Speech-Related Activity: Speeches (Prepared)

Aim: Promote student self-expression, Positive motivational exercise.

Procedure:

The procedure of this activity may be similar to “1-Minute Speeches”, differing only in that the student may have advance knowledge of his or her topic. The topic can be assigned or open. In either case, the student may know his or her topic the week before, the day before, or maybe just a few minutes before he or she is expected to speak.

The nature of this activity is entirely dependent upon the amount of time the student has to prepare. For example, if you give your students more than a day or two to prepare, they will likely have access to dictionaries, as well as have the opportunity to practice. This being the case, the activity becomes more of a writing-exercise than a speaking or critical-thinking exercise. However, it makes the actual speaking easier for the students.

Conversely, if the student has less than one day to prepare, the same activity then becomes more of a true speaking and critical thinking exercise. For example, you can allow the students to randomly select topic slips at the beginning of class, then give them 20 minutes to think about their topic. This short time frame will ensure that the students are focusing primarily on speaking (rather than on formulating overly elaborate content), while allowing them time to check their dictionaries and jot down a few ideas.

One other note about time frames: A shorter time frame may seem to put more pressure on the students, however it probably makes the activity more enjoyable overall. While the students may be nervous about speaking, they are only nervous for the short period of time just before they have to speak. Then when they actually begin speaking, it will become more enjoyable and less scary than they previously imagined. However, if you give the students time to prepare at home, they will be feel the need to create a more grammatically perfect and elaborate speech, and stress over the writing and content-preparation of the activity, rather than the speaking aspect. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It depends upon your goal for using this exercise.

However it is crucial for the teacher to understand that the nature of this activity is entirely different depending on the amount of preparation time he or she allows.

Suggested Procedures:

I. Long Preparation Time (at least one day in advance)

1. Either allow the students to choose their own topics, or prepare topic slips that the students may select at random. (If the students have more than one day to prepare, it may be easier to allow them to select their own topics, as they will be more motivated to prepare.)

2. On the day of their speech, decide whether they will present in front of the entire class or in front of smaller groups. Smaller groups may be less intimidating and allow more students to perform at the same time. However it becomes difficult for the teacher to evaluate each speaker!

II. Short Preparation Time (Less than one day)

1. Either allow the students to choose their own topics or prepare topic slips that the students may select at random. (If the students have less than one day to prepare, perhaps topic slips may be easier for a number of reasons. First it ensures that many students don’t select the same topic and simply copy each other’s examples. Second, the act of selecting a topic may be daunting and take valuable time away from their opportunity to prepare.)

2. On the day of their speech, decide whether they will present in front of the entire class or in front of smaller groups. Smaller groups may be less intimidating and allow more students to perform at the same time. However it becomes difficult for the teacher to evaluate each speaker!

Sample Topic Slips:

The topics can be absolutely anything. Preferably 1 or 2 words only. They can range from very specific to very general:

SUV’s (Sports Utility Vehicles), Supermarkets, Pollution, Convenience Stores, Sports, Vacations, Traveling, Holidays, Newspapers, Cars, Pets, Restaurants, Dating, Television, Clothing, Shopping, Winter, Karaoke, Izakayas, Reading, Hobbies, Cats, Movies, Flat-Screen Television.

Note: It’s good to keep the topics short (1 or 2 words) and allow the speaker freedom to decide what context to put it in. For example, a student who selects “Restaurants” may wish to speak about his or her favorite restaurants. Or the student might decide to speak about why eating in restaurants is more convenient than eating at home (or vice versa). Or (if your students are business-oriented) why a restaurant would make a more lucrative business to start than a retail store.

In this way, your student’s speech may be considerably different from how you originally intended when you devised the topics!!! This is good, because it is easier and more dynamic for the student, and very entertaining for the teacher as well!

Evaluation:

For this activity, each student in the class can be provided with a grading sheet, on which different aspects of the speech can be rated on a scale of 1 – 5.

e.g.

Please circle one: (Weak) ß------------------------------- à (Strong)

Creativity 1 2 3 4 5

Pronunciation 1 2 3 4 5

Grammar 1 2 3 4 5

Comments:

This way, the speaker can receive positive feedback and encouragement from classmates. Also, the other students in the class can practice communicative listening-comprehension skills.

Lastly, if an AET is present, the AET should mark the speech and provide comments as well. Hearing encouragement from a native speaker should greatly improve the confidence and motivation of the student!