english@kkc

The slideshow gives you some tips on how to deliver a persuausive speech. All Year 12 students will deliver an oral presentation this year and the first task will be to deliver a persuausive speech.

I have an expanded version of this slideshow that includes video that I will add to the Year 12 wikis.

The Oral Presentations are coming up in Term Two for some of you and I know that many of you will be dreading them. Most of us feel shy or self-conscious when we have to present to a large group. But according to Catherine Quinn, with a little advice, anyone can conquer their fear of public speaking. Here is an extract from Quinn’s recent article in The Guardian.

You have prepared for days, your slides are in perfect order, and you have mentally rehearsed every question that might come at you. But the minute you step out in front of your colleagues, your mouth goes dry, your knees tremble, and you can barely stammer out a sentence.

Sounds familiar? If this scenario resonates with your own working life then you’re certainly not alone. Speaking in public is routinely cited as one of people’s worst fears, with some surveys ranking it above death and divorce. It is also one of the most common problems (alongside heights and spiders) for which we seek help from therapists.

It’s not just lowlier staff members who have a dislike of standing up in public. Managers, executives and business gurus also frequently suffer from a fear of public speaking - Richard Branson is notorious for his dislike of the activity.

“We conducted a survey of business leaders, which found that 71% would be nervous about addressing a large conference,” says Professor Khalid Aziz of the Aziz Corporation, a communications consultancy. “The biggest concerns are that they will bore their audience or fail to get their message across. But we found that many worry that they will lose their train of thought or be unable to answer questions. Considering that a major speech or TV interview can make or break their reputation, it is worrying that so many of them fear communication.”

For those who dislike public speaking, of course, it is exactly this kind of pressure that exacerbates the problem. But considering that most of us are more than capable of addressing a group of friends or colleagues on a small scale, why do so many of us get that sinking feeling when it comes to presenting to a larger audience?

“The fear of speaking in public is often only the tip of the proverbial iceberg,” says Harrison Monarth, US speaking coach and author of The Confident Speaker. “There’s more to this fear than what initially meets the eye. What is often labelled as ‘public speaking fear’ can actually be a fear of experiencing intense physical sensations, like one’s heart racing, hands or legs shaking and trembling. For most people these are all unpleasant sensations that are perceived as causing extreme physical discomfort.”

“When we’re speaking in public, we perceive ourselves as ‘naked’ in front of others with no place to hide our insecurities and our self-perceived flaws. Our brain’s belief-system signals danger to our self-image, and instead of challenging these signals as ‘false alarms’ we give them too much credibility and believe that the danger is real.”

Read the rest here.

This video has been around for a bit but as we are doing presentations it is quite topical. In the clip, Don McMillan gives a short comedy sketch around Powerpoint presentations and the common mistakes that people make.

This post will focus on Atticus Finch’s closing argument in Tom Robinson’s trial. Watch the clip from the film adaptation and read the transcript of his speech. This will be helpful to those of you who are studying the novel and/or preparing for your Oral Presentations.

In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Atticus Finch sets a standard of morality that no other character in the book comes close to matching. Atticus is a stable and mature figure who is able to cope with the unreasonable and highly emotional elements of Maycomb. He is one of the few people, in the town of Maycomb, who understand the the individual worth of a persons regardless of the colour of their skin.

Atticus was assigned to Tom Robinson’s case and although he knows that the case will be unfair and he will lose he does all he can to win justice. He is the only lawyer that is able to put some doubt in the minds of the jury.

The actor Gregory Peck, who played Atticus in the film was a civil rights activist and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom award. Peck favoured the role of Atticus over all his other roles and he had this to say about his performance:

“I put everything I had into it - all my feelings and everything I’d learned in 46 years of living, about family life and fathers and children. And my feelings about racial justice and inequality and opportunity”.

Author Harper Lee loved his portrayal of Finch and said of it: “In that film, the man and the part met.”

Atticus Finch delivers his Closing Argument at the Trial of Tom Robinson

Atticus: To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. The State has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. Now there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led, almost exclusively, with his left. And Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken “The Oath” with the only good hand he possesses - his right.

