Mute

It's November and the time of colds and flu has begun a long time ago. With it, many of us have lost our voice - and it is one of the most important teaching tools (unless you're a proponent of the Silent Way ;)).
So here I'm re-posting a slightly revised Blogathon post on voice care. I know it'll come in useful.

Here are some tips in voice care a doctor and a speech therapist from my county gave us teachers in a lecture (combined with some useful links I’ve found):



DO:

• Rest your voice ( if you’ve been using it for 4 hours, you need to rest it for one hour)
• Drink water or juice in regular intervals during the day
• Learn how to do breathing exercises
• Stretch your neck and shoulders
• Warm your voice up before work - here are some Wise Warm-Ups you could use.
• Sleep 
• Get your student’s attention with a gesture like raising your hands or by using spatial anchors. 
• See your GP if you inexplicably lose your voice.
• Read some general info on voice care here. 
• Read some basics on how voice is produced.
• Here are Top Tips for Voice Care.

DON’T

• Yell, whisper or imitate other peoples’ voices or sounds - or get training on how to do it safely.
• Clear your throat by coughing.
• Ingest anything too hot. 
• Sing with a hoarse voice.
• Eat 2-3 hours before sleeping: it causes acid reflux which can damage the vocal chords.
• Try to outvoice a crowd.
• Forget to sleep.

Do you maybe have any student activities to help teachers be quiet in case of sudden in-class loss of voice? Having a student assistant can be a lifesaver.


Hope I’ve helped.

Love to all,

Dora


*UPDATE*

Go easy on dairy products.