head all touching the wall. Relax and be comfortable as much as possible. 2. Relax on this position, letting the floor support your whole weight. Your body should maintain its position without any tensing in any part of it. 3. Gently roll back your head from side to side, forward and backward, move to clockwise and counterclockwise to check that your neck is free from tension. 4. To relax your shoulders, roll them gently backwards and forwards. 5. Lift your shoulders up to your ears, and then drop down suddenly. 6. Curl them forward, and then thrust them backwards. BREATHING EXERCISES All exercises to be repeated 4 times 1. Keep your posture, breath in gently feel your breath dropping into your body comfortably and naturally, and then breathe out gently (Do this at the count of inhale and exhale). 2. Inhale deep, keep your hand onto your abdomen, breath out slowly and give a long sigh as you do so, vibrating your vocal cords gently. 3. Take a deep breath, then start to breathe out slowly, after a couple of seconds, count aloud from 10, 15 to 20 until everyone is exasperated. 3. Relax by shaking both your hands and arms rapidly to release the tension from your body. 4. Pant in exaggeration and stick out your tongue in doing this. TONGUE EXERCISES All exercises to be repeated 4 times 1. Point the tongue, holding it still. Then relax the tongue back in the mouth. 2. Point the tongue. Circle very slowly once to right. Repeat to left.

3. Point the tongue with your mouth close. Circle from clockwise to counterclockwise. 4. Stretch the tongue towards the nose, then the chin. 5. With tip of tongue behind bottom teeth, push back the tongue forwards and backwards. 6. Flick pointed tongue sideways, touching corners of lips. Gradually quicken. 7. Tap the tip of the tongue against alveolar (teeth) ridge. Repeat and quicken. 8. Finish off with rhythm exercises for /t/, /d/, /l/, /k/, and /g/ Tap tongue tip against alveolar ridge. Repeat once from left to right. Do the same for /d/ and /l/ sounds. t tt ttt tttt t tt ttt tttt t tt ttt tttt t t t t

Tap the back of the tongue on soft palate. Repeat once from left to right. Do the same for /g/ sound. k kk kkk kkkk k kk kkk kkkk k kk kkk kkkk k k k k

LIP EXERCISES All exercises to be repeated 4 times 1. With jaw closed, spread lips back to a broad smile, and then bring forward to a tight [u:] position as in June. 2. Repeat exercise 1, but with jaw open about one inch. 3. Make a chewing motion in all directions. 4. Keeping the bottom lip still, raise top lip towards nostrils. Bring lips together again. Quicken. 5. Keeping top lip still, move bottom lip down. Bring lips together again. Quicken. 6. Move top and bottom lips alternately. Quicken. 7. To relax the lips, blow through them very gently. 8. Finish off with rhythm exercises for [p], [b], [m], and [w] sounds. Repeat once from left to right. Do the same for /b/, /m/, and /w/ sound. p p p p

pp pp pp p ppp ppp ppp p pppp pppp pppp p ARTICULATION Put consonants /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ in front of the following six vowel sounds.

/ 1 / / 2 / /3 / /4 / /5 / / 6 / / 1 / / 2 / / 3 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / 4 / / 5 / / 6 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Put some consonants /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ after six vowel sounds.

/ 1 / / 2 / / 3 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/ 4 / / 5 / / 6 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Put consonants /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ in front of, and after six vowel sounds. Repeat once from left to right.

/ 1 / / 2 / / 3 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

/ 4 / / 5 / / 6 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Repeat the following combination of consonants and vowels three times.

PITCH AND VOLUME EXERCISES 1. Say aloud the vowel / /, starting at a low volume and getting progressively louder. Use the

arm as a baton to control the pitch and volume of the sound. 2. Say the following words or phrases by pronouncing them with variety emotions (anger, happiness, sadness, fear, doubtful,). a. Quiet. b. How are you? c. Stop. d. Wait. e. Surprise. TONGUE TWISTERS Repeat the following again and again from slow to fast 1. Six sick slick slim sycamore saplings. 2. A knapsack strap, a strap from a knapsack 3. Three gray geese in the green grass grazing. 4. Six sharp shimmering smart sharks sharply striking shins. 5. Hi-Tech Travelling Tractor Trailer Truck Tracker. 6. Which witch wished which wicked wish. 7. Stop chop shops selling chopped shop chops! 8. Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better. 9. The two-twenty-two train tore through the tunnel. 10. Thirteen thieves of Thebes thinned three thickets of thistles. 11. Amidst the mists the coldest frost With barest wrists and stoutest boasts. He thrusts his fist against the post. And still insists he sees the ghosts.

12. She sells sea shells by the sea shore. The shell she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore. Im sure she sells seashore sells. 13. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck. If a woodchuck could chuck wood? A woodchuck would chuck wood As much as a woodchuck could chuck wood If a woodchuck would chuck wood. 14. Betty Botter bought a bit of butter, But the bit of butter Betty bought was bitter. Said Betty, If I put it in my batter. It will make my batter bitter. I have to buy a bit of better butter. To make my batter better. So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter. And the better butter made her batter better, not bitter. 15. If one doctor doctors another doctor. Does the doctor who doctors the doctor. Doctor the doctor the way. The doctor he is doctoring doctors? Or does he doctor the doctor The way the doctor who doctors doctors?

************ Posture Preparation Stand in a good centered position with feet firmly on the floor, slightly apart, relaxing the knees and hips, and keeping the shoulders down, free from any tension. Feel your spine straightening with your head balanced on the neck, as if it was attached to the ceiling by a piece of elastic coming from the top of it. Breathing Exercises: 1. Take a deep breath, in through the nose, for a count of 3, filling the lungs and feeling the chest expanding sideways and upwards. You should also feel the stomach area move outwards when you breathe in. Then slowly release through an open mouth for 3 counts on a whispered AH sound.

2. Repeat the above exercise, but this time count out loud 1 to 10 as you breathe out, feeling the energy and power of the voice being directed across the room. Continue counting out loud as you breathe out, continue counting until you expired. 3. Repeat the exercise but this time instead of counting vocalize the days of the week in one breath, followed by months of the year in one breath.