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Year 10
Edexcel

Engaging your audience: creating effective opening and closing paragraphs

I can craft an effective opening and closing paragraph for a persuasive speech.

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Share activities with pupils
New
New
Year 10
Edexcel

Engaging your audience: creating effective opening and closing paragraphs

I can craft an effective opening and closing paragraph for a persuasive speech.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. It is important to consider how the tone of a speech opening will engage the audience.
  2. An introduction should hook your audience in, regardless of the topic.
  3. The ending of your persuasive speech presents the last opportunity to influence your audience.
  4. At the end of your persuasive speech, your audience should know exactly how to help or what to think or feel.
  5. Using rhetorical devices can elevate your opening and closing paragraphs.

Common misconception

I don't have time to write an effective closing, I just need to get my work finished!

The ending is arguably the most important part of the piece of writing. You need to leave your audience with a clear message that is memorable. Writing effective closings will get quicker the more you practice using specific strategies.

Keywords

  • Impactful - memorable and significant

  • Compelling - convincing and attention grabbing

  • Viewpoint - a person’s opinion or perspective on something

  • Reinforce - to strengthen or further support something - in this context- an idea

There are opportunities for peer assessment or the sharing of work after Task A and B. This could be facilitated as a written or verbal task.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You will need access to a copy of the 1998 essay ‘The End of Imagination’ by Arundhati Roy for this lesson.

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
When considering non-fiction texts, what is tone?
the reader’s emotional response
Correct answer: the writer’s attitude or emotional stance
the main theme of a text
the genre of the text
Q2.
What is being described here: 'a group of words with a similar meaning, or that can be grouped by a subject'?
Correct Answer: semantic field, a semantic field
Q3.
What might it mean to 'unify'?
Correct answer: bring together something
have a good connection with something
support or strengthen something
Q4.
In her 'Nobel Speech', Malala uses a call to action stating: "[l]et’s begin this ending together...today...right here, right now." What is the purpose of this?
it summarises the main points of the content
it provides background information on the topic
Correct answer: it urges the audience to take a specific action
it presents a counterargument
Q5.
In her 'Nobel Speech', Malala uses a first person perspective. Which quote is an example of this?
"Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard?"
"Dear sisters and brothers, dear fellow children, we must work . . . not wait."
"Let this be the last time that a child loses life in war".
Correct answer: "I tell my story, not because it is unique, but because it is not."
Q6.
Malala uses humorous anecdotes in her 'Nobel speech', why does she do this?
to boast about her successes
Correct answer: to create a rapport and engage with the audience
to provide statistical evidence
to present logical reasoning
to emphasise chronological events

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the purpose of an opening in persuasive speech?
to summarise the whole speech
Correct answer: to establish the speaker's viewpoint and engage the audience
to introduce new information
to conclude the speech
Q2.
What is the purpose of the closing in a persuasive speech?
to introduce new ideas
to summarise every single point
Correct answer: to reinforce the speaker's viewpoint and leave a lasting impression
to entertain the audience
Q3.
What word beginning with 'C' means "convincing and attention grabbing"?
Correct Answer: compelling
Q4.
Which of these is an example of a declarative sentence?
Do you think I am prepared to stop?
Correct answer: I am prepared to stop.
You must be prepared to stop.
Q5.
Malala uses the phrase: “[l]et’s begin this ending now” in her 'Nobel Speech'. This is an example of what type of sentence?
Correct Answer: imperative sentence, imperative, an imperative sentence , an imperative
Q6.
Which of these is an example of a rule of three?
Are you ready for peace to be our gift to the world?
Correct answer: Let peace be our legacy, our gift to the world, and our enduring triumph.
You must change the legacy you are about to leave for the sake of a future.