About this activity
Eight utterances a teenager would genuinely produce, tagged with the technique to use: easy onset on Anyone know when practice starts? and Is the game still on tonight?; light contact on Can I get the notes from Tuesday? and My name is ___ and I'm here for the interview. Fluency shaping usually gets practised on sentences nobody says, which is why it so rarely appears outside the room.
How to use it in a session
Match the technique to the sentence's first sound, which the cards already do — easy onset for vowel-initial utterances, light contact for those starting with a stop. Rehearse each one until it is boring, then use it for real: the notes sentence should be said to an actual teacher. The name-and-interview sentence is the highest-stakes item here and worth the most repetitions. Fifteen minutes with a plan for where each one gets used.
What to listen for
Listen for the technique surviving the second clause. Most students apply easy onset to the first word and drop it thereafter, and a sentence like My name is ___ and I'm here for the interview has two hard starts in it. Watch which sentences the student avoids practising — that avoidance usually points at the situation they most need.
Carrying it home
Pick the one sentence the student will actually have to say this week and rehearse that. A family can hear it once and then let it happen for real, which is the only part that counts.
Questions
- What is light contact?
- Making the consonant with less pressure than usual, so a /p/ or a /t/ is formed gently rather than pressed and released. It reduces the tension that turns a sound into a block.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all eight sentences play free.
- What grades is this for?
- Sixth through twelfth, using utterances from a teenager's actual day.