BBC Awards 2009: Teaching Ideas for Speaking

We know that preparing students for the BBC Awards takes time and energy and we are
delighted to offer some teaching ideas and suggestions to help you and your pupils
prepare for the BBC Young Writers and Public Speaking Awards 2009. As you know, the
BBC Awards is in two parts, a 5-minute speech with questions from the audience and a
writing competition.

The outcome of last year’s questionnaire was that most of you were interested in
suggestions on the structure and delivery of a speech and handling questions afterwards.
Below you will find six suggestions on how to practise these areas with your pupils.
These teaching ideas hardly take any preparation time. So why not give it a try?

Secondly, the suggestions from English-Speaking (ESU) judges have been included.
These were made at the International Final of the Public Speaking Competition 2008 in
London.

You can also find more writing and speaking tips on our website www.bbcawards.com.

We wish you lots of success with the preparations and look forward to seeing you in one
of the regional rounds of the Public Speaking Awards.

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TEACHING IDEAS: STRUCTURE OF A SPEECH

Structuring a speech
Aim: recognise the parts of a speech
Level: upper-intermediate / advanced
Organisation: class or groups of three pupils
Preparation: none
Time: 20 – 25 minutes

Procedure:
Step 1: In class or in threes the teacher elicits the three major parts of a speech (opening, body, ending).
Step 2: The teacher asks the pupils to write down what information they would put in each of these three
parts. Pupils can do this individually or in threes and then compare notes.
Step 3: The teacher elicits the answers and puts the final version on the board.
Suggestion:
Opening: Attention grabber (e.g. amazing fact, topical issue, anecdote)
Aim of speech
Reason for audience to listen
Preview of main points
Body: 2 – 4 main points
Signalling language (e.g. linking phrases)
Ending: Signal the ending
Review main points
Refer back to attention grabber
Strong final statement
In short, “Tell the audience what you are going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you have just told
them.”

NB Suggestion: also read the suggestions from the English-Speaking Union judges (see last page).

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TEACHING IDEAS: DELIVERY OF A SPEECH

The speech
Aim: practise delivering a speech
Level: upper-intermediate / advanced
Organisation: class or groups of three pupils
Preparation: one handout per pupil (see below)
Time: 20 – 25 minutes (depending on class/group size)

Procedure:
Step 1: Pupils individually punctuate the speech and indicate which words need to be stressed.
Step 2: One pupil gives the speech by reading it out in a convincing way. The other pupils listen without
reading along with the text on the handout (turn handout upside down). Listening task: what makes this speech
convincing?
Step 3: Teacher elicits why this speech was convincing (or not), stressing the positive elements. Then adds
some elements, e.g. gestures, posture, audibility, intonation, emphasis, pace of speaking, pauses, facial
expression, eye contact.
Step 4: A second pupil gives the same speech paying special attention to the remarks made about the first
speaker. Pupils in the audience again listen (without reading along) and think once more about what makes this
speech convincing.
Step 5: Teacher again elicits why this speech was convincing (or not), adding some more elements.
Step 6: Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all pupils have given the speech or until it is clear which elements make a
speech convincing.

Variation 1. Pupils bring a short speech they have written themselves. This way there is a variety in texts.

The Speech
the world’s most popular drink is water you probably knew that already after all it’s a basic requirement of life on
earth but did you know that the world’s second most popular drink is coke and that the human race drinks six hundred
million cokes a day now let’s just put that into some kind of perspective it means that every week of every year people
drink enough coke to fill the empire state building there’s almost nowhere on the planet from Miami to Malawi where
the word coke isn’t instantly recognized the brand name alone is worth thirty billion dollars and that’s what makes
coca cola a global marketing phenomenon

Adapted from: Presenting in English by Mark Powell (Heinle)

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TEACHING IDEAS: HANDLING QUESTIONS AFTER A SPEECH

Any questions?
Aim: practise answering questions (politely)
Level: upper-intermediate / advanced
Organisation: groups of five pupils or class
Preparation: none (in variation 1: slips of paper with a speaking topic on them)
Time: 15 – 20 minutes

Procedure:
Step 1: In a group of five pupils, one is selected to think of a topic on which to give a short speech (max. 3 mins).
Step 2: The pupil gives this speech.
Step 3: The other pupils in the group each think of a question while listening.
Step 4: After the speech, these pupils ask their questions and the speaker needs to answer them in a polite
way. (E.g. Instead of saying “I don’t know”, they could say “I’m afraid I don’t know.”)
Step 5: Teacher gives language feedback.

