Starter quiz
- 'At the start of our speeches we should ____ our audience with an engaging opening? What 'h' word is missing here?
- 'hook' ✓
- A speech's tone refers to its
- mood or feeling. ✓
- content and ideas.
- style and delivery.
- length and pace.
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- Deliver a speech to your classmates on why you should be elected to the student council? What is the form, purpose and audience of this task?
- Speech, to persuade, classmates ✓
- Speech, to inform, classmates
- Article, to explain, classmates
- Speech, to entertain, parents and teachers
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- Match these devices to the correct speech openings.
- Direct address⇔Fellow students, welcome to my speech on climate change ✓
- Rhetorical question⇔How can we stand idly by knowing our planet is in crisis? ✓
- Anecdote⇔I remember the white snow, blue skies and grey of the ocean. ✓
- What is the correct definition of posture? Here it is used in a sentence: 'She maintained excellent posture while giving her presentation.'
- the position in which someone holds their body when standing or sitting. ✓
- the body language someone has when delivering a speech.
- the way a speaker makes the audience feel.
- the words, phrases and language a speaker uses.
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- What is the correct definition of the word 'gesture'? Here it is used in a sentence: 'She made a warm gesture as she welcomed the crowd'.
- a movement of the body, usually performed to express an idea or meaning. ✓
- the position in which a person delivers speech.
- anything non-verbal that a person does when speaking.
- the general emotional state of a person giving a speech.
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Exit quiz
- What is being described here? A movement of the body, usually performed to express an idea or meaning.
- Gesture ✓
- Rhetoric
- Eye contact
- Tone
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- Tone generally refers to what in a speech?
- Mood and feeling ✓
- Volume and speed
- Quality and depth
- Humour and seriousness
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- The changes in the highness and lowness of your voice. What is being described here?
- 'Pitch' ✓
- 'The car pulls into the drive. We park. I can only be feeling one thing. Hometicipation.' The end to this speech uses lots of short sentences. What effect does this have?
- It builds the tension to the reveal of the word. ✓
- It makes the audience more excited.
- It is typical to structure anecdotes in this way.
- It makes it more engaging as the sentence length is varied.
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- Which of the statements best describes how eye contact should be used in a speech?
- Varyingly, with your gaze surveying your audience in a general way. ✓
- Sparingly, barely looking at your audience at all.
- Intensely, focusing in on just one member of the audience.
- Rarely, you should mainly be looking at your notes.
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- When delivering a speech my posture should be...
- upright and confident. ✓
- relaxed and informal.
- slouched and timid.
- rigid and imposing.
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Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Body language and eye contact support the successful delivery of a speech.
- Pace, pitch and tone can help to emphasise important words.
- Gesture and posture can be used to engage the audience and to add emphasis to important points.
- Spoken language often needs to be slower than feels natural.
- Speeches are much more engaging when the speaker does not simply read off a page.
Common misconception
That students should constantly be changing the pitch of their voice when speaking.
Pitch is an effective tool when delivering speeches. It should be used to make a speech more engaging and shouldn't be used arbitrarily.
Keywords
Posture - Posture refers to the position in which you are sitting or standing.
Gesture - A gesture is a movement of the body, usually performed to express an idea or meaning.
Pitch - Pitch refers to the relative highness and lowness of voice when speaking.
Tone - A speech’s tone refers to its overall mood or feeling.
Pace - When given a speech, pace refers to the speed at which you are saying the words.
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