Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

My name's Mrs. Riley, and I'll be teaching you this lesson today.

In our lesson today, we will be focusing on speaking to an audience.

So I hope you've got your loud speaking voices ready and I hope you are ready to enjoy this learning with me.

Let's get started.

The outcome of our lesson today is to understand what is involved in successful public speaking.

These are our key words for our lesson today.

That means they're going to be really important for our learning.

I'm going to say each one and I'd like you to repeat it back to me and then I'll give you the definition.

So our first word is audience.

And again, audience.

Well done.

So an audience is a group of people listening to, or watching a performance or speaker.

The next key word is public speaking.

Public speaking.

Well done.

Public speaking is talking in front of a group of people.

And finally, orator.

Orator.

Thank you.

An orator is someone who is good at public speaking.

So in our lesson today, we have two learning cycles.

First, we are going to be focusing on speaking in front of others, how to do it successfully, how it might feel, what you feel about it.

And secondly, we're going to look at becoming a strong public speaker.

So let's start off by thinking about speaking in front of others.

Speaking is a primary form of communication.

We can communicate just by our facial expression or by writing letters, but speaking is one of the key ways that we communicate with each other.

And we use it as part of everyday life, when we have conversations with others, when we share information, and when we ask questions.

There are occasions when we speak in front of a group of others, and this is called speaking to an audience.

So an audience is a group of people listening to, or watching a performance or speaker.

The type of word is a noun because it's a thing, it's a group of people listening to, or watching a performance or speaker.

I'm sure you've all been part of an audience at some point in your lives.

And that's what we're going to discuss now.

I would like you to think of a time when you have spoken in front of an audience.

So first, we're focusing on when you have been the person speaking in front of an audience.

So if not, think of a time when you were an audience member while someone else was speaking.

So can you think of a time when you've spoken in front of an audience? Or if not, can you think of a time when you've been part of an audience? I'd like you to pause the video now and discuss this with somebody sitting next to you.

Okay, great.

Well done.

I heard lots of different ideas.

So someone said, "I spoke in front of an audience when I received a certificate." Somebody else said, "I spoke in front of an audience when I read my writing to my class." And somebody else said, "I listened to my head teacher giving an assembly at school." So two are two examples there of when somebody spoke in front of an audience, and one example of someone being part of an audience and listening to someone speaking or giving a performance.

Now there are some important things to remember when speaking in front of an audience.

I would like you to discuss what do you think makes a successful speaker? So imagine someone was going to walk into the room right now and give a speech to all of you.

What would they have to do to make that speech successful? Could you pause the video and talk to your partner now? Okay, well done.

Again, I heard some brilliant ideas there.

So here are some top tips to help you be a successful speaker.

Stand up to speak.

It always helps rather than sitting down, if you stand up tall when you are speaking in front of an audience.

It helps you to project your voice and it helps you to look authoritative and important.

Speak in a loud, clear voice.

Otherwise people won't be able to hear what you're saying.

Always speak in full sentences.

And finally, make eye contact with the audience.

So even if you are reading from some notes, which lots of people do, rather than just reading like this and never looking up, try and look up and get eye contact with the audience when you can.

A person may speak to an audience for a variety of reasons and we call this public speaking.

What do we call it? Public speaking.

That's right.

The main purpose of public speaking is to inform the audience about something.

So to teach them or inform them about something, or to impact their thoughts and actions.

So maybe it might be to make them think about something or change their thoughts and actions about something.

So here are some examples of public speaking, delivering an assembly, educational talks.

So you might go to a talk where someone is giving some, doing public speaking about something that you are trying to learn about.

So for example, it might be an educational talk about climate change, and all the people in the audience might want to learn more about climate change.

Persuasion on a topic.

And speeches.

So quite often people give speeches, sometimes in an informal way, even at like a party or something.

Someone might get everyone's attention and give a speech about the person whose party it is.

So let's check your understanding so far.

What is the main purpose of public speaking? Is it to A, ask the audience lots of questions? Is it B, to inform the audience about something? Is it C, to impact the audience's thoughts and actions? Or is it D, to have a conversation with the audience? There might be more than one answer.

Pause the video now and answer this question.

What is the main purpose of public speaking? Well done.

There were two correct answers and they were B and C.

The main purpose of public speaking is to inform the audience about something or impact the audience's thoughts and actions.

So now I'd like you to discuss how might someone feel before speaking in front of others.

Imagine all of the school is gathered in an assembly and you are going up to speak to all of the school about something.

