Public Speaking

Communication and Diction Exercises

Prepared by: Roseo T. Caburian, Jr.
Public Speaking Trainer

Diction Exercises
- to make sure they get your
message

Why should you do diction

exercises?
Because your speech
content may be great, you
may look fantastic but unless
your audience can
UNDERSTAND what you're
saying, your message is lost.

Why are you here?

Diction exercises will help
you learn how to speak
clearly. An athlete does warmups and stretches before an
event: a singer does likewise.
These exercises are the speaker's
warm-up equivalent. They prepare
and train you to speak with ease.

The specific benefits of

diction/articulation
exercises are:
strengthening and stretching the
muscles involved in speech
bringing to your attention
habitual speech patterns which
may be less than perfect.

What is good diction?

Good diction is NOT about
changing your accent or making
you 'talk posh.
It is about clarity - making sure
what you say is heard.

I Love Lucy
Lucy hires an English tutor episode
Highlighted words
- boughs
- tough
- through
- cough

How do you improve

diction?
The most commonly known and used diction
exercises are Tongue Twisters.
There are literally squillions of them, each
focusing on either a single letter, or a letter
combination. Often they're complete nonsense
- phrases and word combinations chosen
purely for the way they make you work to say
them clearly.
Tongue twisters have long been an integral
part of a public speaker's tool kit. As well as
being fun, they are extremely effective.

Diction Exercises: Tips

& Tongue Twisters

A Glimpse Of The Prescribed Exercises

Stretch the muscles.
Listen to yourself.
Meditate.
Perform mirror exercises.
Listen to the great orator and imitate.
Practice tongue twisters.

Beginners' tips
Start slowly and carefully.
Make sure the start and end of each word is
crisp.
Repeat the phrase, getting faster and faster
while maintaining clarity. If you trip over words,
stop and start again.
As an additional exercise for improving your
tongue's flexibility and agility add
"Mrs Tongue Does Her Housework" to your p
ractice session. These stretches will hel
p enormously.

Sample Easy Tongue

Twisters
A tree toad loved a she-toad,Who lived up in a
tree.He was a two-toed tree toad,But a threetoed toad was she.The two-toed tree toad tried
to win,The three-toed she-toad's heart,For the
two-toed tree toad loved the ground,That the
three-toed tree toad trod.But the two-toed tree
toad tried in vain.He couldn't please her whim.
From her tree toad bower,With her three-toed
power,The she-toad vetoed him.

Woodchuck
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Mrs Tongue Does Her

Housework
Mrs Tongue lives in her house, the mouth.Every
morning she mops it from ceiling to floor.First
she sweeps her mop from right to left.
Next she sweeps her mop from left to right.
Now she dusts the furniture.
Then she shakes out the rug out the window.
Lastly she sweeps away the cobwebs from
around the front door.

Mrs. Tongue.
Mrs Tongue lives in her house, the mouth.
Every morning she mops it from ceiling to
floor.First she sweeps her mop from right
to left.
Run your tongue in a full circle around your
cheek walls across the front of your top and
bottom teeth. Repeat 3 times.

Mrs. Tongue
Next she sweeps her mop from left to right.
Reverse the direction of the circle. Repeat 3 times.
Now she dusts the furniture.
Sweep your tongue as rapidly as you can from side to
side across the upper teeth. Repeat at least 10 times.
Then she shakes out the rug out the window.
Stick the tongue out, extended as far as you can, and
move it rapidly up and down. Repeat at least 10
times.

Mrs. Tongue.
Lastly she sweeps away the cobwebs from
around the front door.
Stick the tongue out as far as you can and
sweep it from right to left around the outside of
your lips. Repeat 3 times, then reverse the
direction and repeat 3 times.

Do You Mumble? Speech

Exercises to Cure
Mumbling
Mumbling is a common problem, especially in everyday
speech, and it's often caused by a lack of openness in your
mouth. The consequences include a weaker voice, poor
articulation, speaking too fast, and a perceived lack of
credibility. When you're able to speak with a relaxed sense
of openness around your mouth and jaw, you will reap some
significant benefits: a stronger voice, clear articulation (you
won't mumble), a relaxed pace, and a strong, confident and
credible presence. So open up and stop mumbling!
Watch the video on the relevance of opening the mouth
Wide enough to enunciate better.

