Week beginning 11th May - Year 9 Task

Motivational and Persuasive Speeches

The tasks for you to complete this week are all about how to write motivational and persuasive speeches.

This is something that you will have to be able to both understand when they are written by others and

apply to work that you will write.

• You will need to learn a number of different terms and their meanings. You will then identify them

in work that others have written.

• You will also need to understand how to write your own motivational and persuasive speech,

applying the techniques that you have looked at already.

• You will then produce your own motivational and persuasive speech about whether NHS frontline

workers should be given a pay rise.

The purpose of this is to create a motivational and persuasive speech that could be delivered to a group of local

MPs, explaining the crucial role that the NHS has in our society and how they should receive a pay rise from the

Government. We are extremely lucky to have a health service that is free at the point of use. That means that

everybody who becomes ill or gets into an accident or needs medical advice is given help.

Success Criteria:

You will know understand a variety of persuasive techniques and be able to identify both their use and

purpose in famous speeches.

You will be able to include persuasive techniques in your own speech (including those in AFOREST IMP)

You will be producing a persuasive speech on a specific topic – Should the Government give frontline NHS

workers a pay rise?

Support

There is information as well as tasks to complete in this document – these will help you to produce your

responses and your own speech.

Extra Challenges:

Reflect upon and review your own speech, having performed it for someone else in your household. If you

feeling really brave, why not record yourself giving your speech? You could even send this to your English

teacher for them to see!

Key Words:

Gratitude – indebted – altruism – kindness – magnanimity – heartfelt – generous – dedicated – excel – brilliance –

crucial – strenuous – challenging – exceptional – marvellous – stupendous

Also see the key terms below.

Key Persuasive Methods

METHOD DEFINITION / EXAMPLE

Facts Something which can be proved to be true

Opinions Offering a point of view

Counterargument Seeing the other side / opinion

Ethos (Credibility) Emphasising the good character of the writer or speaker.

Logos (Reason) Justifying ideas

Pathos (Emotion) Evoking an emotional reaction: guilt, sympathy,

empathy by using emotive language

Rhetorical questions Posing a question that doesn’t require an answer

Direct address Using ‘you’ to create a synthetic relationship

Personal pronouns I Me

Inclusive pronouns We Our Us

Modal verbs Will Shall May Would Could Should Can Might Must Ought

Tripartite sequence Things listed in 3s

Comparatives Words with …er suffixes: faster, stronger, hungrier

Superlatives Words with …est / st suffixes: best, fastest, meanest

Imperative sentences Commands: you must see this film.

Figurative language: similes, metaphors

Repetition A word, phrase, sentence or idea that is repeated

Syntactic parallelism When a sentence or phrase is repeated in the same position: at the beginning of a paragraph

1. What is Rhetoric?

Do now: Read the below, and summarise, in your own words, the 3 main points underneath.

What is Rhetoric?

Rhetoric is, as simply defined as possible, the art of persuasion: it is the art of getting people to do or think what you want.

Rhetoric is the study and art of writing and speaking persuasively, but doing it well.

Studying rhetoric teaches students to write in a way that ensures people stand up and take notice. Studying rhetoric teaches students to write arguments that are convincing and eloquent. Studying rhetoric teaches students to express themselves in a way which is mature, considered, and well-crafted.

Some might say that life is all about getting what you want. Rhetoric helps with that.

Summary:

1.

2.

3.

Task 1: Write a short persuasive speech to convince a family member that you deserve chocolate! Use your powers of persuasion to make sure you justify why you should get it!

Do now: Read the extract below and complete the comprehension questions that follow:

A History of Rhetoric Part 1

People started using AFOREST techniques to persuade over 2000 years ago. Many historians credit the ancient city-state of Athens as the birthplace of rhetoric. A man’s success and influence in ancient Athens depended on his ability to persuade other men to vote him into power. As a result of this, small schools dedicated to teaching rhetoric (persuasion) began to form. The men that formed these schools were known as Sophists. The Sophists would travel from city to city teaching young men in public spaces how to speak and debate. They taught their students how to make a weak argument stronger and a strong argument weak. Sophists believed they could use language and the written or spoken word to win any debate on any subject even if they had no prior knowledge of the topic. A great philosopher named Aristotle criticised the Sophists. He accused them of manipulating people’s emotions to persuade, rather than using truth. Aristotle was very passionate about Rhetoric. In fact, he was so passionate, he wrote a book on it called, rather unimaginatively, The Art of Rhetoric. This book was a guide on persuasion. It taught people how they could manipulate language and words to get what they wanted. In fact, The Art of Rhetoric was so powerful that it influenced the way people persuade other people for the next 2,000 years. Aristotle is the King of Rhetoric.