How might you feel just before you start speaking? Could you pause the video and chat with your partner now? Okay, well done.

So maybe someone might say, I feel really nervous before speaking in front of an audience and I get a bit shaky.

That definitely happens to me.

I sometimes even feel like my hands are shaking.

Sometimes my paper wobbles, but also sometimes my voice feels a little bit shaky.

Somebody else might say, I feel a mix of nerves and excitement.

And once I'm talking, it feels better.

So that's quite uncommon as well that you might feel nervous, but also some people really enjoy speaking in front of others.

So maybe nerves and excitement.

It's really normal to feel nervous before speaking in public, but there are strategies that can help us with our nerves.

So I think if you asked a group of people, do you feel nervous before speaking in front of others? I think probably more people would say yes than no.

So it's really, really normal.

So if you feel a bit nervous before you speak to other people, don't worry, it's not strange.

It's actually very normal to feel those, to have those feelings of nerves.

But the good thing is there are strategies that can help us.

So now we're going to discuss, do you have any strategies that help to reduce your nerves? So if you are feeling really nervous, what can you do to bring those feelings down, before speaking in front of others? So could you turn now to your partner and discuss if you have any strategies? Pause the video now.

Okay, well done.

I heard some really useful tips there.

Thank you.

So here are some ideas.

First strategy is to know your topic confidently.

If you don't really know what you are going to say, if you are a bit underprepared, of course you are going to feel nervous.

But if you feel like you know what you are going to say, you know your topic and you feel confident, that is going to help reduce your nerves.

Rehearse what you are going to say.

So practise, practise, practise.

You can do breathing exercises before speaking.

Breathing exercises will really calm you down.

You could have a calming routine before speaking.

Maybe there's something you can do that makes you feel really calm before speaking.

For example, you might do some stretches or some breathing.

Visualise someone trusted in the audience.

So picture someone who makes you feel really safe and comfortable.

And then imagine that you are talking to them in the audience.

Use positive affirmations to boost your confidence.

For example, you might in your head say to yourself over and over, I'm confident and prepared and my words have value.

I'm confident and prepared and my words have value.

You might say that to yourself over and over, to boost your confidence.

So I would like you now to discuss how could you ease your nerves before speaking in front of others.

So you are going to discuss this.

You are going to, with a partner.

Here's a sentence scaffold.

I could ease my nerves before public speaking by, and then think of those strategies that we've just gone through.

Could you pause the video now? Well done.

So you might have said taking deep breaths.

I know this helps me to feel calmer and more present, or visualising my family in the audience.

This helps me feel supported.

So now for your task, I would like you to discuss with your partner how do you feel about speaking in front of others and why.

So we're not just saying how we feel, we're also giving a reason why.

I enjoy public speaking because, I find public speaking challenging because, my experience with public speaking depends on, so here are some sentence scaffolds to help you if you need them.

So make sure you are taking turns to speak and listen.

And the question you are answering is, how do you feel about speaking in front of others and why? And remember, however you feel about it is okay, we're all different so we're all gonna feel differently about it and that's okay.

So just try to be honest.

How do you feel about it and why? Pause the video now.

Okay, lovely.

Let's come back together.

Well, I heard some really good discussions there and it's so interesting hearing how you all feel about speaking in front of others.

So I heard someone saying, "My experience with public speaking depends on how prepared I am.

If I know the topic I'm speaking about well, then I feel much more confident.

Practise is key." I feel quite similar to you actually.

I think I feel that.

As long as I'm prepared, I don't feel too bad.

I heard someone else saying, "I enjoy public speaking because it feels like a challenge to captivate the audience.

I enjoy the performance elements involved in speaking to an audience." So someone who really loves speaking to an audience there.

And someone else said, "I find public speaking challenging because I feel quite nervous when lots of people are looking at me and I forget my words.

It helps when I find my friends, when my friends are in the audience." So lots of different opinions on how people might feel about public speaking.

And of course it's okay however you feel, they are just strategies that can help you if you are someone who finds it a little bit more nerve-wracking.

So we're going to move on now to our second learning cycle where we're going to focus on becoming a strong public speaker.

So someone who is good at public speaking is known as an orator, which was one of our keywords.

So could you discuss now what makes somebody a successful orator? So an orator is someone who's really good at public speaking.

So I'd like you to discuss what makes them successful, do you think? Could you pause the video and turn to your partner now? Okay, well done.

