2nd Prepared Oral Flashcards
To understand…
To understand the reasoning, we need to look back to the beginning; studies have found that when mothers speak their “goo go ga ga” baby language to their babies, it heavily inhibits their language development; the first few years of your life are critical for language development;
the idea…
the idea is that because you know so little about language, you can learn things much quicker than when you have preconceptions about how things should be; this is also why it is much easier for children to become bilingual than it is for those who start learning new languages later in life.
Another reason… (e)
Another reason students struggle, is their lack of engagement with their topics; I am sure our class can attest to the fact that they would much rather talk about their favourite video games than their boring, unproductive holidays;
some of the best…
some of the best speeches come from people who believe in and are invested in the topic they are talking about, this is why the best speeches are often about human rights issues that people passionately believe in. Unfortunately, the subjects that most students would like to talk about are not conducive to an academic environment.
Further, high…
Further, high school and middle school students are very inexperienced. Most students will not have had any experience with public speaking outside of the school environment, where most orals have terrible pacing and uniform tones.
Their lack… (x)
Their lack of experience in the topics they speak about and public speaking is why they struggle so much. Most students will also not have listened to many speeches outside of school, so they are incognizant of how their orals should sound.
One reason that…
One reason that is very evident in some orals is the lack of preparation. Sometimes lack of preparation is due to other factors, like tests or household issues that come in the way of revision or the more relatable issue, load shedding, but in many cases, it is because they have chosen a Netflix special over their revision.
However, time…
However, time allocation is an important issue and time management is a skill that most high schoolers will only have perfected by the time most of their orals have come and gone.
Another issue to consider… (f)
Another issue to consider is a fear of public speaking. The angst that comes with public speaking in general, combined with the fear of not remembering correctly, or worse, mumbling, causes most students to form a healthy and heavy hatred for orals and public speaking.
Fear of…
Fear of public speaking is a common obstacle for students, and it often means that students forget their work or have shaky voices and an utter lack of confidence, which is essential for any good public speaker. Angst follows throughout the whole process of writing, revising and delivering a speech and is a significant factor to consider.
There is…
There is also a heavy focus on memorisation in school orals, which leads to sub-par speaking abilities and flow. Memorisation makes speeches feel sterile and lacks the zeal and natural flow of speech that follows a train of thought.
Expert…
Expert speakers write their speeches with a flow of thoughts and ideas and memorise well enough to retain the essence of natural speaking, but, expectedly, this is not something most high-school orals achieve.
any person…
Any person who has done a Ted Talk will tell you that often, the best parts of their talks were when they strayed from script for a moment to deliver a joke or make a quick side note to highlight something. This is almost entirely missing from most orals.
On a final…
On a final note, it is best to give high school and middle school students some grace, given the circumstances and their utter inexperience, but hopefully, these problems haven’t been too prevalent in my oral.
