Archive for category How to Teach Homeschool Skill 3: SPEAKING

Giving an effective homeschool speech requires a lot more than just preparing, memorizing, and delivering content. All across the country, home school teens are giving public speeches, but few are connecting with the audience.  Reciting written content without incorporating techniques to foster two-way dialogue, the speaker comes away feeling like the speech just didn’t connect, and in fact, it probably didn’t. Distracted by the lack of personal connection, the audience dutifully played their part by politely clapping at the end, but they were not moved by the speech. Really, they just couldn’t wait for another boring speech to conclude.

But every now and then, a speech by a home school student is totally engaging. The energy in the room is palpable as the speaker seems to be talking personally to every person in the room. The audience really enjoys the homeschool speech from the provocative hook before the introduction to the echo back to the hook at the end. Moved to think about the content, the audience leaves the room feeling like they have just had a one-on-one conversation with the student surprised at how quickly time seemed to fly. Next time an opportunity to hear this homeschool student arises, the members of this audience will eagerly anticipate another great presentation.

What is the difference between the boring one-way speech and the scintillating two-way conversation between homeschool speaker and the audience?  The speaker in the second scenario used dialogue to engage the audience.  Here are five tantalizing tips to generate favorable audience reaction.

1.  Make a personalized provocative statement.

Startle your audience with shocking statistics or other little-known but meaningful facts about your topic.  Stimulate their thought.  Surprise them.  Illustrate a different way of thinking about the subject matter.  If you were judging a homeschool speech tournament, and two students both chose to give an expository speech on the effects of caffeine, which statement would you find more provocative?

“Caffeine is found in many plants and acts as a natural pesticide.”

“While it takes an average adult 6-8 hours to metabolize one serving of caffeine, it can take up to 30 hours for that same serving of caffeine to metabolize in a young child.”

If the audience is full of caring mothers, the second statement is immediately relevant and should cause them to listen closely for more shocking facts.  Unless the audience is full of horticulturalists trying to eliminate pesky insects, the second statement if more effective.

2.  Ask a direct question of one audience member.

Dialogue is a conversation between two people.  Although the homeschool speaker is addressing an audience of several people, he can still ask questions of specific individuals by using the pronoun “you” and making intentional eye contact with certain people.  Continuing the caffeine illustration, consider these two approaches:

[while surveying the entire audience] “Energy drinks like Red Bull contain nearly three times the caffeine of a Coca Cola.”

[while looking at one person in the audience] “Are you aware that energy drinks like Red Bull contain nearly three times the caffeine of Coca Cola?  How many times a week do your kids drink caffeinated drinks?”

A probing question directed to one audience member personalizes the speech.  Most people will nod or speak their response out loud.  This powerful technique establishes an immediate connection between the homeschool speaker and the audience because it takes the focus off of the speaker and places the focus on the individuals in the audience.   Suddenly, the speech is about them, and they are listening.

3.  Tell a compelling story.

Humorous or touching anecdotes are extremely effective at winning the attention of the audience.  We all love a good story especially if it is personal and told in an honest, transparent way.  Vulnerability on the part of the homeschool speaker invokes trust.  The audience begins to see you as a real person with real challenges just like them.  Personal stories are especially effective at generating an audience reaction because they realize that you are the authority on the subject matter since you have walked that path, and they want to learn from your good and bad experiences.

4.  Bring something to illustrate your points.

Audiences love visual aids.  In fact, as home educators we know that the best way to ensure our children are learning is to engage all of the senses -  visual, auditory, tactile, taste, and smell.  My personal favorite way to teach an idea is to show you how it works or how to use it.  Showing is a more efficient use of time and energy than using words to explain every last little detail.  It is so much easier to learn something, too, if you can see how it works.  Let’s say that your homeschool student is giving a speech on the historical development of can openers.  He could bring a pocket knife, a one-piece punch-type can opener, an rotary handle opener, and an electric can opener to illustrate his point.  Or he could use photos and drawings to point out the progression.  If you are using text as a visual aid, limit your text to the most important words like the dates “the 1920s” and “the 21st Century.”

5.  Act out selected portions of the speech.

This weekend my family watched a funny video of a Christian comedian named Jeff Allen.  He was really good at sprinkling his routine with purposeful action.  Once he was talking about a schoolteacher that he had as a child who thought he had ADHD.  This male teacher placed a stiff right palm perpendicular to his forehead,  crouched down in Jeff’s little 8 year old face, and shouted “FOCUS!”  That shocking behavior was funny in a bittersweet sort of way.  Throughout the routine, Allen periodically reminded us of the story by putting his own stiff palm to his forehead and shouting “FOCUS!”  Audiences love it when the speaker becomes animated and surprises with unexpected movement.

These 5 simple ideas are easy to incorporate into a homeschool speech if you are intentional.  Deliver a great speech that makes each member of the audience feel like you are talking directly to them, and they will walk out of the room eager to hear your next homeschool speech!