CONGRATULATIONS !!!!
The Informative Speeches are nearly finished and now it is time to look ahead to the Persuasive Speeches. What are some of the topic ideas for Persuasive speaking???? Think of what you would like to convince someone to do or to believe. Here are some past residual messages - note that the "canned" beginning includes the word "should" because it lends itself to a persuasive speech.
1. I want you to know that you should start wearing a seat belt when you drive or ride in a car.
2. I want you to know that you should stop smoking cigarettes to increase your quality of life.
3. I want you to know that you should donate time and money to (name of charity or
organization).
4. I want you to know that you should include two forms of exercise in your daily routine.
5. I want you to know that you should start an investment portfolio now.
About Me
- Dr. Pamela
- PhD in English - Indiana University of Pennsylvania MS in Education - Edinboro University of Pensylvania BS in English - Clarion University of Pennsylvania AS in Liberal Arts and Sciences - Penn State University Religious Education - Mercyhurst University
196 comments:
Ok students - it is Week 3 and I am expecting responses this week from ENGL108-01 class. The responses should specifically deal with the reading assignment. Those who read the BLOG NEWS before I deleted it today got a chance to earn extra points by responding to the questions that I posted. Be sure to check this often if you can. See you on Wednesday!!!!
It’s taking me a long time to decide for a topic for my informative speech, and when I read chapter 4 and 7 I found some useful tips that can help me. For example chapter 4 suggests that when choosing a topic choose a topic you know a lot about or choose a topic you want to know more about. This useful tip helped narrow down my choices for the topics I want. I will also feel more comfortable presenting a topic I already know a lot about, but of course I still need to do research to be more professional. I would have to support my ideas by giving examples, providing statistics, or using testimony. Reading the chapters gave me a better idea of how to prepare for my speech.
I AM IN VITAL NEEDS OF A MEMORY UPGRADE I FORGOT MY USERNAME THIS TIME ND PASSWORD!! Anyway, I agree with Hussa that chapter 4 did help on deciding a topic. I actually benefited a lot from Lucas breaking down speechmaking into steps, first being choosing a topic, then he breaks it down to the topics you know about and the topics you want to know about, I think for the most part students in the first couple of speeches would choose a topic they know about just to feel comfortable in the beginning. Lucas also has a section for people who have trouble choosing a topic, for example making an inventory or writing down whatever topics that pops into your head then narrowing it down.. I think step 3 might be a little challenging just for the beginners at least.. as for chapter 5 I think is really helpful too in all means, because before we give any speech whither it was formal presentation or between friends, we need analyze who we are talking to, our audience, and by answering the three questions: who, what do I want to tell them, and how. ENOUGH WITH THE CHAPTERS IM LOOKING FORWARD FOR THE GROUP SPEECHS!! CAN'T WAIT!!
ENGL 108/01
S00002815
Ayah, have you considered a memory chip for remembering your password? HaHa
As for choosing the topic everyone, you can skim the internet for ideas - or think about various activities you have enjoyed: soccer, racketball, tennis, snorkeling, or whatever it is you like. Think then about how you would organize the topic for a presentation. Perhaps you have been to Sharm el Shaikh and can provide three important considerations for taking a holiday there: 1. Choosing the best flight, 2. Choosing the best hotel, 3. Arranging your time and activities Yours could be the voice of experience. Last semester someone wrote about the top three tourist places in Canada and provided ample evidence of why he claimed those three. Good Luck
After reading through chapter 4, I already feel slightly confident in presenting my topic even though I still don't know what it is! Chapter 4 really teaches you how to narrow down your topic, and how to make it effective rather than ineffective. I think that many of us would benefit from the brainstorming procedure when deciding on our topics as it helps you brainstorm ideas from YOUR personality and things YOU are interested in. As for chapter 5,I believe that your audience is the most important thing when it comes to your speech and your topic. It is vital to keep in mind WHO you are speaking to, and to remember that they may have no knowledge whatsoever on the topic you are talking about, so you have to provide all the information to them. Most importantly, you have to keep your audience interested! When you see them looking up at you and nodding their heads is a good sign, however if you see someone messaging on their phone that is a bad sign, and could either mean that that you haven't been able to get the topic across to them, or they are simply just rude! Anyway, chapters 4 and 5 are extremely beneficial, particularly for students who have no experience in what to say in speeches and how to give speeches!
I think I have found an interesting topic. When looking upon speech about a "process," i remembered a whole televison show based upon this subject. In it were many processes from zero to finish and it was amazing to see how they came about from beginning to end. This show is called "How it is made" and shows the audience how everyday household materials and some more specialized things are made in factories. One such process was how tin foil was made. Did you know that the whole roll of foil you have in your kitchen was made from a huge block of aluminum meters wide and hundreds of meters long? It is taken from an ingot, or block, or aluminum and put into a machine that pounds it for days to make it thinner and thinner. Then imagine how long the full roll of aluminum is when the machine is done pounding! It is kilometers long! It has to be rolled onto itself for strength and then cut into useable pieces for the consumer. As much as that sounds fun to discuss in a speech, I will choose something else as a surprise!
After reading chapters 4 and 5, I learned very important points which helped SO much. Basically, there are three main categories, first is subjects you know a lot about, second is subjects that you are interested in and would like to know more about, the third possibility is to think of subjects that you hold strong beliefs or opinions about, and the fourth is giving a speech to entertain. Although I'm still not sure on what topic to pick, I know that it would definitly have all of those 4 points because it would be the only way I could stand in front of a class and be confident about it.
I'm still not sure as to what my topic will be about for my informative speech. However I'm still thinking and hopefully I will think one up that will interest me and the class. I thought the topics covered in the two chapters will really benefit me when I do my presentations. In my opinion keeping the audience interested in what you have to say is one of the most important aspects needed for a presentation. Hopefully the advice covered in the chapters will allow me to focus on what topic I will discuss.
When I found out that we needed to choose a topic for our informative speech I was overwhelmed because there are a lot of topics to choose from. But after reading chapter 4 and 5 it gave me some helpful steps on giving a classroom speech for students. I liked how the book said that the thesis statement is most important because students usually forget things when they are listening to many speeches at the same time about different topics. That’s why it is important to have a thesis statement that one sentence the sums up the main points in the speech and it is what the speaker wants the audience not to forget. I leaned from chapter 5 that a good speaker knows his audience and can capture there attention. That the speaker has to know what he wants his audience to know and believe and how he can achieve that. I think this is the important information that is going to help me prepare for my speech, now I have a heads start one what topic I might choose.
Yesterday, I have finished reading and I found some interested topic. I learned form this two chapters a lot of information such as, how I choose my topic or any topic I want know more about it. Also, it has mention a big character who speak in public.
ENGL 108/01
Ali Al_Dossary
Engl 108 - 01
I also agree with Hussa on the fact that chapter 4 did give some useful tips on choosing a topic for the informative speech. However, I'm still having some trouble on deciding on a topic. Knowing alot about a topic, in my opinion, might lead a person to think he/she knows EVERYTHING about that topic.. so i dont think i would go with the first category in the chapter. I would much rather explore a topic that I am interested in knowing more about. Also, working on the panel discussions with the group helped alot! For instance, without Ayah i would have never figured out how to find the right book for my sub-topic from the library. As always, i found that through group work we can learn new things from eachother and everyone benefits in the end. Anyway, I'll see you all in class on saterday for the panel discussions. That should be FUN!! :D
Sola El- Haddad
I found that public speaking is more of an experience than a class as it allows the person to discover himself more deeply and allow him to think into different matters more thoroughly and in a broader way. i was extremely surprised with the topics that i was actually interested in after i read the chapters in the book and followed the procedures given inoreder to reach the topic you would enjoy giving a speech about which made me realize that understanding how to speak in public does really affect the way you think and alters some of your interests as you would want that what you say really affects your listeners and not bore them out. i really hope and wish that i would settle on an appropriate topic that would allow me to express myself freely and without any bonds and reach my audience.
Ash
3256
Engl 108-01
Having read the book, I think I am more prepared to deliver a better panel discussion because I learnt new pointers on how to come up with a good speech such as brainstorming.
Also, I think that I should focus on my central idea to help me deliver a better speech.
Hopefully, it will go very smoothly and as planned.
As for the topic for my informative speech, I still haven't made a final decision, although it looks like I will choose to talk about football.
Agreeing with my colleagues, reading the chapters has taken me many strides closer into understanding how one should be able to speak publically. Understandkig how one should pick their topic made me almost setteled with mine. Instead of having an endless number of topics to choose from, now i have a limited number of topics that i will choose from. The part that has really inspired me the most is the section that says that people talk best when discussing a subject that they know a lot about! I guess that this is what i will do! In addition, group discussions, to me, were a practice to the real presentations in this class. I was able to talk freely in front of a small group, which to me, was a great preparation for the larger one!
Maha Fathi
S00004601
108-01
Although there are many topics to talk about i still didn't make my mind up on what topic i m going to be talking about. In chapter 4 and 5 alot of the ideas and the topics that i could talk about are given to us which made my mind go through many ideas that i could recall to be topics that are easily talked about and could be given more wider oppurtunities to express my ideas in . te following chapters gave me alot of help on what to look for and also thanks to Dr. Pamela which is giving us aid in our work.
OHHH GOD... when we started talking about the informative speaches and topic issues, i cant deny that i was slightly overwhelmed, and stressed. Yet after absorbin and readin the chapters in the book i was more relieaved for the way synplistic and illuminating presentakion of the text in helping us. It discussed a crutial fact that wehn proceeding in choosing a topic, it should best be one that we can articulate, know alot about, able of absorbin and and actually feelin at ease when presenting. This particular aspect enlightend ma thought(kinda felt this epiphinal moment)and thought of toics that i can actually realte with through lofe experience or through academic engagement. Another vital aspect that made choosing a topic a more feasble aproach was the way the chapter organized steps in choosing a topic. Another aspect is to lest whaever topics that pop up in ur mind and lust them then gradually narrowing them down to what best tsuits ur thoughts and knowliedge of the topic. basically after reading the chapters the idea of an informative speach and choosing the actual topic became a pleasant one :-p Anyway lookin foreward to tackling this speach and luaphin.. hope the best for all ya guys ;-)
after finishing reading the chapters, it shows me i really can do better in class because it guided me through on how to present and how to pick my topic. i'm still not sure about my choice but the chapters really helped narrow it down espically chapter 4.
When i read through chapter 4 and chapter 7 it showed me many hows of how to choose my topic n it has helped me accomplish it by giving me tips. Some of the tips were of to choose the topic that i most know more about or the topic that i want to learn more about. I also will have to give some very good examples to support my topic and lots of reasearch on the internet. Eventhough i still can't think of the right topic to choose but hopefully it will come up and i will try my best in presenting that topic infront of my classmates.
ENGL 108/01
S00004164
Hi - I had ABSOLUTELY no access to the Internet all day yesterday, so although I won't be graded on this comment, I just thought I ought to put something up.
Anyway, you guys are right! The chapters really do help narrow down at least what kind of topics you want to talk about. My favourite suggestion from the text, as simple and obvious as it is, is from Chapter 4 : Choose something you know enough about already. I liked that one because it kind of leads into the rest of the ideas that it talks about. Thinking you're pretty well-versed enough in something gives you a whole lot to start with before gettting down to the research and credibility (like Chapter 6 for last week talked about).
Also, the little Topic-Finder really helped. I skimmed through each column, and at some, I stopped and thought - yes, I could do that one, or no, I'd never do something like that. Lulu is right - the reading does give you a good boost of preparation about even thinking about your topic!
Anyway, sorry about the late post - am looking foward to Saturday's class!!
Engl 108 - 05
S00002751
I really enjoyed the impromptu on Saturday. I actually think it's funny how I completely blacked out a few minutes before it was my turn - I simply forgot everything - though somehow it all came back to me when Nawaf finished his sentence. It's kind of a bummer though that our group grade was effected due to the hand made v-shaped cards... which I happened to have properly done *waves fist at group members*. But overall, the guys made an awesome group.
I can't wait to see what the informative speeches will be like. I say this because with them, we are the ones that get to choose the topics. And when we get to choose the topics, confidence is... boosted in a sense; not that confidence equates to good speeches or anything.
Anyway, I’ll see you guys on Wednesday.
Meng De
Mohamad Bader Mansour
ENGL 108 05
S00002549
HEY all,
i hope that you all choose your topics. I cant wait to inform the class about my topic....HAH i wont tell you. You'll have to wait.
Listen, reading the chapters is vital for choosing your topic. My personal advise is to talk about something uniique. Also try informing the class about something they dont know about. That way they wont sleep when they are listining to you. LOL.
I hope everyone does his best, but ill be the best for sure.
Ill c u all on wednesday
I really enjoyed doing the panel discussions. It allowed me to see how it requires both group and individual work to get a good grade. I also enjoyed watching the other groups discussions and allowed me to learn from there mistakes.
Dr. Pamela mentioned that this was the first time she has done the panel discussions and i would definately reccomend that you do them again next course.
Nour AL-Baqsami
Eng 108 - 05
I have finally decided to know what to write for my informative speech. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to write the questionnaire down and hand it in to the class because before that I was deciding on a different topic that wouldn't work so well for the speech. However now that I have ready topic ready I may have the chance to create my questionnaire. Furthermore, I'd like to say that riding through the chapters has helped me a lot in knowing the materials you need to know for public speaking. For example, Chapter 8 and 9 has given me the information to know the meanings of such words as transition and what they are used for. In chapter 9, it has given me the knowledge in how to prepare your introduction in your speech, as this is the most important thing is the introduction as it indicates the audiences' attention !
In conclusion, I would like to say that hopefully my informative speech will go well and I will know by the materials I need for my speech after reading the chapters.
Thank you
Auob Sharafy 2455
Hi every body I just want to say that I like panel discussion because it is a kind of group activity, and it also was my first time.
I also read some of your questions for informative speech, and some of them are a very nice topic such as handicaps, lens surgery, and …..
In the end I just want to say to have a good weekend, but do not forget about the quiz on Saturday. And as a doctor Pamela said it is going to be from chapter 4,5,7, and 12
Thank you
EGL 108 -5
Mohammed Ali
I read the chapters and I found them very helpful, but the problem with me when I start to talk in front of people I get nervures because I’m not that good in English with my language. I always feel like I will say the wrong word but I’ll try my best. I got back some of my questionnaire, I found out that I gave you guys old one, because I change some words in it but it was not too much changing. Also I saw that the entire male seems like to know everything about my topic. I hope I can make it interesting for you guys
Engl 108-05
Hello everyone,
I really enjoyed our panel discussion even though i was nervous when i started with the intro the nervousness sort of faded away.
