Speeches
Sharing an updated resource from our lesson library that is simple and works.
I’ve taught public speaking to many different types of students; business professionals, teachers, college students, teens, children. One thing that it all boils down to, whoever it is, is giving them, the students, the chance to practice and succeed in speaking English in front of people, strangers.
Time on their feet, facing others, communicating.
One way to achieve that is to keep the writing of the speeches to a minimum and focus on the delivery, the practicing of the skills of public speaking. I couldn’t find a book that did that - so what does a poor teacher do in this situation? Well, write/create your own.
Speeches Made Easy can work for many different ages and levels of students and use each speech in this simple way.
Model the speech by delivering it yourself.
Show the students the pptx version and read through the speech together. Just edit to add your own information.
Students use the speech template to fill in the information, personalizing it and quickening, easing the writing process. Teacher circulates and helps as necessary.
Students practice reading their speech in small groups. Rotate as necessary.
Students using cue cards, come to the front to the class and practice their speech to an audience. If too difficult, students can bring their whole speech to the front.
Repeat as necessary.
Often, I’ll have one speech assigned as a test and use the rubric included in the book to give feedback to each student. Even better to film this presentation - students will rise to the occassion. Here is a student example (used with permission).
Take a look at our many other fine public speaking materials available in the lesson library. Also, check under the tag “presentations”
For adv. students - see our coursebook of Famous Speeches. Also, there are many templates including those for persuasive speeches (probably the easiest kind of speech to use for practice).