Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

My name is Mr. Brown, and I am here with your English lesson for today, and we are going to be exploring speeches.

We'll be learning all about who are the type of people that make speeches, why they might make a speech, and why speeches are so important.

Lots to learn, let's get started.

So the outcome for today's lesson is I can explain what speeches are and why they are important.

The keywords which will help you with your learning are speech, opinion, justify, reasoning, and persuade.

Let's take a look at some definitions of these words.

A speech is the communication of someone's thoughts through words, to an audience.

An opinion is a view or a belief that a person has.

To justify an opinion means giving clear reasoning, and we will look at all of these in detail throughout the lesson.

Reasoning, or that is explaining why a person has a certain opinion, why they think the way they do.

And persuade.

Persuade means to convince or to make someone agree with you.

We'll be looking first of all at what are speeches, really trying to understand what speeches are, and then we'll move on to the purpose of a speech, why someone might stand up, and make a speech in front of an audience.

So let's start our learning looking at what are speeches.

A speech is the communication of someone's thoughts, through words, to an audience.

Speeches are made every day, all around the world, by lots and lots of different people.

Now, there are many different jobs that require someone to make a speech.

A politician is the example that lots of people think of.

You think of the prime minister making a speech to the country.

A teacher.

A teacher's job is full of making speeches to their class with the purpose of that speech trying to educate the children.

A business leader, so someone who works for a business might be trying to motivate their staff or to explain something, and they'll do that through a speech.

A sports coach.

All sports coaches have to make speeches to their teams. Speeches to explain tactics, speeches to motivate them to play the best they can.

There have been many famous sports coaches making speeches throughout history.

Presenters.

So on television, you might have a presenter who is making a speech and they are explaining something, or they are talking about particular interview that is about to happen, that would be a speech.

And a host.

Lots of award shows, and TV shows, and live events have hosts.

A person who will make a speech to introduce themselves and the event they might make a speech to close the event.

Speeches are made by lots of different people in lots of different jobs.

Let's check your understanding.

Politicians, teachers, and sports coaches may all do what in their different jobs? A, make lessons.

B, make recipes.

C, make speeches.

Pause the video, and decide your answer now.

And welcome back.

Congratulations, if you said, C, of course, making speeches.

We know that politicians, teachers, and sports coaches are all examples of people who in their jobs would make a speech.

There are also many occasions in life when a person might make a speech.

So we know there's jobs, but there's also occasions, events that people might go to where a speech might be made.

For example, at a wedding.

I'm sure that many of you have been to weddings, and there's a point in the wedding where everyone stops what they're doing, and they listen to someone make a speech.

It might be the father of the bride, or the groom, or anyone in the family that wants to make a speech, to share something, to share some information, to share stories, that will be a speech.

During a job interview, so when you have a job interview, you have to sell yourself.

You have to try and convince the person who is deciding whether to give you the job or not, that you are the right person for the job.

So you may make a speech, they might ask you to describe yourself, or to say what your best features are, and you would make a speech to try and convince them that you should get the job.

At an award ceremony.

I wonder if any of you have ever seen an award ceremony before.

It might be a big award ceremony with movie stars, where they're getting awards for their performances in movies.

It might be an award ceremony for footballers who are being crowned the best footballer of the year.

It might be an award ceremony at school, where people are being given different prizes, but sometimes, at an award ceremony, when you are given a prize, you have the opportunity to make a speech to thank the people that have helped you and to inspire others.

That's another example of a speech.

In a school assembly, of course.

I'm sure your head teacher when they're making a school assembly delivers lots of speeches.

They give you speeches that might motivate you to work harder, that might motivate you to reflect on your learning from the week.

They might give a speech about a piece of information, something they want to teach you about.

At home, this is a surprising one.

Can you think of an example when you've been at home and made a speech? What do you probably have? It might have been a speech to convince a family member to let you decide which movie you're going to watch tonight.

It might have been a speech to convince a family member what you would like to do at the weekend.

It might have been a speech to explain why you feel something should happen.

You probably have made speeches at home, too.

Any time that it is important for a person to share their thoughts or feelings, a speech might be made.

Making a speech would be an effective way for a person to give their opinion, to say what they think or what they believe.

An opinion is a view or a belief that a person has.

Everybody has lots and lots of opinions.

Right now, you will have an opinion on whether it's nice weather outside, whether you are enjoying this lesson, which I hope you are.

Anything that a person thinks or feels can be called their opinion.

Let's check your understanding.

What is the name for a view or belief that a person has? Is it A, opinion? B, speech? C, appearance? Please pause the video, and decide the correct answer now.

