I'm Jodai, and responsible for Toyonaka Senior High School's Global Studies and SGS.
In the second SGS, we invited Ms. Teshirogi, a music teacher, and Mr. Shikata a teacher of social studies and a flute player as special instructors, and students learned fundamentals of how to pronounce English.
The first topic was breathing. They learned fundamentals of abdominal breathing in a practical and easy-to-understand manner.
Other teachers attending the seminar as observers also learned the breathing method together with students.
It is said that abdominal breathing not only constitutes the base of good vocalization but also contributes to good health because it keeps the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve systems.
I wish all students always keep the breathing in mind in their daily lives since they made their efforts to learn it.
(Center: Mr. Shikata, right: Ms. Teshirogi)
Next, the students were divided into two groups, and each group at each end of the courtyard conveyed their voices each other produced with correct vocalization method.
Finally, although it was not planned, a group of 30 students at one end of the courtyard competed with a group of four teachers to determine which group could utter voices that were more resonant and carried well! The judge was a group of 30 students on the other side of the courtyard.
Surprisingly, the winners were the teachers on both sides. (Why not?)
Teachers are good at vocalization because they always need to efficiently transmit their voices (probably).
What impressed me was that the voices of students who get used to utter loud voices in sports club activities did not sound as good as we had expected. The meaning in learning vocalization that "carries voices a great distance" lies here, indeed. Because, this is the true way to pronounce English.
People in the West who originated from hunting tribes had to resonate their voices to reach long distances.
Even if you became a fluent English speaker, it would be less impressive if your vocalization was no so good, wouldn't it?
Students, keep in mind "vocalization" besides your pronunciation when reading aloud in English.