1. In which city was Rhetoric founded?

2. Why did people in this city start to study

Rhetoric?

3. What did Sophists believe they could do?

4. Why was Aristotle critical of the Sophists? Aristotle

2. Aristotle

I am not unmindful that some of you have

come here out of great trials and tribulations.

Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail

cells. And some of you have come from areas

where your quest -- quest for freedom left you

battered by the storms of persecution and

staggered by the winds of police brutality. You

have been the veterans of creative suffering.

Continue to work with the faith that unearned

suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi,

go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina,

go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go

back to the slums and ghettos of our northern

cities, knowing that somehow this situation

can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say

to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of

today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a

dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will

rise up and live out the true meaning of its

creed: "We hold these truths to be self-

evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of

Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the

sons of former slave owners will be able to sit

down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of

Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of

injustice, sweltering with the heat of

oppression, will be transformed into an oasis

of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will

one day live in a nation where they will not

be judged by the colour of their skin but by

the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama,

with its vicious racists, with its governor having

his lips dripping with the words of

"interposition" and "nullification" -- one day

right there in Alabama little black boys and

black girls will be able to join hands with little

white boys and white girls as sisters and

brothers.

I have a dream today.

3. Martin Luther King

Highlight any negative

language used

throughout the

speech.

Why is it important for

Martin Luther King to

raise these issues?

Highlight any positive

language used in the

speech.

Why should Martin

Luther King use

hopeful language in

his speech for his

audience to hear?

Which word is

repeated

throughout?

Why do you think

Martin Luther King

chooses to repeat

this particular word?

Look at the section in

bold. What does this

mean? Why is this

significant to drive

change?

Define:

Veterans:

Tribulations:

Persecution:

Oppression:

Oasis:

In this section, explain what Martin Luther King is saying in his speech. In his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, Martin Luther King is arguing for…

Provide some evidence in the form of a quotation.

When talking about his dream for equality, Martin Luther King says, …’

Talk about the quotation you have picked. Explain how it is persuasive.

This is persuasive because makes his audience think of… It is also persuasive because…

Zoom into single words or a language device from the quotation.

Perhaps Martin Luther King uses the word ‘…’ because… This is an example of logos/pathos/ethos because…

Finish your paragraph by explaining how an audience will feel when they hear Martin Luther King speak.

4. How has Martin Luther King used language to be persuasive in his speech?

5. Winston Churchill

Consider this part of Winston Churchill’s ‘This was their

finest hour speech.’ Churchill delivered the speech on 18th

June 1940, explaining why the British could not support the French effectively after the disaster at Dunkirk.

I spoke the other day of the colossal military disaster which occurred when the French High Command failed to withdraw the northern Armies from Belgium at the moment when they knew that the French front was decisively broken at Sedan and on the Meuse. This delay entailed the loss of fifteen or sixteen French divisions and threw out of action for the critical period the whole of the British Expeditionary Force. Our Army and 120,000 French troops were indeed rescued by the British Navy from Dunkirk but only with the loss of their cannon, vehicles and modern equipment. This loss inevitably took some weeks to repair, and in the first two of those weeks the battle in France has been lost. When we consider the heroic resistance made by the French Army against heavy odds in this battle, the enormous losses inflicted upon the enemy and the evident exhaustion of the enemy, it may well be the thought that these 25 divisions of the best-trained and best-equipped troops might have turned the scale. However, General Weygand had to fight without them. Only three British divisions or their equivalent were able to stand in the line with their French comrades. They have suffered severely, but they have fought well. We sent every man we could to France as fast as we could re-equip and transport their formations. I am not reciting these facts for the purpose of recrimination. That I judge to be utterly futile and even harmful. We cannot afford it. I recite them in order to explain why it was we did not have, as we could have had, between twelve and fourteen British divisions fighting in the line in this great battle instead of only three. Now I put all this aside. I put it on the shelf, from which the historians, when they have time, will select their documents to tell their stories. We have to think of the future and not of the past.

