Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

It's Mr. Brown with your English lesson for today, and we are going to be unpicking what makes a successful speech, really trying to understand all the different features that come together to make a brilliant, effective speech.

So we've got a lot to do today.

Let's not waste any more time, and let's get started.

So the learning outcome for today's lesson is I can understand what features are often found in successful speeches and why they are used.

So we're going to be exploring all the different features that you'll find in a successful speech and understanding why they've been used.

The key words you'll need for today's lesson are features, repetition, rhetorical questions, that's features, repetition, rhetorical questions.

Let's have a look at the definitions for those words.

Features are the parts or characteristics that make something unique.

Repetition, well, that means doing or saying something over and over again.

And rhetorical questions, they are questions that do not require an answer.

All of these things will be looked at in detail in today's lesson.

The lesson outline for today's lesson on understanding the features of a successful speech, we're going to start by focusing on those features, looking in detail at all the different features that go together to make a successful speech.

In the second half of our lesson, we will then focus on rhetorical questions, which is one of the features.

Features of a successful speech.

Now features are the parts or characteristics that make something unique.

Knowing the features of something can be a way to work out what it is.

For example, the features of a football match might be players, a ball, goals, fans, grass.

All of these things, if you saw together, you'd think, ah, I must be watching a football match.

Let's check your understanding.

Desks, chairs, a carpet, a board, a book corner, and pegs are all features of what? A, a playground, B, a cinema, or C, a classroom.

Desks, chairs, a carpet, a board, a book corner, and pegs are all features of what? Please pause the lesson and make your decision now.

And welcome back.

So I wanted to check if you understood what features actually were, and I gave you a list of features.

They were desks, chairs, a carpet, a board, a book corner, and pegs.

They're all features of what? A playground, a cinema, a classroom.

Absolutely, well done if you said a classroom, C.

You wouldn't find desks in a playground or a board or a book corner.

I don't think you'd find many of those things in a cinema.

You'd find chairs, but not pegs.

But a classroom has all of those.

They are all features of a classroom.

So well done if you've got that correct.

A great speech could contain many features that made it successful.

To be successful, a speech must have an impact on the audience.

It might persuade them to agree with the speaker, it could inform them or educate them.

It could provoke an emotional response and it could even entertain them, or make them laugh.

To have an impact on an audience, a speaker may choose to use some of the features that often make successful speeches.

There have been many famous speeches in history, and these features are ones that can be commonly found in lots of them.

A speaker does not need to use all of these, but can select some to help them have an impact on the audience.

True or false, a speaker must always use all the features of a successful speech.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the lesson and decide for yourself now.

And welcome back.

So true or false, a speaker must always use all of the features.

No, it is false, but let's justify that answer.

The features should all be used to have maximum impact on the audience, or some of the features can be used, but there is no requirement to use them all.

What do you think, A or B? Pause the lesson and decide how you would justify your answer.

And welcome back.

So justifying our answer, well done if you gave the answer B.

Some of the features can be used, but there's no requirement to use them all.

Features are all the different parts that will make up a successful speech.

And trying to squeeze them all into every single speech may actually prove to be more difficult than using some of them more effectively.

Well done if you've got that correct.

Let's take a look at the features of a successful speech.

It all starts with a clear purpose.

The speaker needs to know what they want to talk about and what impact they want to have on the audience.

The speaker must be clear on their purpose before they start writing their speech.

Rhetorical questions.

Rhetorical questions are questions that do not require an answer, and that's appropriate in a speech because if the speaker were to ask a question to the audience and everybody in the audience were to try and respond, that would be very difficult to be able to hear what each person was saying.

So that's why questions asked in a speech are rhetorical questions.

Anecdotes.

Anecdotes are short stories.

They can definitely add some depth to a speech, some personality.

Facts and statistics.

Facts and statistics are an excellent way to try and get the audience to agree with you, to persuade them.

It is very hard to argue against facts and statistics.

Quotations.

Quotations are direct quotes that somebody might say, things that someone has said to you that you might remember.

You could use them in your speech as a quotation.

Repetition.

Repetition comes from the word repeating to be able to do something over and over again.

And we're going to look at how we can use repetition in our speech.

Addressing the audience.

The speech should directly address the audience.

It should talk to them and make the audience feel like the speech has been written for them.

And lastly, provoking an emotional response.

A good speech will have an impact on the audience.

A great speech will provoke an emotional response.

