How I teach speechstream
Speechstream is an exercise to try and trick the brain into using its childhood learning systems - for adults. Many of my adult ESOL students cannot hear fluent English. By taking little chunks of incomprehensible speech and repeating them, I try to make the brain reopen those processes it used for the mother tongue.
The outcome of speechstream is better listening. It does not intend to give better speaking although this can be one of the results. It does not, during the first part of the exercise, aim at comprehension.
The outcome of speechstream is better listening. It does not intend to give better speaking although this can be one of the results. It does not, during the first part of the exercise, aim at comprehension.
Speechstream is challenging work. Students become enthusiastic supporters of the exercise once they begin to hear the progress they are making. They say things like, I can hear television speakers much better now! I can watch movies and I'm picking up much more than before.
Speechstream work is divided into two parts: Language uptake and Resolving
1. LANGUAGE UPTAKE
The main part of the work is the first part.Its like mouth gym.
Its purpose is language uptake.
One condition is absolutely essential for speechstream to succeed -
- COMPLETE LACK OF UNDERSTANDING
and
- students have to agree to try to NOT think about the possible words, not try to"solve" the problem.
Speechstream is about focusing on the sounds, repeating them accurately and intensely, using plenty of muscle movement and trusting the process. The procedural language network works on the material of speech which is below our conscious awareness. It can create a database of sound for the new language.
2. RESOLVING THE GLEEP
After students have mastered the articulation of this group of sounds, which might mean ten or fifteen minutes work, we can move on to trying to work out what the words are. This is a group process and discovery of the words is always interesting for the adult learner. Once the students are consciously thinking about words, talking about words, the brain is no longer absorbing the characteristics and details of the speech stream.
Instead in this second stage the conscious normal learning brain is at work and students are able to talk about and later remember their discussions. This is the declarative language network.
- procedural memory (a subconscious automatic network)
and
- declarative memory (the conscious thinking brain)
Children can learn many other languages automatically because their procedural system is active and will develop a reliable fast accurate database for each of their other languages.
That is why it is essential for students in the first part of speechstream exercises, the language uptake part, that not even one word is understood and not even thinking about a word is happening.
If a gleep is understood by a student (you can usually tell from their eyes) then the student should sit that practice out. If a student speaks what they think is the answer, then that gleep is finished. It cannot be used to activate language uptake if it is already understood. The teacher has to choose another gleep.
The first part of the speechstream exercise is the not understood part. This is the language uptake time which I believe allows the brain to build up a new sound system for the new language instead of trying to use the old automatic sound system acquired for the mother tongue. It is for this reason that speechstream work must not have understanding as any part of the first stage: because we do not want to activate the mother tongue database and we want to provide material for a new database build around the speech signal of the new language.
HELPING STUDENTS
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