Reading the chapters really helped me with my Questionnaire struture and i knew exactly what type or questions i should ask and how they might help me.
Reading the chapters showed me what Dr.Pamela might be looking for in the informative speech even though i think that 4 mins is a long time i believe i'll be fine, cause the people in my class have a way in making me feel sort of comftable like im talking to all my friends at the same time so in the end i dont do as bad as i thought i would.
English 108-05
I really like the panal discussions we had although to me they seemed to be more informative or pressuasive than disscusions since there wasn't a great amount of disscusion going on. I was very impressed with the amount of information presented during each disscusion since I'm aware it is very hard to find information on Kuwait's statistical data. I think the smoking panal and the Abuse panal were done very well and were very informative about the situation in Kuwait. Also this disscusion panal kind of gave me an idea of how I might do on the informative speech and how I have to improve myself to become better.
First of all, id like to say that it was fun enjoying all panels. I also think i did pretty well compared to my 1st speech.
second, i recommend everyone to read chapter 7 before writing their imformative speeches. This chapter tells what is needed in a speech. anyways, chapter 4 and 5 talk about how to find a topic to talk about and chater 12 mentions how to deliver a go0d speech to your audience.
engl108-05
ENG108-05
I think the panel discussions our class made was a great start. We learn from such experiences and this helps us become better public speakers. For the informative speech, it isn't going to be easy because we need to do a lot of preparation and practice so that the speech can turn out to be good. After having read the chapters in the book, it definitely helped me prepare and know the aspects I should include for an proper informative speech.
Hi everyone, i believe that the panel discussion was very helpful to us in learning how to be organized and deliever the speech in the correcy way.Still, i think the problem i noticed even in myself is that we read too much off of the cards rather than explain it and give full eye contact to the audience.My colleague Adullaziz was probably the best one to do so.All in all every group did great, and the best way to improve is reading the chapters specially ch.12 like noor said will help with your speech delievery in particular.
108/05
Hey all,
i enjoyed all ur panel discussions they were all very enlightening...good job!
I was pretty nervous when i had to say my part but it turned out fine, our group did great!
Im looking forward to the informative speeches, judging from the questionnaires they will be very exciting.
study well...good luck
Oh Btw- the time now is 6:30, the blog is one hour late!
Hello all! I appreciate hearing about the chapter reading because I cannot stress enough how important it is to read these chapters closely. Please also read Chapter 8 & 9 for this week as it will be really important to be in class this week for three days of lecture on how to put together the best speech possible. As for the blogs - some of them are quite short. Since you are blogging once every two weeks I am expecting some real critical thinking about what you are reading - and hoping to see you relate it to real life. We have to become a little better at doing this part. If you have blogged just a short remark you may want to make a second blog to relate your thoughts about one of the units that you've read and perhaps how you are going to work it into your own speech. Good Luck
I didnt decide yet on my topic for the informative speech , but i got to admit that reading chapter 4 and 7 helped me alot as i would choose to talk about something that i already know about because i think it'll make me feel more confident talking bout something that i have a background about .. but i still got to do some research to add some statistics and give more examples on my topic .. one more thing i realized after reading those chapters is that you got to know your audience's background about your topic thats why i'll try to keep as intersting for my audience as i can.
good luck for all you guys with your speechs
Everyday i discover that public speaking has more benefits than obstacles or drawbacks as i found out that my confidence has increased greater than it used to be and that was during the group presentation today which lead to my excitement, and motivated and supported me to perform my introduction next week. i am really excited about the introductions next week as i am very interested to hear about some of the topics in the questionnaires.Good luck everyone:)
I am starting to appreciate our book by Lucas. At first, I thought it was easy to do a good speech because its obvious what is required. However, the more we do speeches in class, the more I see how much there is room to improve. Some new obstacles I found since doing my first improvisation speech about Starbucks include: organization from most to least relevant points, giving examples/testimonies/statistics to further the point of the speech, to give a residual message that leaves the audience something to think about, and telling a story or using other attention-getters to dramatize or emotionalize the audience. These may be small adjustments one can make to improve his or her speech, but once mastered, they can have very positive effects on the quality of the final presentation. I still think that many of the points Lucas makes are obvious. But then again, those who dont know much about cars, for example, will need to know everything about them to be good drivers. The same goes with being a good speaker.
Shaha and Duai, i really agree with what you both are saying!! This class is really becoming beneficial for me!! In the beginning, i felt that the class presentations we did today in class were useless and a waste of time. That is because the materials we covered were things that we had already known from reading the books. BUT, i learned a very important leasson today: i was able to tell, from reading the book ofcourse, where some of our weak points are. Also where our strong point lied!!! I was surprised today actually with how, as a class, we were able to have some feedback for each presenter speaking! We are all becoming EXPERIENCED public speakers now!!! Shaha...Great job! you were talking today about "Attetion Getters," and the way you said it really caught my attention!! Loads of luck everyone! Have a great weekend! :)
Maha Fathi
108-1
S00004601
I completely agree with Duaij, speeches are not easy to do they require a lot of elements to be really good. And the book shows us the many different factors that make a good speech. After reading the chapters I feel more comfortable talking in front of the class. The presentations in class we did today helped decrease the stress of the informative speech. And I really liked the way the class collaborated on the peer critique, it gave me some confidence. I think I have a good voice delivery but I need to work on my eye contact, I still feel shy to look at my audience especially the males.
There is no doubt that I agree with my classmates, reading those couple of chapters is a win win situation, it helps us bit by bit to perfect our speeches. To put it in simpler terms, speeches are kind of like recipes you need all these ingredients to make it exquisite and tasty for your eater to remember it's taste out of all the other recipes he/she tasted. You could easily bake a cake but forget small ingredient like a pinch of salt or 1/2 tsp of vanilla but still make it work but it would taste better with the full ingredients. Anyone could put a recipe together but not a lot of people could work on its presentation and make its taste worthwhile.. (Sorry about the example but I’m studying to be a chef in the future :D) so in some way reading this book introduces me with new ingredients to perfect my speech and Lucas makes it easy to pick the ingredient out easily out of aisles and aisles of the same product, a couple may work fine but only one would make my speech sharp.. Honestly, I’m having a HARD TIME with my speech, I thought a lot of people would have an interest in FIFA but after I got my questionnaire back I was LOST:(.. A good 85% didn't know anything.. I’m trying to work on it to make it interesting for you guys.. WISH YOU GUYS THE BEST OF LUCK!! ND HAVE AN AWESOME WEEKEND!!
AYAH I. Mahmoud
108-01
S00002815
This is echoing what a lot of you guys said before, but you're absolutely right - the book is proving very valuable. I mean, the points Lucas presents are sometimes stuff you've heard before, but the way he presents things, especially in chapters 8 and 9 really made me feel more and more confident that there are so many possibilities that can make your speech super! And they're usually simple stuff, like logically mapping out your points so that they're consistent and more organised. Also, what makes it easier is this real warmth and confidence that practically exudes from everyone - that's a major confidence booster.
By the way, how did you guys find your questionnaires? Were they useful? Personally, I found mine were great - they really gave me a great insight into what you guys know (or don't know) about Swing. I didn't expect most of you to have heard of Billie Holliday, so I was very surprised to hear that some of you - I think a couple of you - have heard of her! But seriously, the questionnaires, I think, change the direction in which you were going to talk about your topic, because it gives you just a little info on what everyone knows. Thanks for the info, guys! Oh yeah, I've been thinking about actually playing like a 15-second sample of some really popular Swing music - what do you guys think? Would it add an interesting twist to my presentation or would it just be boring? I thought maybe it would be a good idea because it would give the class a general idea of what Swing sounds like, 'cos, I mean - I'm talking about music, so there should be some music involved, right?
Before I go, I just thought I'd share a little something Emerson said about public speaking - "Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel" Isn't that nice? See, in my opinion, there's just so much bubbling energy contained in each of our minds that it is a joy to share it with all us other people. Each of us have this wonderful ... thing to share with everyone, and public speaking just makes sharing that thing a lot easier - what do you guys think?
Well, peace out - Have a GREAT weekend!! (PS. the timing is now, like, 2 hours ahead. :D)
As most students that have read chapters 8 and 9 we can see that alot of what was said in these chapters is usually used in the speaches that were said but students wouldn't have recognized them before. For example the use of signposts are usaully used in every day conversations but the difference is that when you start knowing much of all these connectives you can see that the speeches well become more profissional. Also the audience would feel that the speakers knows exactly what they want to know and how the speaker could reach the specified audience. Also the typical formats of how to give any kind of speach will help any person that has no experience in such area or it even could help a student to organize the structure of their speeches. I found chapter 8 and 9 so amusing because in some way much of what was said and told to be done is usaully done in every day life but with the information i now feel that i have more background knowledge on how to use all that professionaly in my speeches.
I felt that this week in public speaking was very beneficial. Particularly the questionnaires as it was excellent feedback and has really helped me decide on what I'm going to say for my speech!Also, I began to be very nervous about the Informative Speech introductions on Saturday but after the group presentations on Wednesday it really helped ease the stress and I feel a lot more confident now. The book is extrememly useful as well, it is easy to read and understand and helped me a lot in choosing my topic and how to lay it out
I felt that this week in public speaking was very beneficial. Particularly the questionnaires as it was excellent feedback and has really helped me decide on what I'm going to say for my speech!Also, I began to be very nervous about the Informative Speech introductions on Saturday but after the group presentations on Wednesday it really helped ease the stress and I feel a lot more confident now. The book is extrememly useful as well, it is easy to read and understand and helped me a lot in choosing my topic and how to lay it out
I felt that this week in public speaking was very beneficial. Particularly the questionnaires as it was excellent feedback and has really helped me decide on what I'm going to say for my speech!Also, I began to be very nervous about the Informative Speech introductions on Saturday but after the group presentations on Wednesday it really helped ease the stress and I feel a lot more confident now. The book is extrememly useful as well, it is easy to read and understand and helped me a lot in choosing my topic and how to lay it out
I definitly was glad we got a last chance to present somthing in front of the class, just gave us one more boost for our confidence. Believe it or not, I'm kind of exciting to present my topic on Saturday. I think it's going to be interesting to hear other people's introductions, plus I could get feedback from the students on how I could do better. Having the handouts that you gave to us helped SO MUCH MORE! After your explanations on exactly what we should do, I finally knew what was going on and I wasen't so lost. As usual, reading the chapters 8 and 9 helped me and I got a new perspective on what to do and how to prepare my speech more.
I agree with my class mates, we all thought we know how to do a speech but when we read the chapters about how to give a speech it was really helpful. Reading the chapters from Stephen E. Lucas gave me ideas on how to start my introduction with the “attention getting”. Seriously the book is a step by step guide on how to create a really good speech. On Wednesday went all the groups got in front of the class and presented information about speeches it help me understand a lot of things and it also helped the students to practice talking in front of the audience before we get to present our introduction for our informative speech.
ASH K.
3256
108-01
I think that we has a ver busy week, with the questionnaires and all, not to mention the presentations on Wednesday.
It's true that I had trouble with my questionnaire, but I think I managed to overcome the problem before it was too late. And now I have all my new questionnaires back so I can study over the weekend. If I was just a day late I would have missed 3 days just to wait for my new questionnaires to come back so I can study them.
As for the presentations, I think that it was a perfect way to get a few pointers for preparing "the perfect speech".
Gradually i have been absorbing the fact that each time we procede with a class its becoming an enhansion to my knowlege of speaking in public and not only the actual benefits in performing .Know i am truly just appretianin the way lucas dicusses the chapters on how to develop clear, organaozed, coherent, and appealing sleaches.. shuch aspest is indeed an illumintaion on actual day to day life and futaristic occupatinal practice (one could really grasp the essence of developing an outstanding speach from all angles) The class seemed fun and grabbing since the day we startded, its still is and maybe more , how ever nowe i just see it with an appreciative eye. through the readings espesially now that we reached chapters 8 and 9 the material semes more comlesx , yet exceedingly clear and more feasable in understanding. Various valiable aspects ands steps r staede thrugh these chapters that somehow turn truly turn out to be forms of advise for attaining a good understanding pf public speaking and creating our informative speach. Some of the integral points discussd in the chapters and class were organizing the main points (the key aspects of the presentation), inculding exaples to support in the information one is presnting, testimonies.Two other aspects taht are truly crutial in presenting good s;eaches are not only obtaining the specific purpoe after the main one, but to also incude a risidual message( to actually leacve the audience with a specific mesage they would think about) and the importance of attention getters through out the speach. These aspect truly created a cleares more feasable pathway for me and hopefully my peers in class to attain a succeful informative speach and a goog introduction starting on saturgday.. lookin forward to hear the introductions . good luck everyone ;-)
I appreciate all the feedback and the collaboration between students concerning the various topics we discussed in class and what Lucas has presented in The Art of Public Speaking. We are making great progress and I think you'll be pleased with the speeches in how they turn out after we see the introductions this week. I truly hope you will forget about being nervous and remember that everyone is in the same boat. My very very best to all of you as you prepare to show us your introductions! Dr. Pamela
this week so far has been the toughest week for me, it was very confusing and a bit messed up, because we had an overload of work to do in very littel time. and i think that the book is not really that helpfull, it does guid you on how to present, but really all you need for a presentation is to know your topic and to have confindence in your self and to grab the audiences attention.
Mohammed, if you read the chapters thoroughly, you will discover very helpful ideas to enhance your skills in public speaking. The chapters cover many of the traditional skills needed to do this successfully. If we choose to ignore the advice, then we set ourselves up for potential problems. Even in the lectures, when students pay close attention and try to build their own topics around the important elements of a good speech, they usually succeed.
By the way, good for all of you who are getting something out of the chapter reading. It really reinforces what we should be doing and covers details that we do not have time to cover in just a 50-minute class period. So congratulations to you for taking charge of your own learning. Good attitudes! See you in class!
Dr. Pamela
well miss i completly agree with you, the book is actualy very helpful but it gives you the impression that in any presentation we have to use all that is given. But in my opinion i think that all you need to have a successful speach is confidence and at the same time entertain the audience and garb their intrssed by my topic.
Engl 108-05
S00002751
The peer critique I got on my intro today was quite pleasing; I hope that the actual presentation will leave a similar or even better impression on the audience.
For those of you who get a little nervous before the speech (all of you), I believe the key elements to feeling confident during the body of the speech, is to choose the appropriate speech type (Object, Process, Event, Concept) and order (chronological, spatial... etc). With that done, the sequence that will commence in your head, will feel as 'second nature', that is provided you followed the five steps on page 317 of the text book.
My phone has a recording max of one minute, so I guess I’ll have to get the family cam-recorder for the informative speech - yes I am old school.
