What is Choral Reading / Choral Speaking?
Like Readers Theater, “Choral Reading” involves students as they read-aloud and orally interpret, but does not require them to memorize their reading parts.
Unlike Readers Theater “Choral Speaking” requires a group of students to orally interpret and recite from memory.
In my grandmother’s day, “Choral Speaking” was all the rage! When I was a little girl, I remember attending many wonderful Choral Speaking concerts at grandma’s K-12 one-room schoolhouse in Ohio. I also remember that when grandmother died, our family received many many cards and letters from past students, now grown up, who remembered her as THE BEST TEACHER THEY EVER HAD!
What happened to Choral Speaking? For years it seemed to have disappeared from our elementary schools. Choral Speaking gave way to more “modern” activities: creative drama, play building, cooperative grouping, video watching. But a recent search on the internet found a number of hits for the term: choral speaking. The idea seems to be gaining popularity again, especially at speech contests and festivals.
The scripts or speaking pieces on this web site belong to YOU. Please change them in any way to suit your individual needs. Words and phrases may need fine-tuning to accommodate a particular reading level. Assignment of printed speaking or reading sections/lines may not be right for your group or situation. Please feel free to invent, create, edit, imagine, omit, add, and change. The purpose of this collection is to make materials available to teachers who want to motivate ORAL READING and CHORAL READING/SPEAKING.
Sincerely, Lois Walker - Scripts for Schools Founder
Click Here for a Teacher’s Guide: Choral Speaking in the Elementary Classroom.
TEACHING READING?
Can “Choral Reading” be used as a teaching tool to model fluency and expression?
Yes! Students read the script text chorally. With teacher joining in, children are provided a model for fluency and expression. This approach works best with stories told in rhyme, plays with predictable text, text with repetitive refrains, and text without too much solo dialog text.
Click Here for Article: The Importance of Using Multiple Methods of Reading Instruction