So I heard someone saying, "I think a successful orator needs to be able to stand in front of an audience confidently." Yeah, I agree.

And someone else said, "For someone to be a successful orator, I think the audience needs to feel really engaged." So they're really concentrating and listening.

They're not kind of getting bored and looking around for distractions.

So now I'd like you to discuss what kind of people need to be successful orators.

So consider which professions, which jobs, involve public speaking and explain why.

So think about all the different jobs and think about, or professions and think about what kinds of people have to be good or successful orators, good at public speaking and try to explain why.

So could you pause the video now while you have that discussion with your partner? Okay, lovely.

Let's come back together.

Wow, I heard so many different professions being mentioned there.

So here were some examples of what I heard.

Politicians, activists, who are people who actively work to bring about social or political change.

For example, you might be an activist who focuses on climate change.

So you might be trying to make people become more environmentally friendly.

Presenters, so on television, people who are presenting programmes would need to be good at public speaking.

Journalists, people you'd see on the news.

Educators like teachers have to be good at public speaking because they're speaking in front of groups of people all the time.

And finally, business people.

So these careers involve informing the audience about something or influencing their thoughts and actions.

And there are lots and lots more jobs of course that involve public speaking, but they were just some examples I heard you saying.

So later in this unit, you'll be analysing speeches.

So we'll be looking closely and discussing and trying to understand speeches from two famous orators.

The first one will be from Martin Luther King, who's an American civil rights activist.

And the other one is Michelle Obama, who's an attorney, an author, and the former first lady of the United States.

So a first lady is usually the wife of the president, but if the president was a man.

And an attorney is a bit like a lawyer.

So if somebody got into trouble, they know a lot about rules and laws and they might speak in a court to make sure everything is fair.

So two really important people, Martin Luther King and Michelle Obama.

One of them has died, Martin Luther King.

And Michelle Obama is still alive.

And we will be looking at two speeches of these famous orators and we will be analysing them.

So I would like you now to discuss, can you think of any other orators you know? We've just spoken about two, Martin Luther King and Michelle Obama.

Can you think of any others? It may help to consider the following, a politician.

Do you know the name of a politician who might be good at public speaking? Do you know any activists? For example, you might know a female activist who's very important in the world of climate change and looking after the environment.

Can you think of any presenters maybe on a television programme you watch? You might know the name of a presenter.

So could you pause the video now and discuss with your partner if you can think of any other orators you know? Okay, well done.

Let's have a look at some examples.

So you might have said a politician like Keir Starmer, who is a prime minister or he's a prime minister at the moment.

He might not be when you are watching this video.

And Barack Obama, who was the president in America.

An activist, you might have said Emmeline Pankhurst who formed and led the suffragettes, who helped British women win the right to vote.

Or you might have thought about Greta Thunberg? And presenters, David Attenborough, who presents television programmes a lot about the natural world, about animals and about our planet.

Or you might have thought about a presenter like Shanequa who presents the BBC Newsround? So you might have come up with lots of other examples, but there are some examples of orators who are really good public speakers.

So now let's take a look at different elements that make a successful orator.

So knowledge of the topic.

So whatever they're public speaking about, they have to know that topic really well to be successful.

That means that they will have a lot of information.

It means if anyone stopped and asked 'em a question, they would be able to answer it because they've got a really secure knowledge of the topic.

Rehearsal.

It's very important for anyone who's public speaking to rehearse or practise as much as possible.

Confidence and presence.

So we spoke earlier in the lesson about standing up straight, owning the room, having that confidence and that presence will really help you to be a successful orator.

If you are kind of standing in the corner or even facing down and you are sort of looking at the ground and maybe fiddling with your sleeve or something like that, then you are not perhaps looking as confident as you could do.

Personality and authenticity.

So showing your personality, not just being like a robot, but showing your personality will help.

And being authentic means being genuine and true to yourself.

So not pretending to be someone you are not.

Being charismatic and giving a persuasive delivery.

And charismatic will quickly go to this one now is someone who has a charm or appeal that attracts and influences others.

So that's what it means to be charismatic, charming and appealing, and then you'll be able to influence others.

And then finally finding a connection with the audience.

So you might not just imagining they're not there and just speaking out into an abyss and just not even acknowledging the audience, but trying to connect with the audience, perhaps with eye contact or speaking directly to members of the audience.

All of these things will help you to be a successful orator.

Okay, let's check your understanding.

Which of the following elements make a successful orator? A, staring at your notes as you speak.