For those of you doing your intros on Monday, good luck, I’ll see you guys then.
I read chapter 8 and 9.Tthis two chapter benefit me lots because it teach me the different king of strategy to organized my speech. On another hand, I looked for some speech in the CD. Which it gave me acknowledge about how to present my speech. I advise my entire classmate to see some speech in the CD to help him.
By Ali AL_dossary
ENGL 108/01
S00002848
after the intro speech I felt more confident than before and the peer critique actually helped. I am focusing on the weak spots that I have during speaking. also, the book is helpfull. before,I just though that speaches are easy to do. however, throughout the course i'm beginning to understand how its not about the speech, it's also about how I perform like eye contact, volume, attention graber, etc...
I thought doing the introductions was a good idea. It helped me get started on my informative speech and also gave me an idea of how it was going to be. The peer critiquing also helped and showed me what my weaknesses and strengths are. I am looking forward to the Informative speech and also can't wait to just get it out of the way.
Dear all
Today is Wednesday 21/03/2007
And I just want to tell you that all of you did good job in the informative speech (introduction)
Also in this week we suppose to read chapters 10&14
Chapter ten is about outline, and it talks about haw we can prepare an outline. It talks about different part of an outline. For instance
• State the specific purpose of your speech
• Identify the central idea
• Label the introduction, body, and conclusion
• Use a consistent pattern of symbolization
• State main point and sub points
• Label transition, internal summaries, and internal ore views
• Attach a bibliography
• Give your speech a title, if one is desired
Also this chapter is very important if you want to make an outline. And in this chapter you can get all of the information that you need it.
And chapter 14 is basically about the informative speech. And this cheaper is very important because next week we have an informative speech.
In this chapter you will learn
• Speeches about object
• Speeches about process
• Speech about event
• Speech about concept
Guidelines for informative speech
1. don’t overestimate what the audience knows
2. relate the subject directly to the audience
3. don’t be too technical
4. avoid abstractions
5. personalize your ideas
In the end I wish that you are going to have a good weekend
Fahad Jafar
engl 108-05
The informative speech introductions we have done were very useful. They helped greatly to show us how to actually structure our speechs and how we will need to procdue with the rest of our informative topic. It also showed what part we are most weak on in our speechs and what needs to be improved in them. The peer critics were also very helpful it helped in showing what parts the class thought that the person needed to improve in and was very constructive in building and improveing the informative speech for the time when we have to preform the whole thing for the whole class. I think that makeing us go through those introductions before the real speech was a good idea to help us imporve on our speech and help us get past our initial anxity of presenting a topic infront of the whole class.
English 108-05
Hello everyone,
I really liked the introductions for the informative speeches they were very useful and interesting.
I particularly liked the peer critique I thought that their opinions were very important and honest, I could certainly rely on them to improve my speech.
I do hope that the actual speech goes better than the introduction for me because no matter how many times I stand up there and talk every time I have to stand in front if the class I feel very nervous and I think that they can see that, that’s one part I will be working on.
Chapter 9 was very helpful while I was working on my introduction I used it a lot, the tips for preparing the intros were very enlightening even though I didn’t use all of them, it also helped me phrase and establish my credibility statement.
I am currently reading chapter 10 so I can work on outlining my speech correctly and
Keeping it as brief as possible.
Engl 108-05
Hi Everyone,
The introductions went really well and they were all very interesting, I was very nervous because I thought I was going to mess up the whole introduction even though I practiced a couple of times before class. Fortunately I didn’t mess up and the peer critiques were very positive, they certainly boosted my confidence! I still need to improve my eye contact though.
I am currently working on my speech that I will deliver on Wednesday. I did a lot more research on my topic so I can cover all the key points in the right way but still keep it as brief as possible and try not to get carried away, its only 4 minutes!
I advise everyone to read chapter 12 thoroughly because it will help them a lot with their speech delivery, I am sure you will all find it very useful. I have read it and I changed a lot of stuff on my speech since then.
To the people who are delivering their speeches on Saturday, GOOD LUCK and don’t forget to bring your note cards and video cameras with you!
See you all on Saturday, enjoy your weekend!
ENG 108-05
Our class made a tremendous improvement in delivering speeches and this shows that the more practice we get, the better we become. The introduction speeches were very helpful because they were like a preview of the actual informative speech. We can do adjustments to improve etc.
We are supposed to hand in our outlines and by reading chapter 10, it helped me understand how to arrange an outline in the right order. Also, it made me know what to include in the outline and speech so that it would be considered correct.
to start of with the introductions.. i know, people on the second day got better feedback because we learned and took advantage from the people who did their introductions on the first day.
Now to the chapters, we're all doing Extemporaneously speechs which are speechs that are prepaired and rehearsed and that will be presented using a set of notes. Other than that the student must use the peer critique and see what their opinions were on how to improve. Chaper 12 baisically talks about the volume, pitch, pace of talking, prononciaton of words, body language, eye contact and all those things.
chapter 8 talks about the outline and how to prepare it, i heard alot of people didnt do good on that, so anyone whos doing their outline now and hasnt been through chapter 8 should go through the chapter first. Organization is imortant it leads you to an A speech.
Then after going through chapter 9, you will learn about what is needed in your intro., how to get the audiences intrest. We must make sure the topic relates to the audience as it also relates to us, by that i mean we must have experinced what were talking about because that really does help alot.
As Dr Pamela has said the A grade is her pocket and she wants to give everyone but we have to deserve it. So i think anyone aiming for an A has a chance to go over the CDs that come with the book, they are perfect speeches and we should learn from them. now people presenting on saturday shouldnt get any grades lower than group 2 , 3 or even 4.
Engl108-05
I forgot to say, yes chater 10 does talk about how to prepair the outline but i also found chapter 8 usefull.
Hello class,
The introduction to the informative speeches was delivered in an excellent manner; I thought each and everyone of you did a great job, well done!
The peer critiques were very useful because by these opinions we can improve our speeches in a big way.
I am currently working on the delivery of my speech I referred back to chapter 14 for help with the organization & the basic guidelines. Chapter 9 has helped me out with the outline so anyone who still hasn’t given in their outline I think you should read that chapter.
I will try as much as I can not to be technical & to personalize my ideas I am also focusing on the weak spots that I have during speaking... I am sure you will find my speech interesting & enlightening.
I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday & Enjoy your weekend!
hi all ..
I think the intros were very helpful for every one in class. For me in the beginning I was doing good but when I reach the part about the research I stared to loss the words , but I think I will do much batter in the presentation day, coz on Monday I knew that the situation gana be. From the book I found it so helpful especially chapter 9. For the out line chapter 8 show as how to do it, but the paper that Ms. Pamela gave it, it’s very helpful, and just does it like the example. Today I saw that all the student were good and we can noticed that the have improved their presentation. And for the student who will make their presentation on Monday … wish them all the best
Good job everyone:) I really and trully enjoyed the speeches that were done this week as i have seen a lot of improvement in many of the peoples performances as i realized that many students have benefitted from what has been said and done in class. I am really nervous and excited about my speech and deeply wish that everything would turn out the way i want it too as i am a member of one of the toughest public speaking classes. However, i believe that the support and help we gain from our friends ,class and professor would be sufficient for us to succeed. Good luck to all members of my group next class!!
hello everyone!
im so glad my speech is over and went well, although however much i worried about it the night before, when i actually got up to say it i felt a lot more comfortable and i think this was because of the introductions and of all the other practice speeches we have done. but i know i still have to increase my volume! also, the book and cd ARE SO HELPFUL! i dont know what i would have done without them, watching examples on the CD was extremeleyyy helpful so i think everyone should watch them. now i actually enjoy speaking infront of the class whereas before i use to dread the day of my presentations! also, the transitions section is very helpful too and by reading the book and listening to other peoples speeches they have shown me how important transitions are and how they make your speech so much better, they make one thought flow onto the next. not only me, but i have seen a lot of people improve their speeches over the last few weeks, i think that the most important thing is to feel comfortable around the rest of the class and for classmates to show support to one another.
have a nice weekend..
lulu :)
THANK GOD my speech is over! it felt like a nightmare that i woke up from. Yet, although it might have been a challenging experience, the speeches were worth it! While working on it, i was seriously amazed from the amount of time it took me to work on this speech, and i constantly asked myself, "Why is a four mintue speech taking 4 years to finish?" But the answer to my question came when i finished my speech! The hard work really paid off in the end! And i have really learned that a speech is not successful because of WHAT you say in it as much as HOW you say it to gain your audience's interest! I am beginning to think of what my persausive speech should be...and the informative, im sure, really got us ALL prepared for the real ones!!!! i am so glad that i could tell now, just by hearing a speech if it is an effective speech or not, thanks to the book and the CD's!!! To anyone who still did not present yet...THE CD'S ARE A GIFT FOR MASTERING YOUR SPEECH! good luck everyone....
Have a great long weekend everyone, i am so glad it came after the speeches! :)
Maha Fathi
S00004601
108-01
well as many of the students in group 1,2 and 3 are having a relief from all the work that they have done on there speechs.. i too am feeling this relief from all the panick and nervousness of getting the speeches out of the way. but soon enough we are going to have those panicki days , although it may not be as the same as the first speeches that we have delivered. So we've got one thing out of the way but we have to look forward for the coming persuasive speeches. i would like to say although i know that i haven't got my best performance on when i deliverd my speech i m feeling that i would do much better next time because i m going to look into what i have done wrong and try to make the best out of my preparation. i would like to say one more thing and that is all the speeches that were delivered on saturday, monday and wednesday were bueatifully performed and i hope that each person in the other groups would look through the feed back that was given by Dr Pamela because they would learn out of these much more than they would think they would learn out of a book. Also i would like to put forward that while i was reading chapter 13 i ve considered taking all the bits which would best suit my persuausive speech and i would advise any person to look at the chapter for their preparation.
in the end i want to say Good luck to all the other groups that are going to give there speeches soon!!
I can't honestly say that I had a blast the last two weeks. It was nerve wrecking. All my life I though that I was confident in doing speeches infront of people. However, our class makes me nervous for some reason. Also, throughout our practice speeches and peer critiques, I found myself improving by the minute. The book and CD helped. I bought it a day before my speech and it actually helped. It helped with the transitions and how to prepare my speech and all that jazz. Even though you feel like you are going to die before going up to speak, it gets easier by the second. Before when we started the group speeches I used to get all nervous and forget everything in a second, my face turns red and i also tend to stutter. Finally, I find that practice is whats helping me the most. fortunately, I know my weaknesses and i'm starting to work on them.
Hadaya Al-Othman
108-01
I feel more confident preparing for my upcoming speech and I think this is partly due to the CD's that came with the textbook. I think watching actual people presenting topics with a professional attitude really gave me an idea of what to strive for in regards to my own speech. I hope to incorporate everything I detect from watching the videos and from listening to all the comments people who already did they speeches recieved in order to better my speech. All in all, I hope I do a good job and do my topic justice.
ENG108
S00001255
HELLO EVERYONE, i totally agree with hadaya, we are all good if not great speakers outside class but then come in class and i go totally blank, i guess the introductions helped a little. Actually for some odd reason i was more comfartable talking in my introduction than in my actual speech. everyone is agreeing that they are happy to be done with their speech, IM NOT, because i know i could have done soooo much better if i were a little calmer, because i LOVED my topic and i wanted to inform my classmates more about it because it shocked me to know that not alot of people knew about it, but i was nervous (sorry..), anyway i thought group 1 was actually pretty strong overall! i remeber the speeches that stuck w/ me were sola, hadaya, maha and najd.. group 2 obviously i was nervous and can't remember anything for that day! but i remember i liked all the speeches, group 3 great job. i can't wait for group 4 speeches, hope you guys are prepared...
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!! ND STUDY FOR WENDESDAY'S QUIZ!!
ENGL 108-01
S00002815
i completly agree with aya the intro was so bettre then the speech, it made me feel more comfortable. i knew everythng by heart for my speech, but as soon as i was in front of everyone, i lost all my confidence and couldnt remembre what i wanted to say. thats explains why u guys saw me read instead of present. but hey everyone learns from their mistakes, i hope i'll do bettre next week!!
Eventhough i think i just blew it on the speech but some people told me i was pretty good in it. The thing that gave me confidence was the introduction, because i guess it was pretty easy to deal with. I even memorized the intro and i tried to do the same for the speech, but dat didnt work. I really liked the topic i was talking about because i was sure it would be somthing my fellow students would want to know more about, because its effecting Kuwait, am also talking about car accidents in kuwait. Eventhough my speech i think was the shortest speech in the class, i actually didnt feel it was short and i even timed myself a few times back at home the day before the speech. As Dr. pamela said i was rushing through and i wish i didnt. Its also a good thing that i know my mistakes now so i can learn from them in the future and thanks Dr. Pamela for telling us all our mistakes to prepare us for future speechs, i really like this class more than ever since that last speech.
ENGL 108-01
S00004164
Wow, am I EVER glad my speech is over! But believe it or not, I had a lot of fun this week, watching all the other speeches and just seeing everyone improve on their speeches. I can't wait to see group 4 present. I would have to say to Dr.Pamela that the best thing she did was let us do our introductions first, you have no idea how much it helped. THANK YOU! all those hand outs and lectures you gave us made things so much easier. I wonder how were all going to in the persuasive speech, surprisingly to say, I'm excited!
Hi - sorry for the late blog- slipped my mind!
Anyway, the speeches were pretty impressive, most of them included everything which really reflects everything we've been working on up until now. The CD's were such a great help! Although they were different with regard to timings and a bit on the actual speech structure, they were, like Basil said, pretty professional. I remember I tried to keep in mind how the speaker of "Chilli Peppers" varied his tone, and how the speaker for "Feng Shui" relied lightly on her note cards. But as I went through my own note cards, I formed sentences in my head, rather than reading them off.
Plus, watching the video for the Self-Evaluation was fun, too. Only then did I realise that the beginning of my speech was a bit wooden (only because I was a little nervous,) but as soon as I got into my element, it became fun to be up there talking. Plus, Hajer, you're right - it was great of Dr. P to have us do our Intro's first - it really encouraged me to go ahead and keep it up; especially since I knew I'd done some of it before.
Maha, you're right when you said that it felt like it took 4 years to prepare a 4-minute speech. But last year, I had to prepare a 15-minute French speech on the history of French Music (from, like 7th Century to the 21st), and it took us two terms or so, doing research - A LOT of it - and reading and summarizing and editing our points, learning some key points and rehearsing every single day for, like 3 weeks or so. But when the time came for us to actually go in and record our speech, by the time I had come to the conclusion and the teacher had stopped the recorder, I was a bit surprised and thought "Hey - I'd just started!" But it was worth it then, and it definitely worth it on Monday.
