This is a reposting of a comment from Grant, a short conversation between us, that describes a way that Grant starts his classes playing with accent. I put it here again so as not to forget it. I want it to become part of my routine when I introduce those few words per day that we work with before starting class (the Word Wall and Verb Strips words). Grant was responding to my suggestion here:
https://benslavic.com/blog/2012/01/25/just-start-in/
“Ben, you’re absolutely right. I used to think I had to get them quieted down and take attendance and make announcements in English, etc. But the more English I speak, the less attention they pay, it seems.
“Now I start class with a call and response or a short, culturally appropriate children’s song.
“One technique I use with my wordwall is to work on accent by over-exaggerating (is that redundant?) the typical gringo accent, which I refer to in class as “al estilo minesotano”. I never end on the gringo accent, but rather by reinforcing a more authentic accent with nice crisp sounds. It’s them hearing and repeating so I know it’s not leading to them actually acquiring the words. But it also reinforces their use of the word wall as a resource by helping them locate and remember the location of the words.
“They like exaggerating the sounds sooo much that I can just start class with this and let kids join in as they get settled. Works pretty well.”
My response: Nobody does this. And yet what better time than when you are cranking up a class to play with sound? The kids learn accent when it’s a game like you describe, when they are just having fun, but if you were to set out to teach a class about accent, they would zone out on you.
That’s because play is a whole brain/right brain activity and the kids, when in the school building, rarely get to play. Maybe they get to play a little during brain breaks. This allows them to play. Setting the tone of a class is everything! And I would assume it’s just a matter of a minute or two, so you can then get right to whatever step of TPRS you are doing that day.