Variation 1. The pupil giving the speech gets a slip of paper with a topic on it, e.g. one of this year’s competition
topics.
Variation 2. Pupils can ask their questions in different ways: polite, rude, ignorant, etc. The questions
could be silly, very complicated, unrelated to the topic, etc.

Impromptu speech
Aim: speaking: improvising and fluency
Level: upper-intermediate / advanced
Organisation: groups or class
Preparation: slips of paper: three for every pupil
Time: 20 – 30 minutes (depending on group size)

Procedure:
Step 1: Every pupil gets three slips of paper. They then write one word (concrete or abstract) on each slip and fold it in
four.
Step 2: Collect all the slips and put them on a pile (or in a bag).
Step 3: One pupil comes to the front, draws three slips from the pile and silently reads the words on them.
S/he then gives a short speech (max 3 mins) including the words on the paper. The words should be used in
such a way that the audience don’t suspect which words were on the paper.
Step 4: After the speech the audience should guess which words were on the paper.
Step 5: Then the next pupil / speaker comes to the front and steps 3 and 4 are repeated.

Variation 1. After step 4 the teacher could give language comments and suggestions on how to improve.

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TEACHING IDEAS: HANDLING QUESTIONS AFTER A SPEECH

Keep talking
Aim: speaking: improvising, fluency, making transitions
Level: intermediate / advanced
Organisation: pairs
Preparation: topics for discussion
Time: 15 – 25 minutes

Procedure:
Step 1: The class is divided into pairs.
Step 2: The teacher writes one discussion topic on the board.
Step 3: Pairs decide on who will be the first speaker. The first pupil starts talking about the topic on the
board, the second pupil just listens. This continues until the teacher gives a signal (e.g. claps his/her hands)
after 1 or 2 minutes. The first speaker stops talking, even if this is in mid-sentence. The second pupil continues
speaking where the first one has left off, on the same topic.
Step 4: Teacher writes a second topic on the board.
Step 5: The second pupil starts talking on that topic and makes a smooth transition from the first to the
second topic. This continues until the teacher again gives a signal. The second speaker stops talking, even if
this is in mid-sentence. The first pupil takes over and continues speaking where the second one has left off, on
the same topic.
Step 6: Teacher writes a third topic on the board.
Step 7: The first pupil starts talking on that topic and makes a smooth transition from the second to the
third topic. This continues until the teacher gives the final signal.
Step 8 (optional): The teacher could give language comments and suggestions on how to improve.
Step 9: Repeat steps 2 – 8 with the second pupil starting to talk about the first topic.

Variation 1. Choose discussion topics related to this year’s competition topics.

Secret topic (from: Keep Talking by Friederike Klippel (CUP))

Aim: speaking: improvising and fluency
Level: advanced
Organisation: pairs, class
Preparation: none
Time: 10 – 20 minutes

Procedure:
Step 1: Two pupils agree on a topic they want to talk about without telling the others what it is.
Step 2: The two pupils start discussing their topic without mentioning it. The others listen. Anyone in the
rest of the group who thinks he knows what they are talking about, joins in their conversation. When about a
third or half of the class have joined in, the game is stopped.

Variation: 1. Pupils who think they know the secret topic have to write it on a piece of paper and show it to the two
pupils before they are accepted.
Variation: 2. The game can be played in teams and points awarded according to the number of people
who find out the secret topic.

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SOME SUGGESTIONS ON SPEAKING IN PUBLIC
Given by English-Speaking Union judges at the International Final of the Public Speaking Competition 2008 in London

• Use a clear structure so that the audience is able to follow the speech. This includes using signalling language (e.g.
then, my next point, the third argument, finally), and previewing and reviewing the main points.

• Give the speech a personal touch, let your personality shine through (with a personal thought or emotion),
give it an individual angle by telling something about your part of the world, a personal experience.

• Also include some light-hearted remarks to relax the audience.

• In the body of the speech: if you give arguments / suggest solutions, make them realistic and practical, i.e.
they could work.

• In the question-and-answer session: do not only reiterate what you have said in the speech, add other
information / thoughts / arguments.

NB This list is by no means exhaustive. Please visit our website

www.bbcawards.com for more information.

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