All the stuff we read and read (those tips from Lucas were perfect -really.) and the many times we practiced to the point that it became annoying really helped pull everything off.
Anyway, see you all on Monday - I am perfectly convinced we can do a great job, every single one of us. I can't wait to hear the rest of you. (PS. That's one of the things that helped - the class is just so supportive of what each one of us do, and that makes everything a whole lot easier.)
Engl 108-05
S00002751
After checking out the vid for my speech, i noticed how 'un-relaxed' i was... i guess that's ok in this class, where everyone is considerate of the position of the speaker, but in real life, i doubt that i can afford such presentations.
I liked Yousef's and Nawaf's speeches, they seem to enjoy a sort of natural charisma, which made me prone to approach their speeches in anyway but pessimistic (not that i approached any speech pessimistically) - maybe it has something to do with basketball... *buy's b-ball gear*. Shahad's was also synonymous to perfection, specially the organisation and flow.
I am looking at the syllabus now, and can't find a break where i can take my mind of Public Speaking... but i guess bombardment is in a way effective.
Right, i am gonna check out the five chapters for tomorrow, i'll cya guys then.
Meng De
hello all, first of all i'm proud to say that im FINALLY blogging. i know it took me a long time to start but, i've been busy.
we're all done from the informative speech and i wanted to say that i really learned alot from it. i learned that being nervious can really mess us up. from looking at my own vidio i noticed that i was nervious and i spoke really fast. i also learned from whatching my friends the way my speech should have been. it was really fun and usefeul to whatch and hear my friends giving their informative speech. i hope i fix all the mistakes i've done in mine on my next speech.
Finally im done with the informative speech and got it out of the way. It took some time to get ready and i cant believe i totally forgot about handing in the outline when the time came. I got my informative speechs grade back last week and i wasnt too satisfied. i got a B but still its not bad. The persuasive speech is coming up and i need to start thinking up a topic since we wont have much time preparing for it as we did for the informative speech.
Hello everyone,
I seriously im glad I finished my informative speech, I have no idea why I get so nervous since all of the people in my class are my friends, after watching the video I realized how much the way I presented my speech ruined the actual topic I spoke so fast and I read out of the cards way way way too much that when I watched the video I couldn’t watch my face long enough to see my facial expression.
The quiz was okay I guess but I so hate multiple choice questions but I thought some of the things in the chapters were really interesting, I never knew there was a strategic order for main points, I feel like I can present a better persuasive speech after referring to chapter 9 as I had in my informative speech it was really help full.
I still haven’t read chapter 15 and 16 but I know for a fact that they will help me out just like the other chapters helped me with the transactions and many other things in my informative.
Have a great spring break all of you.
Auob Sharafy
S00002455
Good afternoon every body
As you know this week is week 8 and we already finished our midterms. We have only 2
months to finish this semester.
I want to tell you that all of you did a good job in the informative speech. Also I watch my video. And I fount out that I was talking very fast. Also my pronunciation wasn’t clear. In fact, some times I couldn’t understand what I was saying. How ever, I will try to do my best in other speech. So right now we have to focus in the persuasive speech. And we have to start it from know. We have to found out our subject of our speech.
Also, I want to tell you about the quiz. It was very difficult.
End the end I want all of you to have a nice holyday, and have a good time
Thanks
Hello everyone,
i personally loved the informative speeches.I think they were all nice especially for a first time. Now i'm startin to worry about the topics i have to use in the persuasive speeches. Some of the topics can be very typical but i am looking for something a little unusual and interesting. Hope youo will all find interesting topics:)
hope you're all enjoying your vacation and see you on saturday.
I don't know if we are supposed to blog today as opposed to not having class today however I do remember we are supposed to blog twice this week.
I think that the speeches overall were pretty good, there were some that stood out in my opinion such as maha, nur, shaha and I think 2 more however as we all know I’m still in need for a memory upgrade (sorry!!) but I think that we all gave it our best shot, some may have practiced more than others but still get nervous in front of the class which is only normal for the second speech, however I saw that some of my classmates really changed from the first speech (panel discussion). I think that each of us now knows what's our weak point so we can improve it before our next speech. WISH YOU GUYS ALL THE BEST AND HAVE A GREAT SPRING BREAK, YOU DESERVE IT AFTER GIVING SUCH A SPEECH :D!!
One more thing I REALLY liked the variety of topics we all talked about, it actually got me interested in some of the other topics such as the different dress code for culture by najid, Langkawi (I don't know if I spelled it right?) island by maha, anger management by lulu (scream in an empty room is awesome!!), well sola most definitely because we share the chocoholic theme, and also different sites in Kuwait by duaij! I actually wanted to visit a couple of the sites he suggested.
WELL ANYWAY WISH YOU GUYS AGAIN A GREAT SPRING BREAK, DR. PAMELA HAVE A BLAST IN ITALY AND TAKE LOADS OF PICTURES FOR US!!
I guess this is my 2nd blog, because I discussed the informative speeches!
English 108-01
S00002815
It just feels GREAT to be talking about our Informative Speeches now that we are done with them! :) The speeches in my opinion were really professionally done. I have really enjoyed each and every one of them! I got to hear about many topics that i wasnt interested to learn about in details before, but this time they were really interesting for me!!!
I felt that a great factor that affected how each speech worked, was whether or not the speaker was interested in what they had to say or not. I truly agree with you Ayah! I really liked Shaha and Nur's speeches. I loved it when Shaha told us all to stand up before she had ended her speech. It was really well done, and caught our attention really well! She made us stand up before the conclusion, which was really affected. In my opinion, we were all alert to listen to the summary of her speech. It was as if she had meant to tell us, "if any of you was not focusing on what i am saying, now is the time you should do, because i will give a summary about everything i have said." It was really unique.
One of the things that really amazed me about these speeches is the amount of effort and time they took us to work on when they are only 4 minutes long! It was really surprising cause i thought that i could simply finish preparing it in an hour or so, when i actually slept at 5 am the night before my speech! :S
Being a peer critique was the hardest part of all, in my opinion. I didnt know that it would be this challenging. You always fear being biased towards someone or favoring someone over the other. I enjoyed it though, but realized that it was not a simple task at all! if i were to change one thing in the speeches, it would be this! It really put us under pressure. However, i felt that it was preparing us for similar situations in the real world! i am sure that we will have to face something that is similar to this again and again in our lives..
I WISH YOU ALL A GREAT SPRING BREAK, ENJOY, ENJOY before the Persuasive Speeches come to haunt us again! GOOD LUCK! :)))
Maha Fathi
S00004601
108-01
Hi,
Boy, is it good to have 1 speech down, 1 speech to go!! It was really cool how practically all of our speeches went down terrifically! They were seriously informative - every time after class I'd come home and tell my brother and sister something new I learnt from all the speeches. Just like you said, Ayah, the variety was just so wonderful - it was that each of us had so much to say about something we individually were so interested in, that it made such an incredible, diverse array of information - football, chocolate, stock market, swing, wolves, tropical islands - everything was so interesting!!
Plus, we all remembered nearly all of the pointers like the audience analyses, transitions (which were really cool), attention getters, plus all the other stuff, which was really good.
Personally, I really, really enjoyed doing my speech. While I was getting up, I was a bit nervous and my heart was beating a bit fast - did anyone notice the wooden eye-contact in the beginning? :) But as soon as I got right in the good part of my speech - near the bit on Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman and stuff, I fely really comfortable with what I was saying, and felt more confident about my points.
Now that I'm done and done with that speech, I'm looking forward to our persuasive speeches, which I'm sure will be just as great - if not better - than the ones we've done. I've already got some topics in my head.
Have a wonderful spring break - hope you enjoy every single minute of it!! See you on Saturday! :)
Woho, first speeches are done, over with, FINITO! All in all I think they ALL went great, since Dr.Pamela said we were one of the best classes, how could I say they were bad? Personally, I didn't like presenting as much as I liked watching the other presentations. They really were interesting and some of them I can actually still remember the things they talked about.
I didn't know you could learn so much in this amount of time, I SERIOUSLY have learned so much about public speaking. I do admit that some classes you take are not only boring but you feel like you learned nothing at the end of the semester. This class on the other hand is the total opposite.
I still have no idea what to choose for my persuasive speech, I don't want anything like talking about persuading people to stop smoking or start wearing seatbelts. I want to pick something original, somthing no one has ever thought of. So far, I got nothing but I'm sure I'll come up with somthing somtime this week. I am kind of nervous already though, because I know this time were going to work a little faster because there won't be as much time and we can't take things slowly. Hopefully everything will turn out fine in the end.
Anywho, have a great spring break everyone! Dr.Pamela I hope you have a fun in Italy.
SEE YOU SOON :D
Hi :) Hope you're all having a great holiday - I thought I'd write my blog out a bit earlier this week.
Reading Chapters 15 and 16 was very useful, I think, because the apporach to persuasive speeches is actually quite different to informative speeches. The chapters on that were pretty straight-forward, as doing an informative speech is really quite natural, in a sense. But persuasuve!! All those brand new points Lucas brought up - I've read about them many many times before (stuff like pathos, logical fallacies, +) but never with the intention of actually using them in a speech. He puts it very clearly; Lucas is good like that, but it takes careful reading and all the help we can get to drum it right through effienciently.
In Chapter 15, he basically lays out the purpose of a persuasive speech, and slowly explains different forms of persuasion and different bases on which you would want to persuade. What's even better, is that Chapter 16 (if you read it right after 15, especially) builds on Chapter 15 almost directly. It's kinda like saying "OK, now that you know what it looks like, let me show you what it does." I really noticed that, especially here, since the whole persuasive speech thing is a bit heavier to grasp - or rather, conceptualise and immedieately understand - than the informative speech stuff was.
Well, I hope everyone enjoys their holidays, so enjoy them!! :)
Hi everyone im so glad that im done with my informative speech as i was greatly nervous but i really enjoyed it when i was done and im so happy that some of you were interested and liked my speech as i think it was such a competition as we all did great and i also found out that most of us actually understood what we were doing in class and reflected it through the presentations of our speeches.
Now that we are done with the first challenge my heart is starting to beat as the second challenge is coming closer and is quite different and requires other things that are different from the first. Believe me or not lucas has given you a clear guide that would lighten the dark way that is facing as till we are actually done with this tough challenge:)Hope that you have enjoyed your holidays and hope to see you on saturday!!!
Mohamad Bader Mansour 2549 - 108-05
The informatu=ive speeches were very imforming. I liked the way which Lucas suggestes we start our speeches, attention getter, because it helps wake-up the audience. As silly as it may seem, i think that wearing suites and dresses helps us perform better. i think so because if we speak and we feel confident that we look stunning (Like ME!!) we will have more confidence when we are talking.
Last but not least, i think we made Dr. Pamela pround the last two weeks.
Thats it for me, enjoy your spring break.
Reviewing back on the informative speeches that we gave in class, well done everyone!!! I thought all the informative speeches were great considering it was our first actual speech. And I was so impressed that everyone read the chapters on informative speeches it really help organize the speech. Believe me even if u have been practicing the same speech for a week, at the moment while you are standing in front of the class you get so nervous that you forget everything. But you guys did a great job keeping it together. I am looking forward to the persuasive speech, and I can't wait to know what the students' topics are. During the break I read the chapters on persuasive speech and it helped me get ideas for my topics thank god we have Lucas helping us out every step of the speech. This is the first time I ever felt that I was giving a very organized and professional speech. And Ms. Pamela I can't wait to hear about your trip to Italy I bet you have a lot of stories to tell us.
S00004164
108-01
Hi everyone, im very proud of everybody's informative speech, everybody looked great and also presented in an amazing way. Althought i was a bit nervous in my own speech but when you just stand infront of everyone and take a deep breathe and just think of your speech and nothing else you will do great. I also can't wait till the persuasive speech, so i can know everyones topic, i think it will be more interesting and fun than the informative. Thanks to Lucas and the chapters in the book that i have read some of them till now to guide me through making a great speech for my fellow class mates. I still didnt choose a topic but i have some in my mind, but soon everyone will find out and i hope you will all like it when you do.
Have a great spring break , well whats left of it and take care and i hope Dr. Pamela is having fun in italy right now.
HELLO EVERYBODY, how's the spring break going.. Hope everyone is getting ready to head back to classes because honestly I am I can't wait! I have so many fresh ideas for my persuasive speech!!
After reading chapter 15 it was really clear to me how to break down each of my 4 topics of persuasive so it could be easier for me to make my decision on which topic i will be choosing. What made it easier for me to break down my topics is Lucas' psychology of persuasion and the way he organizes the speech whether it being about a fact, value or questioning a policy. Plus after reading the Lucas' breakdown to the types of speeches I decided to come up with a topic for each type for variety, more options, and to evaluate my affect of persuading to see which one would be the strongest. Also the "Putting the Brakes on Teenage Driving" speech was really helpful!
As you can see I'm already excited to start my speech, hope everyone else is!! SEE U ON SATURDAY!!
BTW: Dr. Pamela, I'm eager to see some PICTURES, please bring them in on Saturday so we could see them :D, hope you’re having fun!
ENGLISH 108-01
S00002815
hi everyone :)
i hope you have all read the chapters because believe me they are extremely useful in helping you decide how to choose a persuasive speech topic. i think that EVERYONE did really well on their informative speech considering it was our first actual speech, even though i was petrified moments before my speech i always think to myself that everyone else is just as nervous as i am so why should i be nervous!
i dont think i would have done as well as i had in my informative speech without THE BOOK. it is very clear and helps you understand a great deal, and ofcourse thanks to Dr.Pamela for the worksheets on how to outline your speech, all we had to do was put the information in! chapter 15 shows you how to breakdown your speech which will be really helpful for everyone, and THE CDS ARE THE MOST HELP YOU COULD GET! i advise everybody to watch them!! basically the most important thing we need to know for this speech is HOW to persuade, and the book shows you how to step by step
hope everyone enjoyed their holiday :):)
lulu boushahri
S00003772
The informative speeches were really good and useful. I think that these speeches helped us become better at speaking in front people because they are like practice for us. This means that the next speech we will make, the persuasive speech, should be better than the informative speech. As long as one is prepared and organized, they wont have any problems delivering their speeches. Also, reading the chapters will help the students know what to include and have a kind of background to what they need to do. I hope everyone does well on their persuasive speeches. All the best of luck. :)
the informative speeches, some where very intresting and informing and now with our persuasive speeche and if we r going to do the same order that we did in the informative speech, i really think its ganna be another roller coaster for me, because i feel its like homework that we have to do instead of a work we want to do. anyways thats all so see you!