It will make them feel however the speaker wants 'em to feel.

We will look at that as well.

Let's check your understanding.

Which two of these are features of a successful speech.

Which two of these are features of a successful speech? Is it A length, B, repetition, C, colourful images, or D, rhetorical questions.

A, B, C, or D? You are choosing two.

Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's see if you found the two features of a successful speech.

So it's not A, length.

The length of a speech is irrelevant to how successful it is.

It might be a long speech, it might be a short speech.

It doesn't matter.

Colourful images.

Well, we don't often use images in speeches.

Sometimes people might have images to support their their speech, but it's quite rare and we will not be looking at that in our lessons.

So well done if you said B and D, repetition and rhetorical questions.

Repetition means doing or saying something over and over again.

This can be a useful technique in a speech as it can emphasise something and make certain points or ideas more memorable.

Repeating the first part of a sentence can be an effective way to use repetition in a speech.

Here is an example from a speech entitled Why Books are Better than Movies.

So that's the title of the speech, Why Books are Better than Movies.

And here is the example.

"I believe that books are better than movies because the reader can use their own imagination.

Books have the power to transport the reader anywhere in the world.

Books have the power to delve into the mind of interesting characters.

Books have the power to ignite the imagination of children and adults alike." So you can see in the opening of my speech, which is entitled Why Books are Better than Movies, I have used repetition.

I have repeated the first part of a sentence three times.

Books have the power, books have the power, books have the power.

That's what I'm focusing on.

"Books have the power to transport the reader anywhere in the world.

Books have the power to delve into the mind of interesting characters.

Books have the power to ignite the imagination of children and adults alike." And the key phrase that's repeated is books have the power.

My whole speech is describing why books are better than movies.

So therefore, the phrase books have the power is great because it's so complimentary.

It's a positive phrase towards books.

Let's check your understanding.

Why is repetition an effective technique to use when making a speech? A, it creates confusion by repeating things.

B, it increases the speech's length.

Or C, it helps to emphasise something.

A, B, or C.

Pause the video and decide now.

welcome back.

So let's see, was it A, was it B, or was it C? Why is repetition an effective technique to use when making a speech? Because it helps to emphasise something.

It might increase the speeches length, but as we've said before, that is irrelevant.

It creates confusion.

Well it shouldn't create confusion by repeating things, you are emphasising something by repeating.

Time for a task for you.

I would like you to write down as many of the features of a successful speech as you can.

Earlier in today's lesson, we looked at all the different features that make a successful speech.

Your task now is to remember them.

How many have you remembered? Pause the video and try and write down all the features of a successful speech now.

And welcome back.

Okay, not easy because this is the first lesson that we've looked at these, so I will be really impressed if you've got any more than three or four or five, that would be amazing.

Let's have a look at the answers and you can tick yours off as we go.

The features of a successful speech are a clear purpose, rhetorical questions, anecdotes, facts and statistics, quotations, repetition, addressing the audience, and provoking an emotional response.

Well done if you were able to get any of those.

That's amazing.

If you missed any, this is a great opportunity for you to pause the video and finish writing these down so you have a full complete list of all the features of a successful speech.

Well done.

Let's go back to our lesson outline.

We are now moving on from looking at all the different features in a successful speech to focusing on one.

And that one feature is rhetorical questions.

Rhetorical questions are different to regular questions because there is not an expectation that someone will answer.

In a speech, this is an excellent technique to use to create a feeling among the audience that the speaker is directly addressing them.

Asking the audience a rhetorical question can be an effective way to start a speech.

So this is a great technique to use throughout your speech, but can also be very effective when starting.

A rhetorical question will immediately spark the audience's interest as they think about the answer to the question in their heads.

We know rhetorical questions are not to be answered out loud, but if you ask someone a question, they can't help but to think about the answer in their heads.

If I say to you what is the tallest animal? You can't help but start thinking, oh, I wonder, is it a giraffe? That's because that's what our brains are trained to do with questions, and it's exactly the same with rhetorical questions.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false, using a rhetorical question is an effective way to start a speech, true or false? Pause the lesson now and decide.

And welcome back.

True or false then, a rhetorical question is an effective way to start a speech.

Yes it is, it's true.

Well done if you said that.

Let's justify our answer.

A, rhetorical questions can confuse the audience, or B, rhetorical questions can spark the audience's interest.

How would you justify that answer being true? Pause the lesson and decide A or B.