B, connecting with the audience.

C, speaking in an unconfident manner.

D, a charismatic and persuasive delivery.

So which of the following make a successful orator? Pause the video now.

Okay, well done.

The correct answers are B, connecting with the audience, and D, a charismatic and persuasive delivery.

Well done if you manage to spot those.

So here is a reminder of the top tips to help you be a successful speaker.

Stand up to speak, speak in a loud, clear voice, speak in full sentences, make eye contact with the audience.

So remembering all those things, I'm now going to do an activity and then you are going to repeat the activity.

So first, it's my turn.

I'm going to read these sentences aloud.

I'm going to speak in a loud, clear voice.

I'm going to take five deep breaths before I start speaking.

That's gonna help to reduce my nerves.

Okay, so I'm going to read these sentences aloud in a loud, clear voice.

But first, I'm going to take five deep breaths.

Okay, here we go.

You can count with me.

One, (inhales) two, (inhales) three, (inhales) four, (inhales) and five.

(inhales) Wow, I feel so much calmer.

Okay, loud, clear voice.

Being kind to animals shows how caring we are.

When we treat animals nicely, we make them happy and healthy.

Okay, now it's your turn.

So you are going to read these sentences aloud.

They're exactly the same sentences that I just read.

Remember the top tips for being a successful speaker.

So standing up, looking at your audience.

And remember to use a strategy to reduce your nerves.

So I used the five deep breaths.

You might use that or you might use a positive affirmation or you might use something else.

So here we go.

Here are the sentences that you are going to read aloud when you've first used your strategy to reduce your nerves.

So pause the video and have a go at this now.

Okay, lovely.

Let's come back together.

Well done.

I loved watching different strategies there to reduce your nerves.

And I loved seeing lots of you, I could tell remembered those top tips like standing up, and trying to be really confident, practising , connecting with the audience, all those things have well done.

So it's now time for another task.

In this task, you are going to choose one short speech from the worksheet to read aloud.

You need to remember to use the top tips for successful speaking.

Choose a strategy to help reduce your nerves, for example, rehearse what you are going to say.

Do breathing exercises before speaking.

That always helps me.

Visualise someone trusted in the audience.

Maybe it might be your best friend.

Use positive affirmations to boost your confidence.

So try to remember all of those things if you feel you need to bring your nerves down a little bit before you give your speech.

So looking at the worksheet to choose one of the short speeches to read aloud, and remember all of your top tips for successful speaking.

And if you are unsure, those little images there might remind you how to be a successful speaker.

So good luck with this task.

Pause the video now.

Okay, lovely.

Let's come back together.

Well, I hope that you enjoyed that.

Giving speeches or reading out it a little, speech can feel quite nerve-wracking, but it also can make you feel quite proud.

So I hope you feel proud of yourselves and that you enjoyed that task.

Okay, so let's check.

Did we do the following? Did you stand up to speak? Did you speak in a loud, clear voice, so everyone could hear you? Did you speak in full sentences? Did you make eye contact with the audience? Did you remember to look up from the page to connect with your audience? Did you use a strategy to help reduce your nerves? So perhaps someone might say, I visualise my friend in the audience, which made me feel a lot more confident.

So could you just pause the video now and just take a moment to reflect on whether you did all those things and if you remember to use a strategy and perhaps you could even give yourself a little personal target for next time.

So for example, you might say, oh, I think I stood up, and spoke loud and clear and in full sentences, but I don't think I looked up enough to look at the audience.

So maybe that could be my target for next time.

So could you just spend a little bit of time reflecting and giving yourself a personal target? Pause the video now.

Okay, well done.

That brings us to the end of our lesson.

So let's summarise what we've learned today.

We've learned that speaking loudly and clearly is important when talking in front of an audience.

We've learned the main purpose of public speaking is to inform the audience about something or impact their thoughts or actions.

Strategies to reduce nerves include practise and calm breathing.

A good orator will engage their audience and deliver their speech in a charismatic and persuasive manner.

So hopefully this has been a really nice introduction to you in terms of speaking to an audience.

And hopefully you'll have a chance to practise this, perhaps this week you might have a chance to speak to an audience, even if it's just a small audience, like a group of classmates or something.

Hopefully you can try to remember our top tips from today and also try to remember those strategies before speaking to an audience to help you feel really calm and prepared.

So thank you so much for all your hard work today, and hopefully I'll see you for some more learning another time.

Bye.