Suggested Activities for Chapter 19
- Break the class into groups of two. Assign one student in each group to give a speech of introduction. Assign one to give a speech of celebration. The first student will introduce the second. The second will give a speech celebrating something happening in class or at the school. Limit the speeches to ninety seconds in length so there is room for all in a class period.
- If you are working on special-occasion speeches toward the end of the semester, emcee a public speaking celebration event in class. Award each member of the class an authentic award (e.g., Best Delivery), an improvement award (Best Job Banishing “the Ums”), or a gag honor (Most Likely to Drop Their Note Cards). Present the awards one at a time and have students come forward and give a short speech of acceptance.
- If you are working on special-occasion speeches toward the beginning of the semester, allocate five minutes at the end of every nonspeaking class period for a student to give an after-dinner speech.
- This activity is fun and silly, but also packs quite a bit of serious practice into one class period. At the end of the semester, break students up into six small groups. Give each group ten minutes to write a special-occasion speech that they will deliver to the class. These are the speeches to assign:
- Introduce their public speaking instructor as the main event at the Thirty-fourth Annual Communicapalooza Celebration.