Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

My name is Mr. Brown, and I'm going to be your teacher for this English lesson on spoken language, and we're really focusing on sharing our opinion, and I'll explain what opinions are in this lesson, but we're going to be doing it using a loud voice, so loudly sharing our opinions today.

Sounds like a fun lesson.

Let's get started.

So the outcome for today's lesson is I can share an opinion by speaking loudly and clearly.

I can share an opinion by speaking loudly and clearly.

And here are the two keywords we'll be using today: opinion, audience.

Let's say those together.

My turn first and then your turn.

I'll say it, and then when I gesture like this it's your turn to repeat after me.

Opinion.

Very good.

Audience.

Excellent work.

The lesson outline for our lesson on sharing an opinion by speaking loudly and clearly, we will start focusing on sharing an opinion, then we will move our lesson onto speaking loudly and clearly, which I am sure you are great at.

So sharing an opinion.

I have a question for you.

What is your favourite colour? What is your favourite colour? Have a think.

Oh, I've got another question.

Who is the funniest person you know? Think about that one.

This time, if you have someone with you, you can tell them who the funniest person you know is.

Okay, how about this question? Where is the best place to visit on holiday? Of all the places in the world, where do you think is the best place to visit on holiday? Could be somewhere you've been, could be somewhere you haven't but you'd like to go to.

Three questions.

Did you have an answer to any of those questions? Did answers pop into your head? Did you share any of those answers out loud with people around you? Well, if you did, that answer could also be called your opinion.

Can you say it with me? Opinion.

Very good.

The answer to those questions was your opinion.

What you thought when I asked you a question, that's your opinion.

An opinion is what a person thinks or believes.

And you have lots of opinions, and I'm sure when I asked you those questions, answers popped into your head and they are your opinions.

So let's check your understanding on our lesson so far.

What is an opinion? Is it A, what a person is called; B, what a person thinks or believes; or C, what a person says? What is an opinion? Is it what a person's called? If you think that's the answer, you would put A.

Is it what a person thinks or believes? If that's the answer, it's B.

Or C is what a person says.

I would like you to pause the video and decide A, B or C, what is an opinion? Over to you.

Very good, and welcome back.

So what is an opinion? What a person is called is A.

Well, an opinion is not what a person is called.

That would be their name.

Like my name is Mr. Brown.

So we're left with B or C.

What a person says and what a person thinks or believes.

Well, what a person says is too wide, it's too vague.

Lots of things people say, so it's not C.

It's B, what a person thinks or believes is called their opinion.

Well done if you got that correct.

Everybody has opinions and it's good to share them with your friends, people at home, and teachers at school.

Sharing your opinion means telling someone else what you think.

Sharing your opinion simply means telling someone else what you think.

Can you think of any opinions that you've shared recently? Have a think.

Who might you have shared an opinion with, somebody at home, a friend in the playground at school, or a teacher? Did you tell them what you think about something? That's an opinion.

Let's take a look at some different opinions.

What do you notice about them? Here's an opinion.

I think dogs are the best pets.

That's an opinion.

My favourite food is pizza.

That's an opinion.

I believe that orange is the best colour.

That's an opinion.

Three different opinions.

You might agree with them, you might disagree with them, but what can you notice about the three opinions I've showed you? An opinion belongs to the person sharing it.

And you can see each of these opinions starts with either I or my.

The person owns their opinion.

It belongs to them.

It may be shared by someone else, they may have the same opinion, but it still belongs to that person.

I think dogs are the best pets.

I believe that orange is the best colour.

My favourite food is pizza.

Your opinions belong to you.

A speaker who use words like I or my to show that the opinion is theirs.

Let's check our understanding.

Which two of these words would someone use at the start when sharing there opinion? Is it A, I; B, they; C, you; or D, my? I, they, you, my.

Which two of these words would someone use at the start when sharing their opinion? Pause the video now and have a go yourself.

Over to you.

And welcome back.

Okay, let's see if you were right.

So we know that an opinion belongs to the person who is sharing it, so we need belonging words.

I is one of those.

Now, they is not because they is talking about another group of people, they.

You is a person talking about someone else.

My is a belonging word.

It belongs to them.

If I say this is my pen, then that pen belongs to me.

Well done if you got that correct.

It's time for a practise task.

I would like you to have a go at sharing your opinions in front of an audience.

Now, an audience is a group of people gathered together to watch a performance or listen to a speaker.

Now, you are going to be that speaker sharing your opinions.

Use any of these topics to help you think of an opinion and then share it by standing up and telling someone.

It might be in your classroom, and the class could be your audience, but it could also be at home and people at home could be your audience.

The best school trip ever is the first topic that you may choose to form an opinion about.

I am not telling you what the best school trip ever is, in my opinion.

