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GCSE English oral speech

ALJ2002

I have started to write my oral English speech for GCSE, I was wondering if anybody could give me tips and advice and what to do next.

"I never thought much of myself," Bethany said. "I don't know why, I just figured I wasn't worth anything." Bethany was raised by her parents. Her father physically abused her and she was severely neglected by both her parents as a child. Bethany is now studying at high school, in fact she is due to take her GCSEs in the summer, just like we are. She works hard and one day aspires to become a teacher. Because through those dark years, Bethany learned how to survive. She became a stronger person and subsequently wants to make a success out of life. Nevertheless it was not until she acknowledged the pain of her childhood life, that she could remotely appreciate her own success. Successful survivors of child abuse say they learned not to live in the past. Sadly, Bethany is one of many individuals that are experiencing tough times because their past seems to haunt theme on a regular basis. Bethany is one of the lucky survivors who conquered the nightmare she once lived and established a competent, more positive life for herself.

Did you know that there were over 58,000 children identified as needing protection from abuse in the UK last year? However nobody knows exactly how many children are victims of child abuse. Child abuse is usually hidden from view and children may be too young, too scared or too ashamed to speak up about what's happening to them.

Reply 1

xBasedChris

I do a lot of public speaking and debating, so I'll provide some advice on the actual performance.

Inflection and emotion is critical to being a persuasive and entertaining speaker. I couldn't tell you the number of times I have debated or competed against people who have stared down at their scrap of A4 and blandly murmured their argument. Whilst it may be well written, it is critical that the performance is exciting. Make sure to put emphasis on critical parts of the sentence, wherever most powerful. Also, stop and breath, let sentences sink in. When you hit the killer point, such as a cracking statistic or fact, make sure to let it sink in. Again, blitzing through a speech is BAD, let the writing have its impact. Do this, and you should be fine!

Reply 2

Purdy7

I've just completed the English Language AQA exam, and we had to do a 10 minute presentation on a subject agreed by the teacher, I'm not sure if that is the same as your's but here's a few things that we were told:

Be confident in what you are saying - be passionate about the subject.

Use complicated language - i.e. use the lingo of the subject - technical terms.

Keep to the allotted time, including the questions afterwards.

Do not use local accent lingo but standard language - so no ain'ts, you know what I mean etc.

Introduce yourself, and welcome your audience, likewise thank the audience for listening at the end.

We had to use Power Point slides, but that might not be the same for you. If so make sure your data storage works on the schools system, and that videos saved as part of your Power Point actually work.

Have handouts, or items that illustrate what you are talking about. I brought in examples and also had handouts of the slides for each person to write against - that system is used a lot in Universities by students. It comes under the print selection in most Word print programmes.

Do name statistics if you can, alternate sources, and reference - BUT do be aware of plagiarism, if you quote it then quote the source material/author.

Be prepared to ask questions about anything on the subject - thus do something your passionate about.

I hope that helps.

PS see if you can get the criteria marking scheme from the teacher, so you know what bits you have to reach for each grade.