HI Everyone? how is your break going? im afraid it is over!! :((( i am really looking forwards to beginning my persuasive speech!!! Ayah, you are right, chapter 15 is really helpful. When Dr. Pamela told us in class to think of our audience, her note was very helpful for me. After one reads this part, you really get to understand that audience is very important. Part of making your audience interested in what you are going to say, is actually having them in mind, and knowing that they are the ones you target. this will help you in achieving success in your speech, and will also help your audience in gaining interest in what you would like to present. Having put the audience in mind really helped me figure out what the 4 topics should be for my persausive speeches(and i am dying to know which one of them will be the one i present on after dr. Pamel picks it)... im a bit afraid from this speeches but i really hope they will go well just like our informative speeches did!! good luck everyone!!!
Maha Fathi
S00004601
108-01
Hello every body first I want to talk about my speech. I didn't like my self when I saw the video tape because I can do better then the way that I have done. I like some speech because of the topic and how they were comfortable and trust. The topic I like is how to choose my major. I hope I do better at my next speech.
ENGL 108/01
S00002848
Ali Aldousary
Hi everyone, this is my first blog here. I did not know what it was about but now i know.My Public speaking midterm grade was really bad.Hope it gets better.I've done my informative speech and it was good but i was kinda nervous.I did read some chapters and they helped me alot. i read about the outline and how to do it.And about the different orders.I did not choose a topic for my persuasive speech yet. My questionare will be done by 2moro.Hope i get more confidant this time.And hope my high skol teacher help me.. right mrs.Pamela.
Yousef out.
Picking a topic is not at all hard, following the format for the residual message made it even easier. I got the paper back today; I had eight out of ten and still had a remark of see me. I only wish I had the sufficient time to appear at the office hours today but I had a class. I made sure to read through chapter 15 and 16, for this speech there is a lot to be done and I consider it to be harder than the one that preceded this one. What I have found to be of great use through this semester is the CD’s supplied with the books, the presentations and outlines available made the task easier but very challenging. I believe I would be able to see the full picture once I get back the audio analysis and outline, till then, take care and do your best.
I KNOW I SHOULDVE SAID THIS EARLIER BUT.. !!! hey!! everyones doing the same topics.. if its not about health, food and exercise its about smoking or driving and seatbelts... persuasive speechs seem as if they`re going to end up very boring because we`ll be listning to the same stuff over and over again :p.. ok so i what i wanted to say was... IF some1 decides now that they want to change their topic.. well.. this is what you should do.. go to www.google.com and then in the search write " pursuasive speech topics"| theres about 209347927583 topics there.. so why is everyone stuck to the same topics??
Hello everyone, we're all starting off with our persuasive speeches. I picked my topic wich id going to be about caffeine intake. i am going to try to persuaid my class to reduce their caffeine intake. the rersuasive speeches seem to be more fun and open, unlike the informative speech. me and all my friends are working on our questionnaires as i speak. in my last speech i went the secound so i didn't really have the chance to benfit from others mistakes. this time i sigened up the LAST so i hope i'll learn and correct the mistakes that others may make.
Hi every body. As you know we already did our questionnaire for the persuasive speeches. And as you know the outline for the group one is due on Monday. So our jobs became harder, and we have to hurry.
Also, we have to read chapter 15 and 16. and this two chapters are our last chapter, so if you didn’t did good in the previous exams, you can do good in this exams. So it is better to read it.
And here I am going to give you some idea about this two chapters.
Chapter 15 is about speaking to persuade. And here are some subtopics.
1. the importance of persuasion
2. Ethics and persuasion
3. the Psychology of Persuasion
4. Persuasive speeches on questions of fact
5. persuasive speeches on questions of value
6. persuasive speeches on questions of policy
7. sample speech with commentary
And chapter 15 is about Methods of persuasion, and here are the subtopics.
1. building credibility
2. using evidence
3. reasoning
4. appealing to emotions
5. sample speech with commentary
In the end, I hope that all of you have a great weekend
So see you soon
S00002751
Engl-108/05
After reading chapter 15, i am unsure whether i should use Monroe's motivated sequence or a Value organized speech. Since my topic, at the recommendation of Professor Pamela, is on something simple and average, both seem to a small degree inappropriate for my topic - however, I'll see what can be adjusted to make this workable.
Being a member of an amateur debaters club on an online forum, i found the definitions of the fallacies to be interesting - i now know when to shout "SLIPPERY SLOPE FALLACY!"
I'll be starting my outline now; I'll see you guys on Saturday.
Meng De
engl-108/05
Hey everyone
You’re really stressing me out here! Persuasive speech is supposed to be fun and interesting! I personally choose time-management no one was even anywhere near my topic so it might be interesting especially for you guys who party day and night and don’t ever study I found that out from some of your questionnaires so listen to my speech you might benefit something!
I was thinking of presenting my speech in a problem-cause-solution order but I don’t know if that’s a good idea and I really am running out of time so I think should go over chapter 15 one more time just to make sure of how I will approach my audience.
P.S I want my questionnaires answered sincerely and not one word answers or I don’t know! I really put effort in all your questionnaires so put some effort in mine I need them for the audience analysis people.
Have a good day & enjoy your weekend!
engl 108/05
Hello everyone,
After reading chapters 14 and 15 I have decided to organize my speech in a personal way I will personalize most if not all my idea’s.
Im trying to use facts and figures in my speech to make it more interesting.
I will most likely use Monroe’s motivated sequence hence my topic is about Alzheimer.
I think the persuasive speech’s are going to be much more enlightening due to the fact that we have more experience now that we finished are informative’s.
Fahad Jafar
Engl 108-05
I'm kinbd of a little nervous about the preusaisive speechs I guess this is do to the fact that we truly didnt have as much time to prepare for them as the informative speechs. I think the presuasive speechs will be harder to do because they focuse more on making people see things through your point of you and simply informaing them about a subject or topic. I look forward to actually doing the speech and hope that this time I'm able to do a better job on the presuasive speech than I did on the informative speech.
hi everyone, since im going to be talking about anti-oxidents, im going to focus on how to persuade you all to intake more in your system so that your risk of activating cancer sells are lower.also i will be talking about other benefits of anti-oxidents and in which foods and drinks it is in.because at the end of the day persauding you all in something that will lead to a healthier life is better than persauding you on a subject that has no benefit what so ever.
luckily my speech is on the last day.. i choose to do my speech in a problem-cause-solution order . I chose to talk about fruits and water because i really think fruits have a huge role on everyones body and health...Im going to try to convince evryone to eat more fruits!!
Hi everyone:) im so interested to attend the persuasive speeches next week as it is a completely new challenge and the techniques used are also new so you would also have a chance to gain new knowledge and experience. Im looking forward to my speech but as im in the last group there is still time. What is adding a special taste to this new experience today is that i or we have to try to make someone change their mind which would feel great at the end if accomplished. Good luck and have a great weekend!!
S00003928
Engl 108-01
Hey everyone!! Next week we'll be starting with the persuasive speeches. I'm sure some of you are nervous. However, some (including me) may not be that nervous. We had all the practice in the world, even though we did like small excercises in class, it really helps in the long run. Before starting off with doing and working on my persuasive speech, I thought that reading chapter 15 & 16 might actually help with my speech. It was extremely useful. It showed how we had more than one order in which we do our speech. You can say that i'm a bit excited with my next speech. I'm hoping that I will be doing a good job. Believe me when I say "READ the chapters!!!!" they honestly help in a lot of ways as I just said. Plus, if you want a way to help even more, then watch the speeches on the CD. You will see which order did they go with and how they're presenting. You may actually get some techniques presented in their speech. Take my word for it because it really really helps.
So good luck to all of you who are doing their speeches. Don't be nervous!!!!!
PS: You people better like my speech! ; )
S00004164
108-01
After reading chapter 15 and 16, i got more idea's of how to organize my speech. It also helped me to learn more about Menroe's motivated sequence, because i will have to use it in my speech. The quiz today also was okay and not as long as the others that we have had before and now i wish we can have another quiz so i can try to improve my grade more. My persuasive speech is about using cell phones while driving and i will point out the points and effects of using a cell phone while driving. Eventhough i know some people in our class dont even drive but im sure a large majority do drive and its a pretty interesting subject to talk about infront of everyone on wednesday.
HELLO PEOPLE!! Okay so starting with the quiz, I thought it was pretty straightforward! I read the chapters and answered the questions on the CD; the quiz was pretty similar to the questions on the CD! I was so glad I did, Thanks to Maha!!
Before our quiz we were discussing how Lucas explains everything in Chapter 15 & 16 very clearly (also in all other chapters) and how we thought reading the book wouldn't help, because we had that mentality where we thought "com'on it's just public speaking, why do we need to read chapters and chapters when we know what we are going to talk about?" but it come out to be MUCH OF HELP!!
Anyway moving on, I'm not as nervous as I was giving my informative speech, but still nervous because I’m going first!! I’m like praying non-stop that you find my speech interesting, I know I can persuade you, but I’m trying to find different ways to make my speech more interesting!!
Okay well I’m off to work on my speech, wishing you guys the best of luck!! Have a great weekend!!
S00002815
ENGL 108-01
hello everyone
i am so glad that we have no more quizzes to worry about! i HATE quizzes!! although this one was fairly easy, and i have realised that ONLY reading the summaries doesnt help at all, you should read the entire chapter including the review questions. anyways im looking forward to everybodys persuasive speeches next week and im wondering how many people will actually be able to persuade me to do whatever it is they are talking about hehe.. also if anyone is having trouble with their outlines i STRONGLY advise you to WATCH THE CDS!! they helped me soooo much!!! you really are missing out on soo much if you dont watch them, they are so clear and straightforward anyways have a good weekend everyone i hope its sunny tommorrow :)
lulu boushahri
Two more days until I have to do my speech! I wish I could have picked group 2 or 3. Too bad for me. But on the other hand, I think after going first I'll probably be happy that I got it over with and won't have to worry about it all week! Reading chapters 15 and 16 helped more than I thought, I now know what type of speech I'm going to be doing and how to do it exactly!
For some reason I'm more nervous about this speech than the last one, maybe it's because I feel like I have a duty to persuade people and might fail it at. I hope not, I'm trying my best to put the strongest information and emotions to get you persuaded.
Anyways I'm off to work now, this is not going to be a fun weekend for me!! Goodluck to everyone!
Well as for the coming week we could all say that it would be the week that would put alot of pressure on the groups that are going to have their speeches done. So first of all good luck to all the groups and do your best to get the mark that you deserve. Then i would like to say that all the preparation that has to be done should be taken in mind because it will really help any person with their speeches. The chapters 15 and 16 are really helpful in getting all the preparation done for the speech and also it shows us the vareity in how you could giv in your speech. All the best for everyone in all the groups and get all your preparation done now before its to late!!
hello everyone
cant believe we're done with quizes..although the last one wasn't that hard hope you all did good.. i cant wait till i get done with my speech although i didnt yet decide if im gonna use the problem-solution or the monroe's motivated sequence for my persuasive speech .. i gotta admit that reading the chapters really helps with organizing your speech , Lucas did a great job in the book it's really helpful. wish you all the best of luck with ur speechs
I CANT BELIEVE THAT WE ARE DONE WITH THE QUIZZEZ and in a matter of 2 days, i will be done with my PERSUASIVE SPEECH 2! Inshaallah!!! :)) the quiz went very well i think..it was a good idea that we had 2 chapters only: easier to study for and understand too!!! everything went pretty well...i studied for it with aya, we werent keeping track of the time and realized that it was already 10:06 when we were still in the library studying!!! :S luckily, we were able to take the exam...i am so glad that i have finished my outline, i hope it was a good one!!! i really wanted to use monroe's motivated sequence, but i felt that the problem-cause-soultion order would be more appropriate for my speech on fast foods and how we should replace them with nutritious foods...i really hope that my speech goes well, and wish that i would be more confident in it than i was in my informative speech, and am wishing each and everyone of you loads of luck on your speeches too....have great weekends :))
Maha Fathi
S00004601
108-01
my presentation is due on saturday, and i really im not looking forward to doing it because this is not the speech i really wanted to do, so basicly im not that excited about the speech, not that confident. im looking forward to see what after this assignment.
hello everyone!!!
i just finished working on my persuasive speech and it's not as easy as i thought!!!it's definitely harder than the informative speech since there are emotions envolved and they should be obvious in order for the speech to be effective...i'm a little scared since my presentation is tomorrow hope everyone will do good:)
i totally agree with pamela .. working with the persuasive speech is a way harder than the informative speech .. so good luck pamela and good luck for all of u guys.
Hi everyone,I just finished with my persuasive speech.I was short in time but its alright. I talked about the problem of speeding in Kuwait and how to solve it. I used power point and statistics from the ministry of interior website. For my last quiz, I studied chapter 14-15 instead of 15-16,how dumb i was. But it was alright.I'll be peer qretiqing (I donno how to spell it) 2moro i think. Some of the old chapters helped me alot in my speech.And thanks for the handout my Proffesor gave me..
S00002751
Engl 108/05
This public speaking class is very interesting; it is the only class i had since enrolling at AUK where i find myself expected to have my practical work exceed my theoretical. Every time i think i get a breathing space, i again become submerged in demanding task.
The positive side to this is that it builds character i suppose [/paternal phrases]. But seriously, getting used to working under pressure is a good thing.
I'll be giving my persuasive speech next class, hope you guys will like it!
See you then
Meng De
"i decided to blog early this week so i won't forget.. I'm soo glad that i finished my persuasive speech!! it took me long to write because i wanted to make sure my audience were touched by my speech so they can actually help the children in Sudan.. during my speech as i was looking to see the reaction on my classmates i found that they were emotionally moved, r at least that is how they looked like which gave me more confidence to go on ...
THANK YOU GUYS.. also i benefited a lot from reading chapters 15 and 16, which i thought Lucas did a great job in breaking down the organizing of the speeches. also thank you Dr. Pamela for the handouts you gave us it really helped..
wish the rest of my classmates the best of luck for the coming speeches and if u haven't read the chapters already even though we already had the quiz READ THEM BEFORE YOUR SPEECH IT WILL HELP!
S00002363
Abdulla Al Kulaib ;p
engl-108-05
So I bloged … I’m done with my persuasive speech I felt heavy when I was speaking even thought I was organized . it’s the subject that I talked about and it’s the very hard memories that came up while I was speaking I pictured my friend face in front of me .. since my subject was about first aid courses and he died because he didn’t get the first aid when it was needed.
Thank you guys for listening to me that carefully . I‘ve learned a lot from chapter 15 and 16. and big thanks to Dr Pamela and for the big effort she is giving to teach us
Best luck to all .