I'm leaving it for you to decide, so that will be then your opinion.

My favourite colour, the greatest TV show, the best superhero, and my favourite food.

These are your topics.

And I'm sure as you saw each of those, you thought, "Ah yes, I have a favourite colour.

"I know what my favourite food is.

"I know who I think the best superhero is." Well, these are all your opinions, and your job in this task is simply to share them.

So I would like you to pause the video and have a go at sharing your opinion now.

And welcome back.

I am sure you had a brilliant time sharing all your interesting opinions.

Let's have a look at some examples.

The best school trip ever, this is the first topic, and an example of an opinion is, "I think the best school trip ever would be to the zoo." So this person thinks that the best school trip ever would be to the zoo.

That is their opinion.

My favourite colour is the next topic.

My favourite colour is blue.

"My favourite colour is blue," that's an opinion.

I wonder if you agree with that opinion or you disagree with it.

Maybe your favourite colour is red, in which case you disagree with that opinion.

My favourite food is pasta.

The topic is my favourite food and the opinion is, "My favourite food is pasta." Well done if you shared your opinions.

Let's move on to the next part of our lesson outline, which is speaking loudly and clearly.

An audience is the name for a group of people gathered together to watch a performance or event.

In this case, the event is you speaking.

There are lots of times when we might be performing for an audience or be part of the audience watching a performance.

So I'm sure at school you've been part of an audience before, and I wonder if you've performed for an audience before.

Here's some examples.

Productions and shows.

Concerts, so people playing instruments for an audience.

Assemblies.

We've all been to assemblies at school I'm sure, and we are part of the audience watching the assembly, watching someone perform or watching someone receive an award.

We are the audience.

Debates and competitions.

So debates are when two teams have an argument about something, a structured argument, and you'll learn about those when you're older.

And competitions, we might have been a part of an audience for that.

Let's check our understanding.

What is the name for the group of people gathered together to watch a performance? Is it A, class; B, team; or C, audience? Please pause the lesson and decide for yourself now.

And welcome back.

It is A, B, and C, that's our options, so let me remind you of the question.

What is the name for the group of people gathered together to watch a performance? A, class.

Well, it might be that your class have been gathered together to watch a performance.

I'm sure that's happened before at school.

It might be that your class is the audience for a particular event or something at school that's happening, but class is not what we would call them.

They would then become the audience.

So C is the correct answer.

That's what we're looking for.

Well done if you got that one right.

How did it feel to share your opinion in front of an audience? Earlier in this lesson, I asked you to share your opinion in front of an audience.

How did that make you feel? Take a moment to think.

How did you feel when you stood up and shared your opinion in front of an audience? Standing up and speaking in front of an audience can make some people feel nervous.

I'm sure this is a word you've heard before, nervous.

It means the same as anxious and it means a bit worried about something, usually worried about something that maybe hasn't happened yet or might happen.

The more often we speak publicly, which means in front of people, the more confident we all will become.

Public speaking, so speaking in front of an audience, is a skill that we have to learn.

Exactly the same as being able to kick a football, or write an amazing story, or do division or multiplication in maths, they are skills we have to learn, and it's the same when we speak publicly.

How did it feel to listen to people sharing their opinions when you were part of an audience? So we flipped it round now, haven't we? We've asked how you felt when you were speaking, when you were sharing your opinion, but how did it feel when you were listening, when you were part of the audience? Did you find it difficult to hear some people? That can be very frustrating when we're in an audience.

I've been to the theatre before and sometimes you can't hear one of the performers clearly and you're straining to listen, trying your best, and it's frustrating.

Often when we are nervous, because we are speaking in front of an audience, we talk more quietly and not as clearly.

Let's check our understanding.

What may somebody do when they are nervous and speaking in front of an audience? Is it A, speak loudly and clearly; B, speak quietly and not as clearly; or C, speak very slowly? What do you think A, B, or C? Pause the video now and decide for yourself.

And welcome back.

Okay, so A, B, or C? What may somebody do when they are nervous and speaking in front of an audience? Well, when they're nervous, they're not going to speak loudly and clearly because maybe that takes confidence and perhaps they don't have that confidence yet.

C, said speak very slowly tends to be when people are nervous they want to rush through to try and get off the stage or away from the people that they are speaking to, so the answer was B.

Sometimes when people are nervous, they speak quietly and not as clearly because their confidence is a bit fragile.

Well done if you said B.

Speaking loudly and clearly is very important at all times, but especially when speaking in front of an audience.

It is difficult for the audience to hear or understand what we are saying.

We can't have an impact on them, which is something a speaker is trying to do.

If we're quiet, the audience won't be able to hear and then we can't have an impact on them.