Diction Exercises for 'B'

words:
Betty bought a bit of butter, but she found the
butter bitter, so Betty bought a bit of better
butter to make the bitter butter better.
Bill had a billboard.Bill also had a board bill.The
board bill bored Bill,So Bill sold his billboardAnd
paid his board bill.Then the board billNo longer
bored Bill,But though he had no board bill,
Neither did he have his billboard!

For 'D' words try:

Did Doug dig David's garden or did David dig
Doug's garden?
Do drop in at the Dewdrop Inn

Diction Exercises for 'F'

words:
Four furious friends fought for the phone
Five flippant Frenchmen fly from France for
fashions

For 'H' words try:

How was Harry hastened so hurriedly from the
hunt?
In Hertford,Hereford and Hampshire hurricanes
hardly ever happen

Diction Exercises for 'J'

words:
James just jostled Jean gently.
Jack the jailbird jacked a jeep.

Diction Exercises for 'K'

words:
Kiss her quick, kiss her quicker, kiss her
quickest.
My cutlery cuts keenly and cleanly.

Diction Exercises for 'L'

words:
Literally literary.
Larry sent the latter a letter later.
Lucy lingered, looking longingly for her lost lapdog.

Diction Exercise for 'N'

and 'U' sounds:
You know New York,You need New York,You
know you need unique New York.

Diction Exercises for 'P'

words:
Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.If
Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers that Peter
Piper picked?

Pearls, please, pretty Penelope,Pretty

Penelope, pretty Penelope,Pearls, please,
pretty Penelope,Pretty Penelope Pring.

For 'Q' words:

Quick kiss. Quicker kiss. Quickest kiss.
Quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly...

For 'R' words:

Round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.
Reading and writing are richly rewarding.

Exercises for 'S' words:

Six thick thistle sticks
Theophilus Thistler, the thistle sifter, in sifting a sieve of
unsifted thistles, thrust three thousand thistles through
the thick of his thumb.
The shrewd shrew sold Sarah seven sliver fish slices.
Sister Susie sat on the sea shore sewing shirts for sailors
Moses supposes his toeses are roses,But Moses
supposes erroneously,For nobody's toeses are posies of
rosesAs Moses supposes his toeses to be.
(Pronounce the word 'toeses' to rhyme with 'Moses'.)

For 'T' words:

Ten tame tadpoles tucked tightly in a thin tall
tin.
Two toads, totally tired, trying to trot to
Tewkesbury.

For 'V' words:

Vincent vowed vengeance very vehemently.
Vera valued the valley violets.

And lastly, two

especially for your
tongue
Red leather, yellow leather...
Red lorry, yellow lorry...

And then, one more for

good measure!
This comes from Gilbert and Sullivan's light
opera 'The Pirates of Penzance'.
It's guaranteed to make you work as it's the
tongue's equivalent of a triathlon!
It includes many difficult combinations
impossible to get right unless you articulate
clearly. Have fun with it.

'I am the very pattern of a modern MajorGeneral;I've information vegetable, animal, and
mineral;I know the Kings of England, and I quote
the fights historical,From Marathon to Waterloo,
in order categorical;
I'm very well acquainted too with matters
mathematical,I understand equations, both
simple and quadratical,About binomial theorem
I'm teeming with a lot o' news,With many
cheerful facts about the square of the
hypotenuse.
I'm very good at integral and differential
calculus,I know the scientific names of beings
animalculous,In short, in matters vegetable,
animal, and mineral,I am the very model of a
modern Major-General.'

Topics in the next sessions

Now that the 'tip of your tongue, the teeth and the lips' have
had a thorough work-out be sure to stop by the other
EXTRA ESSENTIAL TIP sessions
You'll find information on:
developing vocal variety
(particularly important if you're a
Monotone Martha or Martin')
using flexible speech rates
(great for slowing a motor-mouth)
the secrets of using silence effectivelybreathing
exercises
especially designed to overcome the anxiety of public spea
king while strengthening your lung power
!
Your mouth utters the words but do you know what secrets
your body language is giving away?

For your communication

skills -- Practice interviewing in front of the mirror.
Take speech classes in school.
Sign up for your schools debate team.
Give speeches to members of your clubs in
school or at your local community orgs.
Volunteer in community services.