It is vitally important as a teacher to care for your voice so that it will last you well for your entire teaching career. Unsound vocal hygiene, or vocal habits, can lead to temporary and / or permanent voice problems.

Vocal Strain can occur if a teacher is required to talk over background noise, which may be remarkably common and even inevitable considering the typical nature of children and groups of children gathered together at one time!

Trying to talk loudly, yell over such noise or indeed attempts to make a voice carry over a large distance can result in stress, tension and anxiety in the short term. This is due to the excessive throat and abdominal muscle forces exerted in the process and the constriction of certain muscles in the larynx or ‘voice-box’ in the throat.

Vocal Strain may be prevented by

o Where possible, make sure you are close to students when speaking
o Use an audio routine such as a bell or piece of music or visual stimulus such as a gesture, or change of lighting etc. to signal changes in the classroom activity
o Only speaking to students when they are quiet and waiting for this moment before commencing
o Planning your typical day to ensure periods of vocal rest are evenly apportioned across the day o Regular sips of room temperature water to provide hydration and a moist atmosphere to the internal landscape of the throat and larynx
o Speak only in a vocal range (ie voice pitch and type of voice quality) that is comfortable for you
o Slow down your speech rate and overemphasize your speech sounds and words so that you are more easily understood without the need for loudness or repetition.

Do not miss visiting the very iconic and interesting NSW remote town of Broken Hill, in the far west region of the state. Broken Hill has so very much to offer the visitor including some 35 art galleries to frequent by day, and 40 or more interesting bars and pubs to quench your thirst, by night. There is an amazingly very high standard of work to be viewed at the art and photographic galleries, including locally mined and very reasonably priced genuine silver jewellery and other silver gift items, with the famous Silverton only a mere 15 minutes drive...and almost 40 dips later..(you will have to experience the dips to know what I mean). Silverton is the famed filming site of many major film blockbusters including 'Mad Max', 'A Town like Alice' plus many other films and commercials such as previously shown on TV 'Coca-Cola' desert advertisements.

An absolute 'Must-see' is the gallery of famed local artist Pro Hart, that boasts a world class art collection of art gathered by the artist over the course of his life, with such original works as paintings by 'School of Rembrandt' (Rembrandt's students painting under his direct instruction), and other original paintings by Monet, Dali, Streeton, McCubbin, Heyson, Dobell and many more..don't miss this fabulous treat!