If the audience can't hear, we can't achieve what we're trying to do when we're speaking to them, which is to have an impact on them, to make them think and listen to us.

Speaking loudly and clearly is a skill that we can learn and practise.

There are a few important things to try and do when you are speaking in front of an audience to be a successful speaker.

Sounds like a superhero name, doesn't it, successful speaker? That's what we are aiming for, to be successful speakers.

Standing up straight.

So simple but so important.

When we stand up straight to speak to an audience, it tells them that we are doing this, this is not normal.

This is a serious thing that we're doing.

It's a bit special.

We don't do that in the playground.

If we're sitting on a bench talking to our friends, we don't stand up straight, do we, every time that we speak? But if we do that in front of an audience, it will tell them that this is a special thing we're doing.

Keep your feet flat on the floor.

Very important.

Lots of times when we're nervous our feet might shuffle from side to side, and that can be distracting for an audience.

So stand up straight, keep your feet flat on the floor.

Speak louder than you normally would.

Everybody tends to go a little bit quiet when they're nervous, and you will be nervous speaking in front of an audience, so push through that, be brave, be confident, and speak loudly.

Go louder than you think you should.

Sometimes when I am working with children and asking them to speak louder and louder, they are thinking they are shouting.

I say, "Shout at me." And all they do actually is speak at the correct volume they should do.

So go past what you think is loud and you will achieve the right volume, I promise.

Move your lips to clearly make all the sounds in the words you are saying.

It is very difficult for an audience to understand what you are saying if you are not moving your lips very much.

If we don't move our lips, it can be hard for the audience to understand what we are saying.

So move your lips and be extra clear.

That clarity will help the audience to understand exactly what you're saying, even if they're sitting right at the back of the hall.

Let's check our understanding.

Which two of these are important things to do when speaking in front of an audience: A, keep smiling; B, walk around; C, stand up straight; or D, move your lips to clearly make all the sounds in the words you are saying? A, B, C, or D, what do you think? Pause the video and choose two of these now.

And welcome back.

So let's go through these.

A, keep smiling.

Now, it is important that an audience can see you are enjoying sharing your opinion, so there will be times when you smile.

Particularly at the start in that first moment, we want the audience to see, ah, this person is comfortable on stage sharing their opinion.

They look happy about it.

So that might be when you do a smile, but you do not need to keep smiling through the whole of the time you are speaking.

If you are constantly smiling when you are speaking, it might be a bit hard for you to get your lips around all the sounds that need to be made and for you to emphasise certain points.

So it's not A.

B, walk around.

If you are constantly walking around when you are speaking, that will be distracting to the audience.

They'll be thinking, "Why is that person walking around so much?" We want them to be focusing on what we are saying, listening to our words.

So keep our feet flat on the floor, stand up straight, that's what we're aiming for.

So we know there are two correct answers, so they must be C and D.

Stand up straight and move your lips clearly to make all the sounds in the words you are saying.

Well done if you chose C and D.

Let's have a go at a practise task.

I would like you to have a go at sharing your opinions again in front of an audience.

However, this time you must really focus on doing all the things needed to be a successful speaker.

Let me remind you of those.

Standing up straight.

Really ensure you are standing up straight when you're speaking.

Keep your feet flat on the floor, no shuffling around.

Speak louder than you normally would.

I want you to project your voice.

Move your lips.

Make sure that we hear every single sound in every single word.

You could use any of these topics to give you an idea for an opinion to share, or I am more than happy for you to come up with your own.

Here are the topics.

The greatest game ever.

So you could tell us about what you think is the greatest game ever.

My favourite lesson.

Tell us what your favourite lesson is at school.

And the best fruit to eat.

Which fruit is your favourite? Which is the best? So it's over to you.

Pause the video and have a go at sharing your opinion while focusing on all those things needed to be a successful speaker.

Over to you.

And welcome back.

Let's have a look at some examples.

So the greatest game ever.

I think the greatest game ever is Snakes and Ladders.

That's an opinion.

I wonder what you said for the greatest game ever.

My favourite lesson.

My favourite lesson is art.

I wonder what your favourite lesson was.

Was it PE? Was it maths? Or was it English, like the lesson we're doing right now? The best fruit to eat.

I think the best fruit to eat is pineapple.

Take a moment to reflect.

When you were speaking in front of an audience, did you stand up straight? Did you keep your feet flat on the floor? Did you speak louder than you normally would? This will take practise, so keep sharing your opinions, focusing on the things that are needed to be a successful speaker.

Let's summarise our learning.

Today's lesson was sharing an opinion by speaking loudly and clearly.

Things you think or believe are called your opinions.

An audience is a group of people listening or watching a performance or speaker.

Speaking loudly and clearly is important when talking in front of an audience.

Excellent work today everyone.

I look forward to seeing you again soon.