Muath Al-Refai
S00004830
Everytime I want to blog i forget my password. This time i had the password right but never knew i had to check the acceptance box for the new rules so took me 30 minutes to realize. But anyways i gave my speech this monday and feel confident about my results. I handed in my self evaluation sheet and will wait until saturday to get the results. My speech was about Smoking. I really hope i had made a difference for someone so far or will make a difference. as i had said in my speech, to quit smoking is not easy and personally ive tried many times but failed. With the research ive done now i have found the correct ways to quit and from what i read having someone to help you through quitting is the best way to do it.
Hi every body, I like to inform you that this week is week 12, and we are almost near to finish this semester. So we have to be careful.
Also, I want to tell you that most of you did good jobs in persuasive speech, and some of these speeches really persuade me.
However, I am in group four and my speech will be on Saturday. And I will try to do my best.
However, we don’t have anymore chapter reading, but on Monday we have to prepare ourselves for debiting. So we have to read the not that Dr Pamela gave it to us.
However have a nice weekend
This week was our persuasive speeches and I think they went pretty good! As for my speech I delivered it this week on Monday it was about the topic "I want you to know that you should exercise daily in order to keep your self healthy and fit" I chose this topic precisely because I thought that it was an important and a very useful topic to talk about and it relates to many of us here. As for the organization I chose problem-solution because it relates the most to this particular topic. Before I gave out my speech I read over the chapters 15 and 16 to understand the material in order to help me for my speech and to help me decide which organization to use. After my speech I looked over the video, and I was happy with it.
My speech is on saturday!! . and i think im prepared but i have to go over chapters 15 and 16 again, because are really helpful in getting all the preparation done for the speech and also it shows us the vareity in how you could give in your speech. So id better keep Working on my speech and i hope i can convince more people to change their bad diet habits.. persuasive speeches really do need alot more work than informative speeches!
Just hope things work out the way i want them to =D
i CANT believe that i am done with both my informative and persuasive speeches!!!! i felt that i did better on my informative speech, although aya, najd, and nur told me that it was as good as the informative. i felt that i was not as confident in presenting as i was on my informative speech..one of the reasons, i think, is becuase i really liked my informative speech topic and was really intersted in presenting it. however, the persuasive speech topic was not the one that i felt really excited to present. i have REALLY learned a lot from my experience in both speeches though! i think that i am ready now to present more comfortably in front of a large group of people!! one of the most important thing that i have learned is EYE CONTACT...if you have it, your audience will be intrested, but if you do not look at them, they will definately lose you. Overall, i think that the speeches were all great! i can see the improvement in each and every one of us! some of the speeches were really persuasive. Najd's was really effective, and when i saw disabled people in the weekend, my reaction was really different!!! thanks najd! and ayas' speech looked like a REAL speech! i loved hajjers topic, it was both interesting and persuasive both at the same time....
good luck everyone, we are almost done!!!
getting there... :)
Maha Fathi
S00004601
108-01
HELLO THERE EVERYONE!! I just simply cant believe it that im done with my persuasive speech as i was worrying about the way it was going to come out at but im so revealed that it is over as the topic im discussing is quite a sensitive issue for me. I really enjoyed the speeches which i had the chance of hearing and felt and have seen great improvements in the way some people preformed as there was more confidence than nervousness. This experience of public speaking in the auk has added to me alot more than it took from me as i used to be kind of nervous and shy to talk infront of a group of people but today i gained enough confidence and this would be credited to the support from my friends, professors and also to the class as a whole which really contributed in making a difference in my life as it is a very important step to learn to talk infront of a crowd if not today then tomorrow.Thanx everyone:)See u next class!!
Hey everyone, well im soo glad dat i finished both my informative and persuasive speech !! and i got a better grade on persuasive because i corrected my mistakes that i did on the informative speech, for example eye contact and volume. I am also really happy of the grade i got and really pleased with it. Eventhough my friends in class told me its not worth it to wear a suit to da speech but i thought it was worth it because it got my extra points and makes me look more proffesional. The best thing is that i will be doing the showcase!! and i still cant believe i got chosen for it, but thanks god i did and i will tyr my best to make a great speech infront of the live audience on that day and i think Dr. Pamela for giving me this great chance.
Hi guys - you have no idea how relieved I am to have just finished the two speeches!! Even though we have the debate to get through, I still feel like - wow! We're really through with it! But frankly, I really, really enjoyed doing it! I mean, I was a teensy bit nervous for my Swing speech, especially in the beginning, but as for my Persuasive speech, I was dying to jump out of my chair and begin - I don't know - it wasn't the topic, certainly, I'm just as interested in both Swing andprogramming (gosh, isn't that a weird combination? :D), but by then, I'd practiced better eye-contact, talking in front of the class with my group becamse second-nature - and consequently - it just became fun! I think we all did tremendous jobs, consiering we usually have a lot to do in general, but we really pulled it off... I feel we're on our way to becoming individuals who are now much, much better at orally communicating ourselves as interesting, compelling speakers who articulate with ease.
Believe it or not, I used to be one of the kids in school who were shyer than most to get up there and speak, but now, I feel that speaking-wise, everything's improved great! I now have had the boost of confidence that Dr. P, the supportive class, and my own efforts have given me as a speaker.
Well, better save something for the next blog - have a terrific weekend, all :) Nur
Dear student
how are you?
i hope that all of you are fine and happy at the same time.
i am very happy becuase i finished my Persuasive speech. I did my best to finish the two speeches.i want to say to Dr. Pamela what she did to help us for learn this subject. in the sametime, she help us to improve our grade by gave chance to rewrite the speech. i like all Persuasive speech becuase all the topices are very good becuase i got useful information from every speech. now i work in debate i hope to win.
happy weekend.
ENGL 108/01
Ali Al_Dossary
hello everyone
God, cant believe we're done with the speeches .. although i enjoyed my persuasive speech more than my informative... and as dr.pamela said practising in front of ur friends help..and it really does help.. im so glad my speech went good as i worked alot on my weak points that were in my informative.. tried to eliminate nervousness to the best i could .. and i want to thank dr. pamela in how she's helping us to pull up our grades. still got the debate to go.. so good luck for all of u
HIII EVERYONE!! Okay so we are all obviously excited to finish both informative and persuasive speeches!! YAYY!! I actually loved going first because (obviously it didn't show that much but I did!!! :D) because i got to REAALLY ENJOY all of the other speeches, I think overall we all definitely improved from the informative speeches..
There were some speeches in my opinion that stood out like Hajjer's speech, I ABSOULTY LOVED IT!!, Maha's speech (thanks for the pictures.. I mean did we have to see that in the morning!! JK loved it, these evidence are the only way to convince people to stop eating junk food!!), Shaha I thought yours was amazing, she brought out her emotional appeal pretty GOOD!! (I LOVED THE LITTLE STOP SIGNS YOU PASSED OUT hehehe I still have mine :D), Najd also brought out her emotion appeals GREAT!!, Nur I liked how you brought your experience of frustration when you tried to move the penguin's arm!! Because we all get frustrated when far enough in a program then A LITTLE THING HAPPENS THAT MAKES US LOOSE IT!! Hadaya, also loved how you brought in your cousin's story and connected with us (the audience), also when you assured us that according to the Qur’an it's okay to donate an organ, Duajj I like your attention getter a LOT!!
I COULD KEEP GOING BUT IM PRETTY SURE I ALREADY BORED YOU WITH MY THOUGHTS!!, but overall GOOD JOB EVERYONE!! Now we have to work even HARDER ON THE DEBATES, I have a feeling it's going to be AWESOME!!! I CAN'T WAIT!! Anyway I have to get back to designing the poster for our showcase.. WE WANT TO SEE ALL OF YOU GUYS THERE.. COME AND SUPPORT US!! (Even if u already heard out topics, I assure you that seeing all your faces again well make us more comfortable!! It may bore you but I will mean A LOT TO US!! )
CAN'T WAIT FOR SHOWCASE EITHER!! SEE YOU GUYS THERE!!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND
ENGL 108-01
Ayah I. Mahmoud
S00002815
I can't believe we've finished 2 speeches already, time has passed by so fast. Although we have our final speech left, I am so relieved to have finished the persuasive and informative speeches.
I think my persuasive speech was way better than my informative, I think it's becuase I've learned so much throughout this semester, and that's why everyone improved, not just me. Although I am not in the showcase, I am definitly going to be there to support my classmates, I am very excited for them to present their speeches in front of a large audience. Goodluck guyz!!!
But now with Debates coming up, I am kind of nervous because I've never really debated in my life so this is something new to me. I hope it goes well!
Anyways have a great weekend!
SEE YOU :D
WOW... three more weeks to go. First of all i would like to say good luck to the people whos going to talk in the show case. The next thing is "people the debates are going to be powerful, the topics i think they could be argued over and over and they are subjects that we have heard many times". i would like to congratulate all the students for there pursuasive topics i can see that many of us have improved tremendously from the informative speeches. Good work !! Now i would like to say its not long till we end this course so letdo our best in the debates. we have done alot and learned lots in this class so lets rape it up now and finish with the best results. Go ahead class !!
Hi everyone :)im so excited about the debates although im not interested in the subject that were suppose to talk about but im still interested as i dont know whats going to come out from both of us me and lulu.however this week im getting too nervous as the time for the showcase is getting closer and im starting to have butterflies in my stomach which i hope to overcome before they get more serious.The showcase is a great opportunity which i believe will not be complete unless you guys attend as to me personally i wouldnt have done it and overcome my fear if it wasnt for your support as you were the first people to experience my speech giving and i think most of you remember how awful it was. Be there because to succeed with a bigger audience i need to see my original audience.Good luck showcase winners and hope to see u on sat!!
Well this week was really exciting. I gave my speech on Saturday and thank god it's over. But at the same time I feel like I am going to miss talking in front of the class. The most persuasive speech that I really liked was the one about laughing it was really interesting and light and sweet. Now we really have to work hard on the debates and now things are getting stricter with attendance. My goal for this course is not to miss anymore classes. I hope we do a good job on the debate. My group is going to be on the affirmative side and will be discussing why the Kuwaiti government should hire 2000 more traffic police in Kuwait. So we are at this time trying to gather the information and gather our strong points of arguments. Hopefully we win the debate.
thank god im done with my persuasive speech, and im happy with the grade i got. but im not looking forward to the debate because i just wanted to relax after my speech but there is no time for that. well life's though and we got to do what we have to do. goodluck everyone!!
S00002751
Engl 108/05
I am an amateur debater on an internet forum since 2004, though that does help to a certain degree, the luxury of time on an internet forum isn't available irl. As i read through the Toastmaster's paper, i can see some of what i did in past debates (such as the shotgun approach when i first started... there was absolutely no construction).
This class is really paying of... i used to worry about bombing speeches in other classes, but now that i know how much work a proper speech requires, when i do my "sloppy speeches" in other classes, my "laid backness" boosts my... charisma i guess.
Tomorrow’s the showcase, i wish all the guys presenting the best of luck (Shahad, if you ace it, feel free to not show up at the debate XD )
I'll cya guys tomorrow,
Meng De
Debating isn't a favorite of mine. I am looking forward to debating but am a little confused about how the sequence will go because from what i watched at the showcase, there was a rebuttal after each introduction. From the hand out in class, i understood that the rebuttals are after both sides are done. Things will get clearer in time.. probably after i see the first debates.
Im gonig to be redoing my informative speech since thats what i did worst on.. It would be really nice if i would get exempted from the final speech but i got a B on my informative speech so i doubt i will. Well goodluck to everyone
ciao
i thought i should blog early this time too... IM ON A ROLE!! i actually took Dr. Pamela's advice and went to the Debate show case presented by Mr. Don Prades, i thought it was REALLY GOOD, i got a little intimidated and at the same time thankful I'm not up there debating it looked so hard which made it come out as the perfect debate in my opinion, although I thought some students would have done better, but overall it was a job well done. In my opinion I thought Heba was the best debater from the Negative team and Mohammed was the best from Affirmative.. who ever didn't go YOU MISSED OUT ON A LOT AND A GOOD EXAMPLE OF A DEBATE, which will help a lot when Im giving my debate!
anyway, I also attended the public speaking show, i thought Nawaf did a good job he seemed comfortable on the stage, so was Shahad GREAT JOB YOU GUYS!! But the speaker that i enjoyed her speach most was ayah mahmoud :) ! anyway i don't want to keep going on.. i know we all thought it was GREAT... GREAT JOB SHAHAD, NAWAF AND HASSAN!! you represented out class in the best way possible!!
Auob Sharafy 2455
Hello every body
As you know we are at the end of this semester.
And we have done with the most of our job. Right now we only have debating and final speech. And as D. Pamela said, most of the students did well in their job. However, we should be careful with the remaining weeks. And we should not be absent for any reasons because as Dr. Pamela said, each day that you are absent, you are going to loss a lot of points. So we have to be careful. Also, right now we should focus on our debating. As you know next week our debating will start. So we should be prepare for that debate.
However
Have a nice weekend, and prepare yourself with debating
CONGRATULATIONS SHOWCASE SPEAKERS !!! I am totally impressed with our showcase speakers. I've already marked their "A's" in the FINAL SPEECH category. Hey you guys - you are all done with speeches! The only thing left is the great debate. Any student who is absent after this day will lose one letter grade. So if you have an "A" you will end up with an "A-" then "B+" and so forth. So don't miss class for anything!!!! I enjoyed watching all of you planning your debates. It seems as though you will really impress the class with your arguments and rebuttals. We are almost done with Spring Semester so let's hang in there and do it all! YOU ARE ALL SO FANTASTIC. MUMTAZ. Dr. Pamela
Id like to start of by saying Good Job all you showcase speakers!! everyone did a good job! personally, my favourite showcase speaker was Maha from the other public speaking class, i really found her topic very intresting and decided i should visit Lankawi soon or as Nour Baqsami said on my honeymoon lol..I think some people (not taking engl108) at the showcase dont really know how hard it is to do a speech because the speakers made it look easy.. anyways Good job all you guys :)
Now, About the debate.. This is going to be really intresting because its like a challenge! and its not like things we have done before like presentations on our own and stuff like that. Everyone is going to have their own opinion but we have to prove that our points are stronger than the other team.
What debates and speeches have in common is that we get to learn alot of new information about things we never had any idea about. Eg. when finding out facts or statistics to support our ideas.
