68. Talking over the Telephone
Oral Exercise. Talk to a classmate over the make-believe class telephone.[81] Play that he is the ticket seller in a circus. You want to know about the prices of seats. Ask the time at which the doors are open. Ask him whether you and your two children may all go in on one ticket. He will say no to the last question. Try to make him see that he should let you in on one ticket. Then telephone to other classmates. The following ideas[82] for telephone talks will help you think of what to say:
1. Telephone to the lion trainer. Tell him that you want to become a lion trainer. Ask him what you must do to get ready for this work. Ask his advice about it. Perhaps he will tell you something interesting about lions.
2. Telephone to the keepers and trainers of other wild animals.
3. Telephone to the clown, or the juggler, or the tightrope walker, or the horseback rider.
4. Telephone to a pupil and try to make a plan with him for going to the circus to-morrow. Where shall you meet him? How will you prove to your parents and to your teacher that it will do you more good to spend the afternoon at the circus than in school?
5. Telephone to a classmate and ask him where the circus is to be. Play that you are a new pupil in the school and do not know the roads and streets very well. Keep asking the classmate questions about how to reach the circus grounds. He should answer so clearly that a stranger would not miss the way.
69. Words sometimes Mispronounced
Oral Exercise. Pronounce each of the following words clearly and distinctly as the teacher pronounces it to you. Then pronounce the entire list as rapidly as you can, but still clearly, distinctly, and correctly.
| horse | address | theater |
| because | library | bouquet |
| engine | elm | across |
| evening | perhaps | iron |
| eleven | something | parade |
| lying | often | fourth |
| lion | father | third |
Game. Ask a classmate a question that has in it one of the words in the list above. The classmate will answer your question, using the same word from the list. If he pronounces the word correctly, he will ask a classmate a question containing another word from the list. And so it will go on until every one in the class has both asked and answered a question.