speech class

[dreal]

I've just been informed that I have to teach a before school class preparing students for a speech competition. I have no materials for this and cannot figure out where to begin. Anyone else delt with this? Have any helpful ideas, tips or resources you could send my way?
d.

[Duchess]

In my experience, the students were asked to respond to a series of questions that could be used for debate purposes; meaning the students had to form an opinion of a topic and state their reasons for their opinion.

They also had to read some selected books to respond to as well, but that could have just been for my city (I'm not sure if that particular portion of the speech contest would be used county wide).

I found that using http://iteslj.org/questions/ helped when trying come up with questions for the students to talk about.

Also you can find small news articles and such for the students to respond to (also with worksheets) for a more in depth, current event conversation.  http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

Practice fluency and overall expression of their opinions.  They are looking for students who can express themselves clearly and fluently, so pronouncation practice may help as well.

[sonya]

Are they writing their own speeches?  I usually start these classes with how to choose a topic and then how to write a speech.  There are some good pointers on the attached speech writing tips document.  I've found at speech competitions in my area they go for speeches that were written by students over ones that are obviously done by professionals.  They must choose a topic that is interesting not only to them but will be interesting to an audience.

Once speeches are written they must then be memorized.  It's much easier to work on presentation style when they are not holding a paper in their hand!  The 10 commandments of speeches and presentations has been very helpful for me!

Good luck and hope this helps.

Sonya