Speaking for Many Purposes: Introductions, Parody, Seminars and Panels

Remember from Grade 10

In Grade 10 you spoke for different purposes (to inform, persuade, entertain, build relationships), adjusted formality and forms of address, and worked toward consensus in groups. Grade 11 asks you to communicate orally for a wider range of purposes, using language that suits the audience, and the curriculum names some demanding ones: delivering a parody of a soliloquy, presenting an independent study, leading a seminar on a literary analysis, moderating a panel, and introducing or thanking a guest speaker. Each has its own purpose and its own conventions.

Let's start with the guest who waited

A guest speaker, a paramedic, has come to talk to your school about careers in health care. The student introducing her reads two pages from her online profile in a monotone, mispronounces her name, and then says, "Anyway, she's going to talk about being a paramedic, I guess." The speaker walks to the front to polite but tired applause. The introduction took four minutes and made the audience less interested. An introduction has one purpose: to make the audience want to hear this person.

Introducing and thanking a guest speaker

An introduction (30 to 60 seconds):

1. Topic: what the talk is about, in one sentence.
2. Why it matters to this audience: "Many of us are choosing courses for next year..."
3. Credentials: two or three facts that show why this speaker is worth hearing. Choose the ones that matter to this audience; don't read a whole résumé.
4. Name last, clearly: "Please welcome Leila Haddad." Check pronunciation with the speaker beforehand.

A thank-you (20 to 40 seconds): name one specific idea you or the audience will take away, thank the speaker for their time, and invite applause. Don't summarize the whole talk.

Parody: imitating to comment or entertain

A parody imitates the recognizable style or form of a well-known text, usually for a comic or critical purpose. For a parody to work, the audience must recognize the original. With a Shakespeare soliloquy, that means keeping its:

• rhythm, usually iambic pentameter: ten syllables per line in five pairs, each pair unstressed then stressed (da-DUM),
• structure (a character alone, thinking aloud, weighing a choice),
• famous phrases, slightly twisted.

The comedy comes from the gap between the grand style and a small, modern subject: Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" becomes an agonized choice about whether to get out of a warm bed on a snowy Monday.

Leading a seminar and moderating a panel

Leading a seminar on a literary analysis means guiding others' thinking, not giving a lecture:

• Open with a focus question that has more than one defensible answer.
• Use literary-analysis language naturally: irony, satire, characterization, motif, tone. Define a term briefly if the group may not know it.
• Ask follow-up questions that push for evidence: "Which line shows that?"
• Close by synthesizing the main views.

Moderating a panel (several speakers answering questions on one topic, for example media influence on teens) means managing people and time:

• Introduce each panellist briefly.
• Ask clear questions, often directing each to one panellist, then invite responses from others.
• Keep time fair and politely redirect anyone who dominates: "Thanks, Sam. Let's hear Priya's view on that."
• Take audience questions, then close with a short summary and thanks.