Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

My name is Mrs. Riley, and I'll be teaching you today.

In our lesson today, we are going to be looking at speeches and thinking about what makes a speech successful.

Let's get started.

The outcome of today's lesson is to understand what makes a successful speech.

These are our keywords for today.

The first is speech, my turn, your turn.

Speech and persuade.

Persuade.

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

So sharing your thoughts through words to an audience, a group of people who are watching you speak.

And persuade is to convince or to make someone agree with you.

So if I had an opinion that you disagreed with, I might try to persuade you to agree with me.

I'm trying to convince you.

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

In the first learning cycle, we will look at the purpose of a speech.

So what, why do people actually give speeches? And then, we'll look at features of a successful speech.

So could you first of all start by discussing what a speech is? Have a think about what jobs might require someone to make a speech and why.

Pause the video while you talk to your talk partner now.

Okay, well done, let's come back together.

I heard lots of really good explanations of what a speech is and lots of different jobs or professions where people might give speeches.

So a speech is the formal communication of someone's thoughts through words to an audience.

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

There might be some very serious formal speeches given, for example, in a political setting, or there might be more of an informal speech, for example, at somebody's wedding, somebody might give a speech.

And there are many different jobs that might require someone to make a speech, for example, a politician.

So like the prime minister or a president might give a speech.

A teacher might give a speech.

A business leader might give a speech, perhaps somebody who they might give a speech to all of the people who work for them.

A sports coach might give a speech, maybe something to motivate their team.

A presenter might give a speech.

And finally, a host might give a speech that might be the host of a television programme, or it might be the host of a sporting challenge or a competition.

So let's check what we have just learned.

Politicians, teachers, and sports coaches may all do what in their different jobs.

A, make lessons, B, make recipes, or C, make speeches.

Pause the video while you choose your answer.

Okay, excellent, I know you are all listening, well done.

The answer is C, they all might make speeches.

Now, any time that it is important for a person to share their thoughts or feelings, a speech might be made and making a speech is an effective way for a person to give their opinion.

An opinion is a view or belief that a person has anything that a person thinks or feels can also be called their opinion.

A speech can be made about any topic at all.

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

So if there is an event where perhaps there were going to be three people making a speech, you might say, "May I first introduce our first speaker onto the stage and then the second speaker and the third speaker." To make their speech successful, they should have good knowledge of the topic they are speaking about.

This is so they can speak at length with good and with good reasoning about the topic.

For example, if I was going to go into a school and give a speech about different jobs that pupils might want to do and they grow up, it would be silly if I went in to do that speech without lots of knowledge about different jobs.

So it's always important when to make a successful speech, to be very well-prepared.

Okay, let's check our understanding again.

What is the name of a view or a belief that a person has? Is it A, an opinion, B, a speech, or C, appearance? Pause the video while you choose your answer.

Well done, the correct answer is an opinion, is the name for a view or a belief that a person has.

I would now like you to discuss what is the purpose of making a speech.

We've already thought about different examples of when someone might give a speech, but what are they aiming to achieve in their speech? Pause the video and discuss that now.

Okay, let's come back together.

A speech is written for a specific audience in order to meet its purpose.

The purpose of making a speech might be to persuade, for example, if you wanted to be in the school council, you might give a speech to persuade the audience to vote for you.

It might be to inform, for example, if I came into your school to give a speech about different types of jobs, I would be informing or teaching you about something.

It might be to entertain, for example, at a wedding, it's entertaining, it's enjoyable to listen to people make speeches.

It might be to inspire, for example, if somebody gave a speech at a graduation ceremony, it might be to inspire the pupils in the next chapter of their lives.

So the purpose for speech is to have an impact on the audience in some way.

We don't want the audience to just sit and listen to the speech and not feel anything or not be impacted.

We want to make an impact on the audience.

We want to somehow change their minds or inspire or entertain them or persuade them.

Now, very commonly and the purpose that we're going to focus on today is to persuade.

So we are now going to really focus on speeches which, where the aim of them is to persuade the audience.

So let's discuss what does it mean to persuade someone.

Could you pause the video and discuss that now? Lovely, I had some really nice discussions there.

Here's an example of what you might have said.

I think persuading someone means making them change the way they think so that they feel the same as you.

Well, that would be a really good answer because persuading means convincing someone to believe or do something by presenting arguments and reasons or appealing to their emotions.

When a person is being persuasive, they are trying to influence others to change their thoughts, attitudes, or behaviours.

When persuading an audience, the speaker is trying to get them to agree with their opinion and think the same way they do.

So let's check our understanding.

Persuading means A, arguing with someone, B, convincing someone, or C, agreeing with someone.

Pause the video while you think about your answer.

Well done, persuading means convincing someone.

So it's now time for your first task.

In this task, I would like you to have a discussion with your partner and I would like you to tell your partner about a time that you have tried to persuade someone.

So have a little think.

When have you tried to persuade someone? Maybe it might have been you trying to persuade your teacher about something or a parent or carer about something.

Maybe make you try to persuade a friend about something.

So you are going to share a time that you have tried to persuade someone with your partner.

