How to write a speech

What is the main purpose of a speech?

• making a claim, providing evidence for the claim, calling to action

• to bore people to death

• to cause violence

Look at the transcript of a speech from The Hate U Give below: What do we want? Justice for Khalil!

We will not leave City Hall ‘case we have the right to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to fight for our freedom! It is our duty to win! We must love and support one another!

We have nothing to lose but our chains!

Hands up! Don’t shoot. 

Starr: My name is Starr. And I’m the one who knows what happened to Khalil. I am the witness! But so are you all! We are all witnesses to this injustice! We see it all and we will not stop until the world sees it too. We will not stop until we do. Everyone wants to talk about how Khalil died. This ain’t about how Khalil died. It’s how he lived. Khalil lived. His life mattered.  Khalil lived!

How does this speech make you feel? What techniques does Starr use to make people to listen to her?

What is a rhetorical device?

• A method to grab people's attention

• A particular sentence, structure or a phrase in order to evoke a reaction from the audience

• A machine that helps you speak

• A tool we use in speech to formulate our thoughts

What is alliteration in speeches? Research and write down an example.

A parallelism is ...

• The repetition of the same sound in one sentence

• The repetition of the same phrase or structure within a complex sentence.

• A double meaning

• Putting two opposing ideas together

Anaphora is ...

• A repetition of the same consonant in one sentence

• A repetition of the same vowel in one sentence

• A repetition of the same word or phrase in two successive sentences

Which of these is an example of an INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE?

• They are the villains!

• The police opress us!

• We have nothing to lose!

• Khalil lived!

Which of these is an example of an anaphora?

• government of the people, by the people, for the people

• “color of skin… content of character”

• Go big or go home.

When a speaker is trying to appeal to listeners' emotions by using emotive language, they appeal to their ...

• ethos

• pathos

• logos

Logos in a speech (e.g. teen pregnancy has decreased in the last five years" is an appeal to ...

• listeners' emotions

• listeners' logic and reason