About this Episode
This original song was written to encourage students in learning three basic steps to having a conversation. The lyrics to this song talk about the importance of keeping a conversation on topic, looking into the other person’s eyes when talking to them, and asking questions/giving comments that relate to the given communication in order that the conversation continue successfully. After the initial singing through of these steps with your students, this song provides a rhythmic chant that promotes memorization of these steps. Once students successfully recall the steps to having a successful conversation and understand what these steps truly mean in practice, you can utilize the lyrics from the song as prompts to redirect behavior during a conversation. Reminding your student of the steps that were just sung about through a prompt such as, “ Is that on topic?” outside of music brings the experience full circle.
Expanding this experience:
Once your students have heard this Sing to Speech song, help your students to understand the lyrics a bit better by creating visuals for them to review. You may want to write a few lines to a conversation up on your board and encourage your students to identify whether the conversation is on or off topic and why. You can assist your students in learning about how you expand a conversation through asking a question or giving a comment that relates to the present communication, and eventually, have students practice this completely on their own. With quickly retrievable prompts such as the one sung in the rhythmic chant of this experience, students can easily memorize and apply these conversation steps within the moment. Encourage your students to reach success by reminding them of the song’s familiar language during their practice. Your Content Goes Here