How to Play: The Acoustic Focus Challenge
Objective:
Train students to decode real-world speech mechanics, such as connected speech, intonation shifts, swallowed sounds, and sentence stress, by giving them a single, micro-listening target before playing a short audio clip.
Step 1: Set Up Your Wheel
- Choose your theme wheel
- Copy and paste your chosen Acoustic Focus List (e.g., Connected Speech, Vocal Signals, or Beginner Targets) into the wheel.
- Keep a short, 15–30 second audio or video snippet ready to play.
Step 2: Spin for the Target
- Project the wheel onto your screen.
- Spin the wheel to reveal the target feature for the round (e.g., "Catch 2 linked words" or "Identify the loudest stressed word").
- Briefly highlight what students should listen for so everyone understands the acoustic goal.
Step 3: Play the Audio
- Play the 15–30 second audio clip once.
- The Golden Rule: Students must listen silently without shouting out answers while the clip is running.
Step 4: The 10-Second Brain Pause
- As soon as the audio ends, give the class 10 seconds of total silence.
- Students write down what they heard on a sticky note, mini-whiteboard, or notebook.
Step 5: Reveal & Verify
- Call on a student (or use a second name-spinner wheel) to share what they caught.
- Replay the clip right at the exact timestamp so the whole class can train their ears to verify the acoustic feature together!