Ive been to tastmasters a few times (the one in Rumaithiya) and it was quiet intresting! its really helpful for public speaking classes. They do presentations every other monday and you dont have to be a member to go and watch. I heard they have several locations, one in Rumaithiya one in Jabriya and the others im not sure where. Well, im going to tell you how i went there.. My sister goes there with her friends and told me one day "you wana go out" and i was like "sure, where to?" "toastmasters" she replied. she told me its a compitition and people tell you what they think about each person at the end, but what i had in mind is that people do a meal (using toast from the name toastmaster :P ) and then people judge you on the meal and tell you what they think lol and since i like food i decided to check the place out! when i got there it was something totally diffrent! it was just another public speaking class and turned out to be just as fun! but people there are from all ages.. So go check it out sometime ;)
and have a nice weekend everyone
hey everyone,i cant wait for the debate on saturday.its going to be fun debating for something that im agaianst ,i guess that makes you learn different aspects in public speaking.im looking forward to it
One week left until we finish Uni.And my debate is on wednesday..and can not wait until my final speach because its my only hope for getting my grades up..anyway, debate is fun,cant wait to do it..
bye
Hello Students. I hope you are enjoying your research for the debate and your final speech. We are almost finished!!! I really want to praise you for hanging in there and performing as well as you have. I'm so proud of you. Just imagine where we've come from since beginning the semester in February: two major speeches, the Showcase for some, the panel discussion, and now the debates. You are truly remarkable.
Just one note on the debate: I am fully aware of how each of you want to "win" your debates. This puts much pressure on me; however, I will not waver. Emotionally, I think you should all win; however, the task of a good evaluator is to keep emotion out of the grading. I am very impressed with most of the judging so far too. It appears that you have been listening well, using your heads, and assessing points accordingly. I've maintained your confidentiality so that you would not be badgered later by those who could possibly feel "betrayed" because you judged honestly. So, let's be good sports - show our maturity - and above all, be respectful to one another. Afterall, the main point in all of this is: "What have we learned?" Again, I am quite proud of your accomplishments and I look forward to the final speeches during finals week.
Judging for the debates yesterday was not an easy task at all. Both the affirmative and the negative groups looked really well prepared, and it felt like a real debate. I really liked the topic that they were talking about. The problem was that it was not easy to decide who the winning team was. Whenvever the affirmative group were speaking, i was totally convinced with what they said and felt that " censorship in colleges should end." HOWEVER, when it was the negative group's turn to speak, i got totally convinced that "censorship" should alwas be in schools and colleges to protect children.. But the debate was great! I loved the questions that they asked each other, and personal answers that they have presented as well! It was really funny and challenging both at the same time. The only thing that thy forgot to do though, was to summarize their points. But i cant really blame them, because it felt that they didnt have enough time to speak...
My debate is tomorrow. I am really worried about it. Maybe because it is our first time to debate in this class, and we are more used to informative and persuasive speeches now..we will see how it goes...wish us luck all! :))
GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!!
Maha Fathi
S00004601
ENGL 108-01
We're nearly done!! I feel proud of what we've all done, actually - with the informative and the persuasive speeches and the debates still underway. It's good to look back on all that work and feel good about what we'd accomplished - I think it was really worth it, especially with Dr. Pamela incredible help and the class' terrific support.
As for the showcase, that was one of the msot enjoyable experiences I've had on stage ever! I was not at all nervous - not one bit (maybe because I couldn't see any faces past the first row?) :D Whatever it was, I felt it was going to be fun talking in front of all of those people. I think they did enjoy the Swing music I played; I did anyway!
I think the debates are going on pretty well - the arguments for both the "bedoun" one and the censorship one were really tough - while I was watching them, I kept thinking of how we would do in our debate; I sure hope we pull it off right! We've been researching and writing and meeting up for a bit, so I think we could do a good job, but I am still a bit nervous about it - however, from what I've seen with the previous debates, what with those comebacks, I think it'll be really fun! Well, today's my turn to do the judging for Group 3 - looking forward to that... and our own debate on Saturday! I'm so happy with what we've learned this class - it was a terrific, worthwhile experience and I'm glad for it.
(I think I'll do a blog next week, as a final blog)
Have a great weekend everyone!
Hello everyone!! Wow we are almost done here!! That is just a scary thought! Seriously that is one thing I hate about college as soon as I get comfortable in a class.. BAM it’s done.. Anyhow our turn to debate was Wednesday, I thought the debate was pretty impressive!! Which made me want to work on my debate further because we are up against two, who I think, of the toughest people in class with just their words; it’s actually pretty challenging and fun!! We are already having fun with it and we didn’t even debate yet! I’m actually SO EXCITED for the debate and not nervous one bit!!
As for the showcase, IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE TIMES I HAD IN AUK, seriously, other than the speech because I was still a little nervous but introducing my colleagues did help me get comfortable with the audience I hoped every one of us had the chance to do so that they would be comfortable, the time Shahad and I spent preparing it was so much fun that we were just thinking of doing another showcase just for the fun of it!! Thanks Dr. Pamela for the great opportunity, it was EXTRAORDUNARY AND WORTH EVERY SECOND WE SPENT ON IT!!
Also thank you for the IMMENSE support throughout the semester, we wouldn’t be that good of speakers without your help!! And I could see the difference from how we all started to how far we’ve gotten now!! And as for me this class have some how affected me personally to outside the class.. Which is pretty GREAT and worthwhile!!
THANK YOU GUYS FOR THE SUPPORT OF SHOWCASE!!
Wish us luck on Saturday we have our debate!!
GOOD LUCK TO THE REST!!
Engl 108-01
S00002815
hello everyone
i cant believe class is almost over! it feels like it was just yesterday where we had to introduce our clasmates! public speaking has definitely been one of my best classes this semester,and as ayah said it has not only affected me educationally but has also helped me a lot outside the classroom too! i feel a lot more confident and when i have to give presentations in my other classes i don't feel nervous at all! public speaking is definitely a class that will pay off in the future! i feel that i did really well with both my informative and persuasive speeches, however that wouldnt have been possible without the help of Dr.Pamela! getting to know all our classmates really helped to! now ive got my debate to look forward to!! the debates so far have went really well and they look so professional and eager to win!! im actually quite nervous about me and shahas debate because our topic is not a really easy one! and we actually agree mostly with the people we are debating against!! so it should be interesting! anyway this semester is almost over unfortunately! at least i know that this class has definitely had many benefits for my university life!
lulu boushahri
S00003772
Yeah, we have just started to have real fun! Ayah, you're right - It was an immensely satisfying experience to perform at the Showcase - it really opened up so many possibilities for me - now, I can talk in front of a hundred people and not shake! And we really appreciate your believing we were good enough to perform, Dr. Pamela, so thanks from me as well for your ongoing support.
I'm looking forward to the debate now, too! We've done some good research, me and Hadaya - and our opponents Ayah and Hajjer have done some too - and we've met enough times to know exactly - we hope - what we're doing!I think it's going to be terrific, actually, expecially after seeing some of those great debates in class. I used to be a novice member of Kuwait's Debating Club, and took me a lot of guts to get up there and say a minute's worth of rebuttal. Honest: I used to mumble my words way too fast so I could get it over with, scared half-to-death that the other team would pound my argument into little bits. Now, what with our extensive practice with speaking, my only challenge is the fast-thinking on arguments for the refutation, and that's going to be somuch fun! The effort we spent working on our speaking in our class really really paid off. Now, whenever I have another presentation - like in ENGL 309 - I can't wait to get up there and share what I've got! And I think I'm doing it better - better volume, eye contact, introduction - even better confidence: everything I owe to our ENGL 108! See you guys next week!!
I really can't believe this semester is almost over, it went by SUPER fast! But when I look back on all the work that we've done, persuasive speeaches, informative speeches and now debatees, I feel PROUD! I definitly enjoyed this class and without a doubt it was one of my favorite classes this semester. Although we've been going through stress with all the speeches and what not, it was all worth it in the end!
I have learned so much in this, and now I know I can use all my skills that I've learned in every other class not on Eng 108. Out of anything I've learned, I believe that my confidence has boosted 100%.
After seeing all the debates on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. It has given me an idea of what we're going to do and I feel a little more relaxed. I now feel excited instead of nervous about our debate on Saturday, especially after the debate on Wednesday, which I definitly enjoyed.
Thanks Dr. Pamela for everything you have taught us. We owe you big time!
Hello everyone
how are you?
i hope all you are fine and happy
this week all my classmate did very good work becuase they work hard to made the debate interesting and eachc groub do their best to convince the audiance by their case and i can not do one of this because i was afraid of this subject and you made this subject too easy for me
and now i can do any speech in front of any one becuase of what i have learned form this subject and you.
best luck
ali al dossri
engl-01
I can't believe that we are nearly to the end; it feels like we just started. I enjoyed this course and I have learned so much. I gave me a lot of confidence when I have a presentation in other classer. It is easy for me to stand in front of the class and talk.
The debates this week were good. I am looking forward to next weeks debates. Our debate was very interesting and things unexpected happened. One of our group members came in late and was not allowed to come in. but thank god we managed to fill in her place. It was very fun taking the role of a serious lawyer and acts the part. It was really fun. I'm looking forward to our final speech during the final exams. Its been a great course.
What an experience! we are almost done now after going through the challenging but most wonderful feeling of working through the informative, persuasive speeches, the showcase, and now the debates. This public speaking class was a fabulous experience to me as i have learned a lot and benefitted for tomorrow more than today. i would like to thank dr. Pamella for her fabulous effort to make us go on plan and for her support till we actually reached the level we are at today because if i would show you how i sounded on the first day and how i was in the showcase you will be completely surprised as i was astonished with myself. The other major factor was the fabulous classmates i had and as this is my first year i found that my classmates in publicspeaking are one of the best as they were the most supporting and understanding and are willing to work and help. What is making my butterflies come back again is our debate that is on monday as our topic is challenging and we have tough collegues. However, the debates i actually witnessed last week were good and interesting as it was enjoyable seeing how each pair tried to convince us. Im sad that the class is over as it has been one of the most enjoyable courses i have experienced where i have learned a lot and been supported greatly, especially what added to my whole experience was my speech in the showcase as i have never thought that i would have to speak in front of such a large audience but it was a blast that i would like to thank Dr. Pamella for this fabulous life opportunity and my friends for coming and supporting because if it wasnt for all these people than i would not have had this unforgetable chance.Good luck everyone on the debates that are left!Hope to see u on Sat and enjoy as much as you can on your weekend:)
hello everyone
cant believe we're almost done with engl 108. i really gotta admit that engl 108 helped me alot in class and in some other classes as well, as being more cofident doin persentations .. and for debates they really done in a very professional way , i love the reutation and rebuttal part the most. so good luck for all u guys in the coming debates
S00002751
Engl 108/05
Tommoro's the debate, it's gonna be fun!
The semester is almost over, and i just realised i don't know half of the classes names =p
Anyway, i am gonna end it short this time, i'll cya guys tommorow.
First of all i want to say thank you Dr. Pamela for making this course as simple as possible for us to deal with. I am quite sure we may have had some trouble with some of the other proffessors. but you really kept things simple. As a proof for that, i acheived an A in both my informative and persuasive speeches.
Regarding the debate, i really couldn't have done it without the handout which was given to us weeks before the debate. that booklet basically saved me life. This is because i was still unsure of how the debate was going to be carried out. so i started panicking. However, that handout helped me take things one step at a time and therefore helped me prepare a very good debate which i think the proffessor enjoyed. Only this time, i was only 2% away from acheiving another A, unofrtunately.
Nevertheless, i am still very optimistic about this course because lately i've had some troubles with a couple of my other courses. but i know that this one is the last of my worries. (I meant that in a positive way, so please don't get me wrong).
I would like to take this chance also to thank my fellow classmates who have also contributed in making this class a fun and enjoyable 50 minutes 3 days a week. Seriously, thank you guys.
It was a pleasure working with all of you.
Ash
3256
section 01
Auob Sharafy
S00002455
Hi all
I just want to say that we had a great class. And I think that I will miss this class.
Right now we did every thing for that class, and we only have the final exam. I hope that all of you do well in the final exam, and I hope that all of you get A in this class.
I also like to say thank you to Dr. Pamela. She is a great teacher. And I learnt a lot of things from her. And I really miss her.
I hope that she is going to be teacher again in this university.
Again Dr. Pamela thank you for every thing
HeLLo everyone =)
This was our last week of classes and I'm going to miss u all =) and most of all is Dr. Pamela who helped us a lot towards public speaking and how to make a good speech in front of an audience. This course helped me a lot to be more confident towards an audience and to deliver a good speech. This week was my Debate which took place on Monday. We did pretty well but unfortunately the other team scored the most points, and I forgot to say some of my lines stupid me! Anyways overall it was good and Shahad my partner did a very good job and I'd like to thank her for helping me towards it. Wish you the best for the final speech and we'll hope we'll make a better one out of it =) good Luck! ;)
As the semster comes to an end I must say that this class has been very helpful and is one of the most importent classes I have taken so far. I feel that with the help of this class I have become a much better speech presienter and that I have developed more confidence in my speech giving abilities than I used to have. I think the debates that we did at the end were very fun and very enlightening considering the things that were disscused in the debates. The only real problem I noticed was actually in the availabilty of information due to the fact that the goverment here dosent really keep a comprehensive database that is easily accesiable to the public which makes it very hard to collect information and facts for the debate. But other than that I found the debates to be a very fun experince and a good way to end the semster.
The course has ended!! and now all i have to do is my last blog! and the final presentation!!
1st of all id like to start of by saying how much fun this course was, from presentations and debates to students in the class.
well id like to say thanks to everyone in the class for being soo nice. and a special thank you to Dr pamela for being so supportive and helping us finish this course and making it easy.
Hello everyone,
Im so late in this blog I hope Dr. Pamela will accept it, anyway it’s the end of the course and im happy to say that this class was awesome, taking it in my first semester made me deliver better presentations and speeches in other classes so over all I have benefited from engl-108 a great deal.
I would like to thank Dr. Pamela for all the work she made us do that paid off in the end at some point I thought I wouldn’t be able to pass this class but im so glad I tried harder to impress you because I was able to deliver better speeches.
To my class mate’s thank you for making it easy to give a speech looking at you guys, i made great friends in this class.
Anyone who is about to take this class is going to benefit a great deal it teaches you a lot starting with how to reach and get the audience attention, how to use audience analysis, how to get people interested in what your saying and a lot more over all it might be hard work but it helps you out a great deal.
Good luck in all your final speeches.
Hala al Qabandy.