And as your partner is talking to you, remember to show them really good listening skills.

Think about who you were persuading, why you wanted to persuade them, what were you persuading them to do, how you persuaded them, what did you do, and how successful were you in persuading them? Did you manage to persuade them or didn't you? So pause the video now while you have this discussion with your partner.

Okay, lovely, I loved hearing all those examples of when you have persuaded people in the past.

So here is an example of what you might have said.

"I tried to persuade my older brother to take me to the park with him.

I told him how grateful I would be and he was such a good big brother and it worked well and he took me." So there's an example where somebody has persuaded their older brother to take them to the park and it obviously worked.

Here's another example.

"My class and I tried to persuade our teacher to get a class pet.

We gave lots of reasons why it would be a good idea and how it would help us all.

Unfortunately, we still weren't allowed." So sometimes when we try to persuade people, it doesn't always work as in that example.

So we have looked at the purpose of a speech and particularly that purpose of persuading an audience.

And now we're going to look specifically at the features of a successful speech.

So if somebody gave a speech and you were going to write down all the things that made it really successful, what would they be? So we'll start off with some inspiration of watching a real speech.

You are going to watch Martin Luther King's famous 1963 speech, which is often called "I Have a Dream." Now you are going to have to find this speech on the internet.

It's such a famous speech that that shouldn't be difficult to do, but make sure that you ask a trusted adult to help you find it or your teacher might find it for you.

You're gonna watch part of that speech and then you're gonna discuss what did you like about it and what do you think made the speech successful? So could you pause the video now while you watch the part of that speech and then discuss what you liked about it and what made it successful.

Okay, let's come back together.

Well, I hope you enjoyed watching that incredible speech and enjoyed discussing what you liked about it and what made it successful.

Features are the parts or characteristics that make something unique.

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

For example, if you were going to go into a shop to buy a new phone, you might be told the features of that phone, which might help you decide if you want to buy it.

For example, one of the features might be its camera function.

And 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 or educate them.

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

So we are now going to discuss what do you think are some of the features of a successful speech.

I'm going to show you one to give you an example.

So we're thinking about the features of a successful speech.

One of them might be a clear purpose.

So the person giving the speech has clearly thought, what is my purpose in the speech? What am I trying to do? What other features do you think might there be of a successful speech? Pause the video and discuss this now.

Okay, well done.

I heard lots of really great examples.

So let's look at some together.

So we're thinking of features of a successful speech.

We've already said a successful speech has to have a clear purpose.

But what else might it have? It might have rhetorical questions.

The person speaking might ask a question to the audience, not so that they will reply, but so that they think about that question and that makes them really engage with what you are saying.

It might include anecdotes.

An anecdote is where you might tell a short story about something that actually happened.

Just to add a bit more information about what you are saying.

You might add facts and statistics that might make a successful speech because then you are going to sound really convincing and that you've done lots of research before speaking.

You might also include quotations.

So you might include a quotation of what somebody else said.

Again, showing that you've really prepared and done your research about what you're speaking of.

You might use repetition.

We saw in Martin Luther King's speech that he repeated the words, "I have a dream," and that made his speech really successful.

You might address the audience.

So directly addressing the audience may be even addressing different people in the groups of people in the audience.

And you might try to provoke an emotional response.

Maybe it's that you are trying to make your audience feel sad about something in order to have an impact on them, but trying to provoke an emotional response.

So all of these things could be features of a successful speech.

Okay, let's check your understanding.

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

There might be more than one answer.

Pause the video now.

Okay, well done.

The correct answers are repetition and rhetorical questions are both features of a successful speech.

Now there have been many famous features in history.

You've already seen one today.

Martin Luther King's, "I Have a Dream" speech, but there have been many others as well.

A speaker will select some of these features to help them have an impact on the audience.

For example, Martin Luther King selected the feature of repetition, which helped his speech be very memorable and successful.

So it's time now to check your understanding again, and I would like you to discuss with your partner a time that you have used one of these features yourself or when you've seen any of these features used in a speech.

So here are the features provoking an emotional response, a clear purpose, repetition, rhetorical questions, addressing the audience, good knowledge of the topic, facts and statistics, quotations or anecdotes.

So you are having a think about a time that you've used one of these features in a speech you've given, or if you've seen somebody else using one of these features in a speech.

Here's an example.

You might say, "I have seen Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

use repetition in his famous speech about stopping racism.

He repeats the phrase, "I have a dream," many times for emphasis." So could you now pause the video and begin this task? Okay, let's come back together.

Well done for giving that a go.

It was quite tricky to think of something, wasn't it, to where you've used a feature or seen it, an example of it.

And you did really well to give that a go.

So for your next part of your task, I'm now going to ask you to discuss if you were going to make a speech to persuade people on a topic, what would it be? It could be anything.

I would make a speech about, hmm, I would try to persuade people to, hmm, because, so there's some sentence scaffolds you might use.

And here are some ideas that you can use if you'd like, but you don't have to.

For example, I would make a speech about the fact that homework should be optional.

I'd tried to persuade people that homework should be optional because.

