The Tone FHE

We did this FHE a while back and I left the lesson out to share on my blog.

We talked about communication and emphasized the tone that we use in our voices.  We discussed how just by changing our tone can cause different responses.  I cut the following page out so that each family member had a short phrase that they could say using a nice tone and then a sharp, ugly tone for the same phrase.  The kids had fun hamming up their parts and we had a good discussion about how JUST the tone can COMPLETELY change the outcome of a scenario because your tone sets the tone of the conversation.

I then read the following poem -

 

The Tone of Voice

It’s not so much what you say
As the manner in which you say it;
It’s not so much the language you use
As the tone in which you convey it;
“Come here!” I sharply said,
And the child cowered and wept.
“Come here,” I said –
He looked and smiled
And straight to my lap he crept.
Words may be mild and fair
And the tone may pierce like a dart;
Words may be soft as the summer air
But the tone may break my heart;
For words come from the mind
Grow by study and art –
But tone leaps from the inner self
Revealing the state of the heart.
Whether you know it or not,
Whether you mean or care,
Gentleness, kindness, love, and hate,
Envy, anger, are there.
Then, would you quarrels avoid
And peace and love rejoice?
Keep anger not only out of your words –
Keep it out of your voice.

~Author Unknown

We finished off with a fun communication game where we had to sit back to back with a partner.  I know the FHE went over well because we are still using the phrase, "Watch your tone" and "Try a different tone in your voice so that you can get a better response" and the kids know exactly what we are talking about.