Hello everyone
In begging of the semester I was so afraid of this course. Because I heard that Dr. Pamela is so hard and she is not good, but when I attended the first class I felt like she is not bad and that’s the truth. Even though sometimes she get angry but that doesn’t make her bad. From this class I improved a lot and I can see that from my speeches that I have done in other classes. I was more comfortable when I did my speech. From my first speech which was about computers I noticed some mistakes that I have done and specially when I got nervous I move my legs a lot . In my second speech I tried to work on and I it was better. What I found in this course was nice is the debate, be for the first group did it I thought I will be so boring and student will not be good in. but I was so nice, and I found it so nice, and what makes that better is we won the debate. Over all I like the course and it was so nice to work with my classmates, thanks to Dr Pamela wish u all the best in your finals
Mohammed ALi
MY FINAL BLOG :D
The first day of public speaking was really scary for me. There were so many things I didn’t understand and I was so overwhelmed by everything. (I didn’t know what blog was ). Now I find myself laughing at the person I used to be. In the beginning I was really lost in everything we are learning. Once I got the time to open the book and read the chapters, then it all made sense to me. I really thought the public speaking book is really helpful every step of the way. I think I would have been so lost with out it. And it was so amazing after reading the book the professor would explain it more. The information sticks in your brain. I think this is the only course that takes complete advantage of class time. So coming to class is really important. I enjoyed everything we did in class from the panel discussions to the informative speeches and the persuasive speeches. But the most fun was the debate. It was amazing watching people debate as professionals like they were lawyers. It was very interesting. And once I got the hang of the blogging it is actually relaxing and fun reading everyone’s comments it makes me understand how each one of them are thinking and if they are feeling the same way as I am. Like when we get nervous when its our turn to give a speech. Overall the course was fabulous. The students that were with me in class made this course really memorable. The fantastic speeches are unforgettable and I’m really glade that we had to tap some of our speeches just to give me a memory of that day. Thank you professor Pamela it’s been a pleasure being your student in this class. I really enjoyed it very much I got so much of out this class. Now I’m such a different person then when I first started the class. I got more confident and it helped me with my other presentations in different courses. And hopefully
Wow :) finally we reached an end, this class so far has been the most unique class i ever took. It is just so different from all the other subjects i take. I can see that i becmae less shy when talking in fromt of an audience, which to me is a big imporvment. Most of my learning came from watching my fellow classmates speeches. I think that seeing other peoples speeches was more beneficail to me than reading the text book. I think the text book had some very important tips and was helpful, but it was too long and a little boring read. Watching real speeched was very helpful, i wish we could have done that more. Becuase at home i kust dont feel like watching the speeches even though i know its going to help me. Seeing from my grades i did not greatly improve on my speeches, but there was little improvement. As far as the speaking goes i think i did fine, but iam still a little weak on the structure of the speech itself. I do follow the guidline exactly. But during the real speech i mess up a little. To me the most important and useful thing i learned in this class is that you must know your audience. That is the most helpful because your audience is the most important component. And the whole speech revolves around them and their knowlege of the topic your talking about. I am greatful i took this course so early, because it would really help me for when i do presentations in my later classes. Thank you Dr. Pamela :)
Hussa Al-Refaie
2627
First of all i want to say thank you Dr. Pamela for making this course as simple as possible for us to deal with. I am quite sure we may have had some trouble with some of the other proffessors. but you really kept things simple. As a proof for that, i acheived an A in both my informative and persuasive speeches.
Regarding the debate, i really couldn't have done it without the handout which was given to us weeks before the debate. that booklet basically saved me life. This is because i was still unsure of how the debate was going to be carried out. so i started panicking. However, that handout helped me take things one step at a time and therefore helped me prepare a very good debate which i think the proffessor enjoyed. Only this time, i was only 2% away from acheiving another A, unofrtunately.
About the final speeches, i guess my final speech was not as good as i anticipated it to be,(don't know why). i actually memorized the whole thing and was ready to do it without any notecards, but Dr. Pamela told me 30 minutes before the speech that it won't count for extra points, so i used a note card.
I really hope i end up with a good grade in this course because i feel like i have really put effort into everything we did. And with this blog as a final push, i am hoping for the best. Nevertheless, i am still very optimistic about this course.
I would like to take this chance also to thank my fellow classmates who have also contributed in making this class a fun and enjoyable 50 minutes 3 days a week. Seriously, thank you guys.
It was a pleasure working with all of you.
Ash
3256
ENGL 108-01
i cant believe that this class is over! it feels like it was just yesterday that we have begun!!! Dr. Pamela, thank you so much for helping us in this course! After finishing it, i feel that i am really prepared to present, any time, any where, and to anyone. The first time i presented was really shocking, then by practice, i feel that we are all prepared now! My two favorite parts in the semester were the persuasive and informative speeches!! really enjoyed them! Informative for me, was the best! i really worked extremely hard for it, and felt that this got paid in the end! I liked the idea that we had to do a final speech instead of a final exam, as this relates more to what we have been dealing with the entire semester.
I am really happy that i took this course in my first semester at AUK in preparation for all the coming presentations in different courses! :)
Thank you Dr. Pamela. I have to admit that many times the class was really stressful both inside and outside of class. We got really worried many times..but it was all worth it in the end!! Hope ur future students would benefit from you as much as we did! :)
Maha Fathi
S00004601
108-01
hello every one
i hope you are fine and happy
first i will tell you my story with this class. before i took this class i was friad beocuase of the subject. i heard from my friend that this class hard and with Dr Pamela forget to pass above C
but i need to take this cousre
the frist week was easy.and week after week i enjoy this class and i did my best to pass subject.
the first speech i was very friad to stand up infornt of the class and talked. speech after speech i practice. i got the advntge in the final speech i did my speech in my life with friad and more Confident.in the end, i want to thank Dr. Pamela for the help she gave me.
ENGL 108/01
Ali Al_Dossary
Dr Pamela,
It was truly a pleasure to be involved in your class. My biggest weakness of sticking to a structure and formulating a speech was strengthened. I feel this will greatly benefit me in the classes to come.
Your approach to teaching was very comforting. I was never in a position of feeling or being pressurized and you were incredibly forgiving when it came to mistakes and missing components of speeches.
I enjoyed the impromptus, I just hoped they would have been more of those. Improvisational skills are great and your choice of topics were interesting.
The only aspect I did not enjoy about this course was the strict structuring you enforced on us in regards to formulating our speeches, only because that is my weakest skill. That being said however I know realize the significance of sticking to a structure and how it allows for an overall great speech in terms of delivery a well as organizing content.
The best part of this course to me was the debate. I enjoy being competitive and this allowed the class to show their true strengths and weaknesses. I feel that one can only strengthen one's self by understanding one's weaknesses. This class showed me my weaknesses and has allowed me to begin working on them. For that Dr P. I thank you :)
The semester flew by really fast and like they say, time flies when you're having fun.
Hope you have a great holiday and see you soon, hopefully not too soon :P
All my best,
Khalid Al-Askar
To begin my assesment of Public Speaking, I will portray the different levels that I have acheived throughout this course. At first, with our improv speeches, there was hesitation as to what this class was about, what goals we expected to acheive, and what methods we would employ in our learning. I believe that I gave a very well formulated improvisation speech in relation to the time given, that I was moderatley well prepared, and provided a somewhat deep knowledge of the conduction of information to my peers about the topic of Starbucks. That gave myself and my peers a good start and it did show significant improvement in the first formal informative speech. At this phase of ENGL 108, I had been more ready to prepare information and convey it professionally and logically. I did suffer from a lack of preparation and practice in performing the speech, but by then I atleast had a significant understanding vested in the process. The class discussions and readings from the book made some things clearer, but the actual exams based on the reading were completely irrelevant to the point of this speech class. The questions were almost logical-trick questions that could cause doubt and suspicion to even the book's writer if he had to answer them. The second speech, the persuasive, was definitely more fun to do and deploy, as it affected audience participation and analysis more closely. Again, I had a good idea of what I would do and say, but suffered a bit from preparation and practice. I doubt I would have any trouble, however, If I had to persuade anyone about a certain topic, impromptu, on the spot because of this speech's instruction. Thus, I benefited greatly from both speeches, and lastly, but not least, the debate. It gave me a good understanding of how to counter argue, provided facts and figures, an argument for policy change within a small time frame. Thus, the three speeches were comprehensive in aggrandizing the different components of speech-making from informing, persuading, to debating certain topics. I thank my colleagues and the teacher very much for being a participant audience and good criitcs during their tours as peer critics. I thank Bacel also for supporting me to come to class on a daily basis, behave well, and concentrate on the different features of the class. Duaij
"Grasp the subject, the words will follow" Cato The Elder.
I’ve always felt uneasy when it came to speaking in front of large audiences, however enrolling in this class has helped ease some of my troubles in regards to the art of public speaking. Yes, it is an art to be able to conjure words on the spot to deliver a message that can capture someone’s attention or to prepare a speech that will ultimately have an effect on your audience.
“The stroke of the whip maketh marks in the flesh: but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword: but not so many as have fallen by the tongue” [Ecclesiasticus 28:17 --18] from the Bible.
It took my participation in this class to realize this and I’ve felt that as a result, I’ve learned a great deal in regards to speaking in front of the masses. I must admit though that I was a bit skeptical at times when I felt that all the seemingly unnecessary papers and strict rules were overwhelming. I would ask myself what did this policy and what did this sheet of paper have to do with learning the art of public speaking. I felt discouraged and overwhelmed upon receiving all these small regulations and countless guidelines. Nevertheless, as time passed by, I slowly began to understand the reasoning behind everything and realized that with every rule and guideline, came with it a subtle purpose.
“If you can't write your message in a sentence, you can't say it in an hour” Dianna Booher.
Paraphrasing ideas and long-drawn-out paraphrases into mere sentences fit for a speech at first was a daunting task. Yet, due constant practice, my skills in this field rose considerably. Public speaking allows us to convert an idea we might have into something applicable to whoever will lend us an ear. Thus it is a valuable asset to whatever field of work we may choose, be it business to molecular biology. It took me several classes to discover and to appreciate my decision of enrolling into this class. Watching the speeches that came with the CD’s was quite a boost and was very beneficial. I very much enjoyed the in-class debates we had, however, I must admit that I found the topics to of been quite boring. Also I disliked the format of the debate in the sense that we had to follow a certain layout. What was nice though was when we had to take turns speaking out; it was a good way of ensuring chaos would not ensue and that a proper debate would take place. My only suggestion to any future debates that take place within the class would be perhaps a less demanding layout.
When it came to me speaking in front of the class, I would notice that I tend to read a lot from the note-cards and would move around every now and then. Having someone record my presentation made it possible for me to see my mistakes and was a great aid in overcoming my flaws. Overall, Professor Pamela you were quite a considerate and encouraging instructor, always helping students out with many opportunities for extra credit and coming up with methods to help make the process go smoother and more efficiently. I regret the moments where I could have put in more of an effort but overall I enjoyed my stay in your class. I hope your future students get to appreciate everything you’ve done for this class.
Sincerely,
Basil Al Shammaa
S00001255
ENGL108
Hello everyone! First off i would like to say that everyone here are such great writers, I was really impressed and entertained by the blogs i have been reading. Ahh where to start, this class has been a adventure for me. Professor Pamela has been an amazing "teacher", harder than most to pass her class but in the end you gain more from it. I know a lot of you probably think that i never took this class seriously because of my attendance problems but that it not the case, as my trademark transition goes, allow me to explain :P. Engl 108 has been my most talked about class this semester by FAR. every speech i give or debate i did i was so proud i would tell everyone about it. I felt that i gave strong and powerful speeches, most of the time, i really felt that my last speech was below my average because i was so nerves about ruining everything so close to the end, and for the first time the nerves really got to me. The showcase was a breeze compared strangely enough. I remember at the showcase when the professor asked me if i was ready and i was so nerves for some reason that my hand was shaking so bad, but i told her in my typical way that i was exited and ready to do a great job, the whole time hiding the fact that i was thinking to my self, "what did i get my self into" haha. I thought i was going to blow it for sure, but i noticed something i do when i get like that, and hopefully those who read this might use it to help them selves. I remember walking up to the podium, thinking about how i was even going to talk, then as i stood up there i knew i had to regain control so i paused everything mentally and told me self to count to 5, so i did, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and after that i told my self, "look your still here, lets do this". That kinda helped me to grasp what was going on and not to be too concerned. So i picked up the mic and said, "One life, one body", and i was pretty much on autopilot from that point on. Great learning experience for me for sure! i noticed a major boost in my confidences in front of a class room from this class, i gained that so when i thinking back i know i got my moneys worth from engl 108. I remember talking to a friend of mine who was taking engl 108 with some one else and asked me if Professor Pamela was as hard as everyone says she is and asked him what did he learn from his professor and he reply that he hd learned nothing that it was an easy A and i responded by telling him that i learned how to speak in public haha. Kinda shows you the difference a teacher can make. In the end, i think we all bonded as a part of this class and learned its normal to have a slight fear of public speaking but its just takes a little practice and you can overcome that. All in all, i give this class and Professor Pamela an A :P Have a great summer everyone, ill see you in the fall!
Picking a topic you know more about could help narrowing down choices, the sufficient time to do so is also very crucial. Being well prepared means that you should be provided with the sufficient time to do so and the time provided to you should be handled in the best interest of your aim.
I was in conflict on this issue because I did not have the confidence that people would find my presented interest as interesting.
Based on the questionnaires I made sure to pass on the first presentation, student response was a bit ungenerous. Students could have provided helpful insight, lack of time or maybe the eternal concern with their own grades is what mattered most.
Providing supplementary aides is useful, I found that I used it the wrong way, I used the video to be able to time my presentation to four minutes, but people found my aides as a video and not a background as I intended for it to be strictly for emotional appeal.
Effective public speaking skills can be learned by following a few simple points. A good speaker will be organized and have the confidence to present the substance of the speech to an audience. Being able to speak effectively is a valuable skill that can be learned as a student and applied later in life.
Capture your audience's attention by giving them a reason for listening. This establishes a theme for your speech and can be a provocative quote, statistic, or story. The thesis or main idea of your speech is then presented here and it relates to your theme. This is where you tell your audience what you are going to talk about.
Break your idea into separate points that explain or support your thesis and expand upon your theme. This is where your audience is told about your topic.
Revisit your headline and summarize your main idea by referring back to the points made in your main body. This provides your audience with a complete package and tells them what you have told them.
Be yourself. Your audience will forgive your nervousness, but they will be turned off by false modesty or bravado.
Speak in the level of language that is suitable to the occasion.
Look for a creative angle on your topic. Capture your audience's attention this way.
Think and speak in outline terms. Avoid reading every word to your audience.
If you stumble, don't repeat sentences or phrases unless they are pivotal to your speech.
Finish your speech before your audience does. Don't overstay your welcome on the podium. An audience appreciates a short organized speech over a long rambling effort.
Be confident in presentation. A speaker's poise and confidence communicate as effectively as the words that are spoken.
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