And welcome back.

Okay, let's see, so A, opinion.

B, speech.

C, appearance.

What is the name for a view or a belief that a person has? Well done If you said opinion.

Absolutely, an opinion is a view or a belief that a person has.

It's not a speech.

We know what a speech is, and it's definitely not appearance.

Appearance is how you look.

A speech can be made about any topic at all.

The person making the speech can also be referred to as the speaker.

And in our lesson, we'll be doing that.

We'll be referring to the person making the speech as the speaker.

To make their speech successful, they should have a good knowledge of the topic they're speaking about.

If you are making a speech all about cats and you have never owned a cat, and you don't know anything about cats, it's going to be difficult.

You need to have a good knowledge of the thing you are talking about.

This is so that the person can speak at a length and with good reasoning about the topic.

True or false? The person making a speech should have good knowledge of the topic they are speaking about.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video, and decide now.

Okay, welcome back.

Congratulations if you said true, absolutely, the person making a speech should definitely have a good knowledge of the topic they're speaking about, but let's justify our answer.

When you justify with A, they need good knowledge, so they can talk at length about the topic, or B, they do not need good knowledge of the topic, because the audience might not know either.

Interesting.

Yeah, A or B, what do you think? Pause the video now, and decide for yourself.

Okay, so welcome back.

Is it A or is it B? Well, well done if you said A.

They need a good knowledge, so they can talk at length about the topic.

B said that the audience might not know either, and therefore, the speaker would need to have a good knowledge.

However, we can't assume that the audience do not know about the topic we're talking about.

So therefore, we need to try as a speaker and be one step ahead, and have a great deal of knowledge about that topic.

Let's try a task.

Complete this table to make lists of the jobs and occasions when making a speech may be required.

So you can see, we have two sides to our table, two columns.

One says jobs that may require making a speech.

So I would like you to try and fill that side of the table with as many jobs as you can think of that may require someone to make a speech.

And on the other side of the table, it says occasions that may require making a speech.

So what occasions can you think of where someone may be required to make a speech? Jobs on one side, occasions on the other.

Pause the video, and complete your task now.

Welcome back to your lesson.

Let's see how you might have got on.

Here is an example of a job that may require someone to make a speech.

It's a politician, of course.

You could have also had teacher, business leader, sports coach, presenter, and host, and you may have even found some others that we didn't cover earlier in the lesson.

Now, let's look at occasions.

Occasions that may require someone to make a speech.

That's a wedding, of course.

There's definitely a point in the wedding, where people make speeches.

During a job interview, at an award ceremony, in a school assembly, at home.

Of course, even at home, you may be required to make a speech.

Well done if you got any of those correct answers.

Congratulations.

So let's go back to our learning outline, and we are moving on from what are speeches to the purpose of a speech.

Let's look at what is the purpose of a speech.

The purpose of a speech can be different each time, but there are some common reasons the speeches might be made.

To inform or educate.

This is something a teacher would do.

They would make a speech to inform or educate.

Sometimes, a parent, or carer, or family member might make a speech to inform or educate someone else.

You may have the purpose of making a speech to celebrate something.

If it's at a wedding, you are making a speech to celebrate the marriage of two people.

So the purpose of the speech is to celebrate.

It might be to explain.

Sometimes, someone might make a speech, because they feel they need to explain something to someone else.

To give thanks.

At an award ceremony, if you have been given an award, you may want to thank the people that have contributed and helped you.

So that would be the purpose of your speech, to give thanks.

And to persuade.

And that's one of our keywords, to persuade people, to persuade an audience to feel the same as you, to agree with you.

All of these have the purpose to have an impact on an audience.

A speech can have many different purposes, but they are all under this umbrella purpose of having an impact on the audience.

Every time someone makes a speech, their intention is to have an impact on their audience.

It might be to persuade them, it might be to educate them, but they must have an impact.

To persuade means to convince, or to make someone agree with you.

Often a person is making a speech to persuade the audience to agree with them.

A speaker does this by using clear, convincing, and detailed reasoning to justify their opinion.

Three keywords there, reasoning, justify, opinion.

They're explaining why they think or believe something.

Let's check your understanding.

When making a speech, who is the speaker trying to persuade? Would it be A, the audience? B, themselves? Or C, nobody? A, the audience.

B, themselves.

Or C, nobody.

When making a speech, who is the speaker trying to persuade? Pause the video, and make your decision now.

And welcome back.

So three choices, the audience, themselves, nobody.

Well done if you said the audience.

