In this 4 week flexible course, students will learn about public speaking and speech writing.

*Note: This is a Flex Class. Flex classes are where there are no live videos to attend class for. Student's can watch the video and complete assignments in their own time, on their own schedule. No specific times for classes will be given. Only dates of which session occurs will be provided. 

Each week will consist of a video for the students to watch, an independent activity, and classroom discussion on that week's topic. 3 of the 4 weeks will also require students to submit videos of themselves demonstrating their public speaking skills and their abilities in writing their own speeches. 

Week 1 is an introduction to public speaking and the course. Students will learn what public speaking is, where we may do some public speaking, specific examples of public speaking, and the 7 elements of public speaking. This weeks activity is a will be a game through the Outschool classroom. This game will allow us to get to know each other, but also will get the students comfortable with starting to speak in class. This game is called "The Big Fat Lie." Students will record a video of themselves saying 3 facts about themselves- 2 are true, one is a lie. Other students in the class will have to guess which fact is the lie. I will also participate, and students can guess which fact I am lying about. This activity helps students to be more conscious of their body language, since we usually have different body language and tells when we tell a lie. 

Week 2 will discuss public speaking skills such as eye contact and voice volume. We will also talk about how to practice these skills. The activity this week is submitting a short video- around 2-3 minutes- that talks about a picture given in class. The picture could be of  a person surfing, and dog playing on the beach, or something else (appropriate for the students of course). Students will make up a story about this picture. For example, if it's the picture of someone surfing, the story could include a possible name of the surfer, where he is surfing, maybe he came across a shark after the picture was taken, what happened to him. The more creative the better!

Week 3 we start learning about speeches and speech writing. We will talk about the 4 types of speeches, and how to write a speech. I will also share some tips on writing and delivering a speech. This weeks activity will be a scavenger hunt. I will start with a type of speech, and the student should find an example of that speech in famous speeches, presentations, etc. Once the student find a speech of that type, they can get the next one. The first student to complete all 4 types and find all 4 types of speeches, wins the game!

In our final week, week 4, students will be writing their own speeches. We will be discussing the different parts of a speech. The activity for the week is writing a speech, and submitting a video (around 5 minutes), demonstrating everything we have learned in the class. The topic of the speech will be decided on at the time of the class. Topics range from what makes a good friend to our favorites (animals, vacations, food). No matter the topic, students should have no problem writing a 5 minute speech about it. 

No experience necessary.