Suggested Activities for Chapter 5

1. Put students in four groups and assign each group one of the situational characteristics: size, time, location, and mobility. Let each group either write or act out correct and incorrect public speaking scenarios for their assigned characteristic.
2. Assign students to seven groups, each of which will consider one of the demographic characteristics: age, gender, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic background, and political affiliation. Ask each group to make a list of all of the cautions a speaker should take when considering a particular demographic and a list of all of the ways that the demographic might be used.
3. Let students write a survey using fixed-response, scaled, and open-ended questions. Give students class time to collect the results. Help them interpret the data.
4. Assign a few students impromptu speech topics. Write, in large letters on cards or pieces of paper, phrases like “laughing,” “nodding head,” “bored,” “more bored,” “almost asleep,” “shocked,” “angry,” “hissing,” “text messaging,” and so on. Have each student begin his or her speech in turn so that they and your cards are in view of the rest of the class. Switch through different cards in various orders as they speak. Ask the class afterward to identify and evaluate the speakers’ situational adaptations. Ask for suggestions on what else the speaker might have tried.
5. As a class, watch a sample student speech on video that shows plenty of audience reaction (or lack thereof). Ask students to apply what they learned about observation to analyze this audience. This activity serves as a useful summary of the major textbook sections and illustrates the principles in action.