1. What is Winston Churchill’s message?

2. What does the word ‘colossal’ mean?

3. What does the word ‘inflicted’ mean?

4. What does the word ‘recrimination’ mean?

5. What does the word ‘futile’ mean?

6. Planning your own Speech

Introduction

Introduce your argument to

your audience.

Ethos

Establish your ethos. Why are you the best person to present this

argument?

Argument #1: Logos

Present and explain the first point of your

argument. Use logos to make your argument

clear.

Counterargument

Consider what the opposing side would say and

explain why their point of view is

wrong.

Argument #2: Pathos

Present and explain the second point of your

argument. Use pathos to make your audience

feel a particular emotion.

Conclusion

Conclude your argument using

logos, pathos and ethos for the final time.

Research Five Facts for your logos paragraph

7. Brainstorming ideas

Write a speech about

whether the

Government should

give frontline NHS

workers a pay rise

If you need a some more help on how to structure your speech, please use the structure strip below:

INTRODUCTION

Declare your opinion on the statement: reason one; reason two; reason three. Rhetorical question?

PARAGRAPH ONE

Introduce the first reason you stated in your introduction. Challenge: to include a fact/ statistic/expert opinion in this paragraph. To finish: use a slogan or a phrase that you can repeat throughout. For example, ‘yes we can’.

8. Writing up your speech

PARAGRAPH TWO Introduce the second reason you stated in your introduction. Challenge: to use alliteration and rule of three together. Remember to use your slogan/phrase from the end of your last paragraph.

PARAGRAPH THREE Introduce the third reason you stated in your introduction. Challenge: to use sophisticated language alongside collective pronouns (we/us) Remember to use your slogan/phrase from the end of your last paragraph.

CONCLUSION In this paragraph, you need to sum up everything that you have talked about. This is your last chance to appeal to your audience. Pull out all of your secret ingredients!

Here are some persuasive writing sentence stems that WOW that you can use to help get you started.

Starting points – always addressed at the reader/listener:

• How many of you would rather/wish/believe that/dislike…

• Imagine a world where…

• Did you know that…

• How many of us can honestly say that…

• I’m sure you agree that it’s a sad fact that…

• How important is your future? Do you care about it? Care about it enough to..

• As you know,

Phrases using that:

• I believe that . . .

• It seems to me that . . .

• Don’t you agree that it would be better to… than

• It is clear that . . .

• It strikes me that . . .

• There is no doubt that . . .

(There can be no doubt that . . .)

• I am convinced that . . .

• It appears that . . .

• It is obvious that . . .

Rhetorical questions:

• Is it any wonder that . . . ?

• Don’t you think . . . ?

• Isn’t it clear that . . . ?

• Isn’t it the case that . . . ?

• How can anyone believe this to be true?

• Does anyone really believe that . . .?

• Wouldn’t you feel distraught if you had to…

• Isn’t this a shocking statistic?

• Terrifying/clever/the only way forward, don’t you agree?

Other phrases to start a sentence with:

• In my opinion . . .

• As I see it . . .

• As everyone knows . . .

• Clearly . . .

• Obviously . . .

• Inevitably . . .

Initial phrases followed by a comma:

• Surely,

• Firstly,

• Secondly,

• Thirdly,

• In addition,

• Furthermore,

• Moreover,

• What’s more,

• To make matters worse…

Phrases to use when providing evidence:

• For example,

• I cite, as an example . . .

• My evidence to support this is . . .

• I would draw your attention to . . .

• I would refer to . . .

Phrases to finish off with - something emotive to leave readers thinking

• My last point is . . .

• My final point is . . .

• Finally,

• Without doubt, …

• In conclusion,

• In summary,

• To conclude I would like to say . . .

• Worst of all,

• Most worrying of all,

• Who of us would condone such a practice? Surely not you!

• As you sit there, consider this:

• I want to leave you with this thought…

• How long can we sit back and accept…

• Don’t just sit there. Do something…

• Our generation is the future… Let’s make it happen together

• Why not choose to do something amazing? Choose to…

1) Highlight and label all AFOREST IMP techniques

2) Find synonyms for 5 words in your speech to up-level vocabulary

3) Perform your speech to someone in your household

9. Extension - Reviewing what you have written