Okay, and welcome back.

Let's see if you were right.

Well done if you said B, rhetorical questions can spark the audience's interest.

They would not confuse the audience.

There is an expectation that they would not answer back.

The audience would pick that up, therefore it wouldn't become confusing and they wouldn't start thinking oh, I need to answer this question back.

Repetition and rhetorical questions can be combined to make a very effective start to a speech.

A speaker will want to spark the audience's interest straight away and asking several questions that are worded similarly can be a good way to do this.

Here's an example from a speech entitled Why Super Strength is the Best Power.

So the title of my speech, the topic of this speech is why Super Strength is the best Power.

Let's look at an example.

"Have you ever wanted to be a superhero? Have you ever wanted to fly through the sky or spin powerful webs? Have you ever wanted to have X-ray vision? Of course you have, because these are amazing powers to have! But which one is the best? I am here today to talk to you about why super strength is actually the best superhero power of all." So you can see, let's have a look at this in detail.

The start of this speaker's speech, they use the phrase, have you ever wanted to start three different rhetorical questions.

Here it is, "have you ever wanted to be a superhero? Have you ever wanted to fly through the sky or spin powerful webs? Have you ever wanted to have X-ray vision?" These three rhetorical questions hook the audience's interest in.

They can't help but do want answer them.

A really effective tool to use at the start of a speech.

Where in a speech can combining repetition and rhetorical questions be very effective? At the start, in the middle, or at the end? Where in a speech can combining repetition and rhetorical questions be very effective? Start, middle, or end? Pause the video and decide now.

And welcome back everyone.

Let's see if you were right.

Was it the start, the middle, or the end? It was the start.

Congratulations if you got that correct.

Starting your speech with some rhetorical questions repeated, so the type of question repeated several times can be a very effective way.

Okay, now it's over to you and a practise task.

And this practise task is split into number one and number two.

The first part is you need to use three rhetorical questions at the start of a speech to spark the audience's interest.

So I'm looking for the start of your speech here, and I want to see three rhetorical questions.

That would mean that they were repeated examples of repetition.

You can choose one of the following speech titles to use.

Why my school is the best, the greatest sport ever, why I love my family.

So your job is to write the opening of one of these speeches using three rhetorical questions at the start to spark the audience's interest.

Pause the lesson and have a go.

Okay, and welcome back.

Let's take a look at my example, and I chose the title of my speech to be Why my school is the best.

"Do you feel proud to attend your school? Do you feel excited to take part in interesting lessons? Do you feel grateful to be taught by creative teachers? I know I certainly do! I believe my school is the best because of all these reasons and more!" And as you can see in my speech, I have used three rhetorical questions at the start to spark the audience's interest.

They all start with, do you feel? Do you feel proud? Do you feel excited? Do you feel grateful? Proud, excited, and grateful are all positive words to use to try and create this positive feeling around my school because that's the impact I want to have on the audience.

I want them to understand why my school is the best.

Well done if you managed to write three rhetorical questions at the start of your speech.

Now we have a second part.

What I would like you to do is focus on delivering the opening you've just written.

So you've written it, now, it's now turn time to focus on delivering.

Use the opening sentences you've written containing rhetorical questions and practise delivering this out loud to an audience.

Focus on speaking loudly, clearly, maintaining eye contact, and using the repetitive rhetorical questions to engage the audience as quickly as you can.

So I'd like you to pause the video and have a go at delivering the opening you've just written to an audience.

If you are on your own watching this lesson at home, then you can deliver it out loud to yourself or in front of the mirror.

This could be a good way to practise.

Over to you.

And welcome back.

I would love to share with you now another example that I will deliver.

So the speech title is The Greatest Sport Ever.

"Do you enjoy fast-paced sports? Do you love to see talented drivers competing? Do you get excited by watching thrilling races? I know, I certainly do and that's why I believe that Formula One racing is the best sport ever for all these reasons and more!" Again, you can see I've used my three rhetorical questions, this time starting with, do you, do you enjoy, do you love, do you get excited? Great way to engage the audience straight away.

Let's summarise our learning from today's lesson.

To be successful, a speech must have an impact on the audience.

There are many different features that make a successful speech.

Repetition can be a useful technique in a speech as it can emphasise something and make certain points or ideas more memorable.

Asking the audience rhetorical questions can be an effective way to start a speech.

Excellent work today, everyone.

Well done.

I will see you again soon.