Absolutely, that's the correct answer.

When making a speech, the speaker is trying to persuade the audience, trying to convince the audience to agree with them, to agree with their opinion.

You wouldn't need to convince yourself.

And, of course, convincing nobody doesn't make much sense.

So the audience, A, is the correct answer.

Well done if you said A.

To justify an opinion means giving clear reasoning, which explains why the speaker has a certain opinion.

Many famous speeches have been written around the theme of making a change.

In history, there have been many times when people have fought to make an important change in the world, and they have used speeches as a way to convince others to support a cause.

There are many examples through history of people who have tried to make the world better, have tried to make a change, and they have done this through lots of different ways.

But one of the ways has been to deliver speeches.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? Speeches have not been used in the past to help people make important changes in the world.

Is that true or is that false? Speeches have not been used in the past to help people make important changes in the world.

Pause the video, and decide true or false now.

Welcome back.

So true or false, speeches have not been used in the past to help people make important changes in the world.

Well, that is false, they absolutely have.

Let's justify your answer.

With A, speeches have been an effective tool used to help persuade people to support a cause.

Or B, speeches do not serve as a tool for persuading people.

Justify your answer with A or B.

Pause the video now.

Welcome back, everyone.

So speeches have been an effective tool used to help persuade people to support a cause is the correct answer.

Well done if you said that.

B, speeches do not serve as a tool for persuading people, well, that's absolutely not correct, they do.

Speeches can be an important tool for persuading people.

A purpose for making a speech may be to make a change.

Write a list of changes that you would like to make, which may benefit from a speech being written to persuade others to agree with you.

That's your practise task.

I'd like you to write a list of changes that you would like to make which may benefit from a speech being written to persuade others to agree with you.

They could be changes in the world.

For example, banning plastic bottles.

They might be changes in your personal life.

For example, wanting to staying up later.

Perhaps, you think you should be allowed to stay up later, and you might write a speech and deliver it to persuade your family to allow that to happen.

In your school, there might be changes you would like to make in your school.

For example, children deciding the lunch menu.

Most schools do not allow the children to decide what food is on the lunch menu.

Maybe you could make a speech to do that, to convince your school to allow you to do that.

Try to make a list of at least four to five potential changes that could be developed into topics for speeches.

So, take your time with this.

Have a good, hard think about changes that you would like to make in the world, in your personal life, in your school, and they would be great topics for speeches.

Pause the video now.

Welcome back.

I am so intrigued to see what you came up with.

Let's have a look at some examples that I came up with.

Everyone in the world to have access to clean water.

Seems something that most of the world takes for granted, but there are people in the world that do not have access to clean water.

This will be an excellent topic for a speech, persuading an audience to agree with you that everyone in the world should have access to clean water.

Girls to have access to education in all countries.

There are still countries around the world now, where girls do not have the same rights to education as boys.

This is definitely a change that I am sure you agree needs to be made.

And a speech about this topic would help to persuade people to agree with you, and to help make that change happen.

All children to be allowed to own a pet.

I am sure there are lots of you who would love to have a pet, but sometimes, your family say, no, it's not something that is appropriate, or they don't think that you are going to look after it.

Well, a speech delivered explaining why you should have a pet, convincing the audience that you should definitely be allowed to have a pet, that would work really well.

Be a great topic for speech.

Parents to read a story to their child every night.

I wonder if you think that every parent should read a story to their child every night.

Well, that would be a topic for a speech that you might choose to make at home.

Maybe you would like your parents to do that every night, and you could make a speech to persuade them to make that change happen.

All schools to increase playtime.

All schools to increase playtime are really, really good topic for a speech.

Something where you can convince the audience that this change must happen, and explain, give reasoning.

Share so many examples of why it would be beneficial for playtime to be increased.

Children to choose who they sit next to in class.

I thought this would be a really good one for a speech, because it would allow you to be able to explain the benefits of choosing who you sit next to in class.

Most classes have a seating plan, the children are told by the teacher, where they're going to sit.

Well, maybe that's a change that you would like to see made in your classroom.

Children can sit wherever they want, and you will convince with your speech why that should happen.

Let's summarise our learning today.

A speech is the communication of someone's thoughts, through words, to an audience.

Lots of different jobs and occasions require people to make speeches.

The purpose of making a speech is to have an impact on your audience.

A successful speech will persuade an audience through clear reasoning which justifies an opinion.

Excellent work today.

I can see how we've used all of those keywords throughout the lesson to be able to develop our understanding, and now we know what speeches are and why they are important.

Well done, and I will see you again very soon.