Or pupils in year five and six should be allowed to bring their phones into school.

Maybe that's a speech you might try to, you might, something you might make a speech about.

Or maybe it should be that people should only be allowed one return trip by plane per year because they should be thinking about the environment.

So they're just some examples.

But you can choose anything you like about something that you would like to make a speech about, and what you would try to persuade people, and why.

So I really hope you enjoy this task, discussing this with your partner.

Pause the video now.

Okay, lovely, let's come back together.

Wow, I heard so many different examples of speeches that you might like to make.

So here's an example of what you might have said.

"I would make a speech about homework.

I believe homework should be optional because after spending a whole day at school, kids need time to relax and play.

I'm passionate about this because when I get too much homework, I don't get enough time to do things I love like football or spending time with my family." Wow, well, I think that would've been a really great speech because they had a very clear intention, a very clear purpose of what the speech was going to be about.

And here's another example.

"I would try to persuade people that they should only be allowed one return trip by plane per year to help protect our planet from pollution.

Planes release a lot of harmful emissions into the air that hurt the environment and make climate change worse." So, again, that might be a speech that you might like to give to persuade people that they should only be allowed one return flight a year.

So they might choose to go to Spain and they fly there and back, and then that's the only time they're allowed to fly each year to try and reduce people flying to help Planet Earth.

So let's just think now about some top tips for being a successful speaker because in a minute, you are going to have a go at giving a speech yourself.

And obviously, to give a speech, we have we have to speak in a certain way.

So here are some top tips.

Stand up to speak.

That always is going to help.

Speak in a loud, clear voice.

No speech can be successful if you can't hear what someone is saying.

Speak in full sentences.

Make eye contact with the audience.

If you are reading from notes, don't just keep your head down, but take the time to look up and connect with the audience.

Engage your audience by showing confidence and charisma.

Introduce yourself before you start, and thank the audience when you have finished.

So these are all really good tips to help you be a successful speaker.

So you are now going to deliver a short speech on your chosen topic to an audience.

Choose at least three features to include in your speech.

They could be provoking an emotional response, having a clear purpose, using repetition, using rhetorical questions, addressing the audience, having good knowledge of the topic, facts and statistics.

So doing some research to get some actual facts.

Quotations or anecdotes where you tell a short story about something that actually happened.

So first, you need to think about what topic you would like to do give a speech on.

So, for example, you might give a speech about why you think that zoos should be shut down.

Perhaps you think that they're cruel in animals.

So that might be your topic.

And then you've got to think, "Right, I need to make this speech successful.

So I'm going to choose three of these features.

I'm gonna use rhetorical questions." So maybe I might start with a question like, have you ever looked into a cage at a zoo and felt sorry for the animal? That would be a good rhetorical question.

You might give some facts and statistics as another feature.

Maybe you might give an anecdote, you might tell a time when, once when I went to the zoo, I saw, and then give an anecdote of something that happened.

So that's just a little example.

You can choose any topic and you can choose any of those three features to include in your speech.

I really hope you enjoy this task.

Pause the video now.

Okay, lovely, let's come back together and spend some time reflecting.

So did you use the top tips for being a successful speaker? Did you do any of the following? Provoke an emotional response from your audience, have a clear purpose about what you wanted your speech to achieve? Did you use repetition? Did you show a good knowledge? Do you think of the topic or do you think you could have done more research? Did you use any rhetorical questions? Did you address the audience? Did you include facts and statistics? Did you include any quotations or any anecdotes? So they were all the different things you could have included.

And, as well, obviously, we were trying to remember about being a successful speaker.

Things like speaking loud and clear, standing up, showing confidence.

So I'd like you to just pause the video now and just spend a little bit of time reflecting on the speech you gave.

And maybe you could even set yourself a goal, something that you think next time, maybe I think I did these things really well, but next time, I think I could do a bit better at this and give yourself a little target.

So pause the video and just spend a bit of time reflecting on your speech.

Okay, lovely, well done.

Here's an example of what you might have had to think about when you were reflecting.

"I spoke in full sentences and made good eye contact with the audience.

And I persuaded the audience by starting with a rhetorical question, 'Shouldn't kids have time to enjoy their childhood?' And I also used facts by asking my classmates what they thought." So there was some reflections of all those things that they did really well.

And then maybe they might have also thought about something that they could improve on for next time.

For example, I didn't use any repetition, so next time, I might try to use some repetition as well.

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

We've learned that a speech is written for a specific audience in order to achieve its purpose.

Speeches can inform an audience about something that they may not already know about.

The purpose of a speech is always to impact the audience in some way.

A speech will often try to persuade an audience to agree with its main themes.

So these are all some really important things that we have learned together today.

I hope you've enjoyed this lesson.

I hope that you can take all of these tips for giving speeches and speaking really well and take them forward with you.

And perhaps you might get to use them if you have the opportunity to make a speech in the future.

Or if you are watching someone give a speech, perhaps you could try to see if you can identify any of those features such as rhetorical questions or repetition.

So well done for all your focus and hard work today.

And, hopefully, I'll see you for some more learning another time.