Language Arts 9 Speech Assignment

Your task is to compose a speech of approximately three minutes in length, and present it to the class. You will choose the precise topic of your speech, but it must relate to the following general theme: The Impact of Texts. It is important to remember that there exists an infinite variety of texts, including all stories (written and oral), poems, music lyrics, movies, drama productions, television shows, photographs, sculptures, paintings and other artistic productions, and more recently, social media. Your speech will try to persuade your audience (the class and the teacher) about the impact of texts on society in general or on specific people. You can refer to one text in particular (a play, for example), or a group of texts (several plays or a genre of play, for example), or to different kinds of texts (novels, movies and social media for example). he format for your speech will be similar to the classic !"paragraph essay. It will contain five paragraphs (one introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and one conclusion paragraph). Your speech will differ from the !"paragraph essay in that while you need to introduce your main theme in your introductory paragraph, you do not have to provide a thesis statement that identifies what each of your body paragraphs will contain.

he assignment will be evaluated on two fronts: 1) written composition (#ersuasiveness of content$%& marks, writing mechanics$! marks), and ') presentation ((ffectiveness of voice$! marks, appropriateness of pace$! marks, complementary effects such as audio or video$! marks, audience engagement$! marks) here will also be two )checkpoint* evaluations$one for an introductory paragraph (! marks), and one for a first draft (%& marks).

Guidelines

With regard to composition: +egin with an introduction that establishes who you are, what your purpose is, and what you will be talking about. You may want to include a ,oke, anecdote or interesting fact to grab the audience-s attention. .tart with your most important point, and then go to your least important point and move back toward the most important. /or example, if you have three points with 0o. 1 being the most important and 0o. % being the least important, your presentation order would be 1"%"'. 2dd support to each point using statistics, facts, examples, anecdotes, 3uotations or other supporting material. 4ink your introduction, points and conclusions together with smooth transitions. 5rite a conclusion that summari6es each of your points, restates your main purpose and leaves the audience with a lasting impression. 7hallenge yourself to use a sophisticated, intelligent vocabulary. However 2void words that you do not understand ,ust to sound interesting. 8o not go off on tangents. .tay focused on your main points9 if you do not, you can easily confuse your audience.

With regard to presentation:

:emember to avoid speaking too 3uickly, and to speak clearly. 8o not sound rehearsed9 try to be natural. 2void using words or phrases such as, )um,* ;It<s like,* or )I don<t know,* which make you sound doubtful of what you are saying. +e interested in your topic9 even the most boring topic can be interesting if you make it engaging= (>f course, your topic will not be boring.) You are not expected to memori6e your speech, but you should make consistent eye contact with your audience.

You may use costumes or props to enhance your presentation, but they should not be so much of a distraction that they detract from the effectiveness of your speech.