I have nothing but pity in my heart for the Chief Witness for the State. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance. But, my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man’s life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt. Now I say “guilt,” gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She’s committed no crime. She has merely broken a rigid and time-honoured code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. She must destroy the evidence of her offense. But, what was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson was to her a daily reminder of what she did.

Now what did she do? She tempted a negro. She was white and she tempted a negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: She kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong, young negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards.

The witnesses for the State, with the exception of the sheriff of Lincoln County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen - to this Court - in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted; confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption, the evil assumption, that all negroes lie; all negroes are basically immoral beings; all negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption that one associates with minds of their calibre, and which is in itself, gentlemen, a lie - which I do not need to point out to you.

And so, a quiet, humble, respectable negro, who has had the unmitigated TEMERITY to feel sorry for a white woman, has had to put his word against two white peoples. The defendant is not guilty. But somebody in this courtroom is.

Now, gentlemen, in this country our courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal. I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system. That’s no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality!

Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence that you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this man to his family.

In the name of God, do your duty. In the name of God, believe Tom Robinson.

If you enjoy making cartoons you will love Bitstrips. Bitstrips allows you to make cartoon strips using characters that you create. You can even make yourself into an avatar and you can be the star of your own comic strips. I found it really easy to use and I made the cartoon above for my Year 12 students.

Oratory is the art of public speaking. When we study speeches in class we look at how an orator can stir emotion through speech. In the following three examples public speaking has been raised to a performing art. You may have seen some of them as they have all been popular on youtube but they are worth watching again.

The first speech is by Paul Hawken who was speaking at Bioneers 2006. Hawken has spent over a decade researching organisations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice. He speaks softly but he is very persuasive in delivering his very powerful message. Note how well he connects to his audience.

The second speaker Taylor Mali has been very popular on the internet. The title of the speech is ‘What do teachers really make.’ Mali is both a teacher and a slam poet and his delivery style is very powerful. Slam poetry is a form of performance poetry that occurs within a competitive poetry event, called a “slam”, at which poets usually perform their own poems that are “judged” on a numeric scale by randomly picked members of the audience. Taylor Mali is considered to be the most successful poetry slam strategist of all time, having led six of his seven national poetry slam teams to the finals stage and winning the championship itself a record four times. This speech is the best example of public speaking as performance.

The last speaker Randy Pausch has had a great deal of media coverage. Professor Pausch suffers from pancreatic cancer and was told he had three to six months of good health left and as a result he crafted this speech as his last lecture. Pausch has said that the lecture really was for his kids, “but if others are finding value in it, that is wonderful.” He modestly commented “but rest assured; I’m hardly unique.” I am sure you will disagree after you have watched the clip.

The whole lecture is available at Google Video. It does have quite a long introduction (about 8 minutes) that you might like to skip.

In Term Three Year 11 students will be delivering a speech. This speech will be either a traditional classroom speech or a demonstration.

Whatever task you choose remember to be aware of your audience. How does your topic relate to them? How much do listeners know about your topic? Make sure that you have a clearly stated purpose. The purpose should be able to be achieved in the allocated time. Incorporate supporting materials into your speech ot demonstration. Perhaps use statistical information and examples to clarify ideas.

I have added some links below that may help you prepare for your speech:

How to give a great speech

How to give a speech

So you wanna deliver an effective speech?

The RNZRSA is sponsering a National Secondary Schools Speech Competition to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of Passchendale.

On 12 October 1917, more than 2,700 New Zealanders were killed, wounded or missing at Passchendale – New Zealand’s worst national disaster. Passchendale is a solemn chapter in our nation’s history and we should never forget the contribution of our countrymen and women in this but also all campaigns that New Zealanders have served.

The competition is open to all Year 12 and 13 students. There are cash prizes for regional and national winners. Any entries must be received by 23 June. See me for more details and entry information.

Useful information and links will be available at www.rsa.org.nz