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5 ways to do choral repetition


I imagine most of you use choral repetition, especially with beginners or near beginners. There are good reasons for doing so. Students listen carefully, briefly process what they hear, repeat and get used to using their motor skills to produce different sounds, syllables and words in an unthreatening way without having to perform in front of their peers or a partner. It helps, of course, if the class knows what the material being repeated actually means! It is a handy controlling device for teachers who may feel insecure about class control too; when a class is all repeating in unison there isn't much opportunity to do anything else off task. Teachers also get instant feedback on whether the class is having difficulty pronouncing tricky sounds.

Choral repetition can be based on flashcards, flashcards with text, text on the board, an audio text, video text or just things that you say. I also felt that, when doing teacher-led oral work, choral repetition could be carefully timed if you had the sense that the class's attention might be wavering. As a member of a choir I have experienced this from the student perspective and a good choir leader knows when to drill everyone together - it's like a subtle change of perspective, or a pull on the bit, as it were. A good teacher also knows when choral repetition has gone on too long - but there are ways to keep up the momentum as we shall see below.

There are ways to vary how you conduct choral repetition. Here are five:

1.  Delayed repetition. Instead of the class repeating immediately after you, give the class a five second delay, then a clear signal (like a click of the fingers) when to repeat. this makes students rehearse the phrase in their working memory, which in turn gives the language more chance of being retained longer term. Pupils also enjoy this sort of short-term memory challenge. To add a little spice, make them wait longer - they will still be mentally rehearsing the language.

2.  Whispered repetition. This is a bit of a classic. Instead of students repeating in their normal voice, ask them to whisper the response. Alternatively, they sing the response or even (if you are brave/mad - delete as appropriate) shout their response. They could repeat to suggest a certain emotion too: anger, curiosity, pleasure, surprise.

3.  Closed eyes repetition. Closing the eyes removes distractions and allows pupils to focus even more tightly on the sounds they need to produce. It's another variation which adds a little extra interest.

4.  Back-chaining repetition. I was at a CPD session the other day and was a bit surprised that a lot of teachers did not know this one. It's where you repeat a phrase or senetnce syllable by syllable, strating from the end and working backwards. So, if the sentence were Je suis allé au cinéma (I went to the cinema), you would do this:

ma....éma... inéma.... cinéma....au cinéma ... allé au cinéma... suis allé au cinéma... je suis allé au cinéma

There is something about the back-chaining which amuses pupils. It's the rapid repetition of the same sounds which can sound a little absurd.

5.  Varying the group. After whole class repetition of a phrase, do the same phrase with different grouping, e.g. row by row, pair by pair, boys and girls. This change of perspective keeps the repetition alive and the class on their toes.

This article by Tamara Jones makes the case for choral repetition, including the point that when students are comfortable with the motor skills needed to deal with the phonology of the new language, this frees up some working memory to deal with other challenges of sentence construction (retrieving vocabulary, coping with syntax). I would add that focusing on accurate pronunciation via choral repetition not only helps with pronunciation and phonics (matching sounds to spellings), but with listening. The reason for this is that to recognise words and chunks in speech we need to have a secure memory of how words are pronounced (phonological memory).

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Another idea shared by Liz Sowter on Facebook: "I used to do a game where I competed against the class. If I pointed to a picture and said the right words they all had to repeat. If I deliberately said the wrong thing they had to remain absolutely silent (not inaccurate language, but un chien when pointing to un chat etc). If there was total silence they got the point. If anyone even started to repeat it I got the point. First to 6 or first to 10, depending how much time we had. I kept it going swiftly enough to avoid recrimination against the person who made the mistake!'

I've recently been holding a 2-sided red & green card behind my back, saying a phrase and the class can only repeat when I show the green card. Great fun. Take longer and longer before turning green to keep phrase in memory! (Amanda Sayle)

And another…

We (primary) play a game we call Secret Chief. One child leaves the class to be Detective and whilst they're out the room I select who will be "Secret Chief". The Secret Chief agrees to have a secret sign/action/fidget (eg adjust glasses/scratch ear/touch their book) whilst all other children agree to sit nicely (as usually expected in our school). The Detective re-enters the room and stands facing the class so they can observe. I then start leading the class in chorale repetition but we can only move to the next piece of vocab/phrase till I see the secret sign from the Secret Chief. The kids find it hilarious that we might end up repeating the same word 10 times before we move to the next and love working as a team to keep the identity of the Secret Chief unknown. The SC and class' aim is to make it through the board of vocabulary undetected; the Detective has to work out who the SC is and gets 3 guesses to do so - they can take a guess at any time by raising their hand and we'll all stop. The children at my school love it and whilst it takes a little practise to get the game flowing in the beginning, after a while they all get the format and understand the rules. I also enjoy the personal challenge of trying not to give it away myself haha! (Em Ma CTon)

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