ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Introduce a speaker and offer a vote of thanks Lesson

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Standards

Learning Outcome 1: Listening and Speaking

1
The learner is able to listen and speak for a variety of purposes, audiences and contexts.
We know this when the learner is able to:
• demonstrate knowledge of different forms of oral communication for social purposes:
◦ introduce a speaker and offer a vote of thanks;
◦ conduct straightforward interviews and report on findings where appropriate.
• demonstrate planning and research skills for oral presentations:
◦ research a topic by referring to a range of supplied and relevant sources;
◦ organise material coherently by choosing main ideas and relevant details or examples for
support;
◦ identify and choose formats, vocabulary, and language structures and conventions;
◦ prepare adequate introductions and endings.

Overview
We are going to start this series of Grade 10 lessons by looking at Learning
Outcome 1, which focuses on Listening and Speaking. You are expected to be
able to listen and speak for a variety of purposes, audiences and contexts. In the
first two lessons, we are going to talk about making a prepared speech.

Lesson
When might Grade 10 learners find that they have to introduce a speaker and DVD
offer a vote of thanks?
You might be asked to speak at a prize-giving or other formal function at school,
the Grade 8s might be studying nuclear power and a teacher invites a guest to
speak on this controversial topic or perhaps the Grade 9s invite a well-known
author to address their group. In each case, someone will be required to introduce
the speaker and offer a vote of thanks afterwards.
If your school organises for someone to visit the school and deliver a speech, you
might be chosen as the person to introduce the speaker or offer a vote of thanks
after the speech. If you are chosen, what must you do before the day of the guest’s
visit? You have to do research on the person you will be speaking about.

Introducing a speaker
How do you research a guest? You:
◦ research a topic by referring to a range of supplied and relevant sources.

The best place to research this kind of speech is probably the Internet. Many
schools have computers in the library or media centre, where the learners have
access to the Internet. You can also look for information about the speaker in
newspapers and magazines.
If you cannot find information on the Internet or if you do not have a computer,
then ask around. Start with the teacher who invited the guest. The teacher must
have a reason for inviting this particular person, so interview the teacher and make
some notes.

Do not forget that your parents and other adults are also sources of information
and ideas. If you use parents, friends, and teachers, you are thinking about using 

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 various resources to get your information, which is a perfectly good way of finding
information.
Imagine that you have looked up information or spoken to teachers, friends and
relatives. You now have information about the guest speaker. What do you do now?
You are expected to:
◦ o rganise material coherently by choosing main ideas and relevant and accurate details or
examples for support.

If you are giving a formal introduction, you must not use slang or casual language.
You must prepare your speech in the way that everyone expects – and the way
the guest expects so that he or she feels welcome in your school. Your speech of
introduction must be right for the occasion and the audience. Your speech must fit
in with the event at which you are speaking, the people to whom you are speaking
and the guest that you are introducing. The language that you choose for your
speech should be appropriate. You need to think about all of these things when
you prepare your speech.
Your introductory speech and your vote of thanks will be divided into:
● an introduction
● a body
● a conclusion.
You must prepare two short speeches that will effectively introduce the guest
speaker to the audience, and then offer a vote of thanks at the end of the
presentation.
In many schools, the Grade 10s, 11s and 12s write the English Olympiad. The
topic for 2008 was lawyers and court cases. The school might decide to invite a
lawyer to come to speak to the group about the law, what kinds of fields a lawyer
can specialise in, the jury system in other countries as opposed to our system
where we have a judge and assessors, and so on. One learner will be chosen to
introduce the speaker. If you are the learner that is chosen, where will you start to
prepare your speech?
You will start by finding out something about the speaker. You may talk to the
teacher in charge and interview the teacher, getting information. You may also look
in a magazine or newspaper.
The first thing to ask is: How long must the introduction be? The introduction to a
guest should be about 2–3 minutes. You will need enough information to be able
to speak for that length of time.
When you prepare your speech read through your information and decide what to
include in the speech of introduction. Keep in mind the:
● audience
● reason the guest has been invited
● topic about which the guest has been asked to speak.

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 Make the following headings to guide you:
Full name:
Title:
Born:
Place where the speaker works:
Family:
Education:
Reason for fame:
Once you have written some facts under each heading, you should have plenty of
information for an introductory speech. Notice that you should first say something
about where and when the guest was born and where he went to school and
university. You should then focus on the speaker’s legal career because that is the
field about which he is coming to speak.
Once you have your notes, write out the speech in full and then write key words on
cue cards.

The vote of thanks

You cannot prepare the vote of thanks beforehand. You must wait to see what
the speaker says. Make notes while you are listening. Then, when you thank the
speaker:
● Be specific.
● Mention particular details from the speech.
● Do not be vague.
Of course, you say how much everyone enjoyed the speech – I am sure they did!
But you must give something that shows that you have listened and that you
remember what the speaker said.
This speech must be short – about a minute. You must not detract from the
speaker by taking over.
In this lesson, we discussed how to put together an introduction to a speaker and
offer a vote of thanks.
In the next lesson, we are going to look at how to prepare a speech to inform and
entertain.

Activity 1
Imagine that your school is going to invite a speaker for a major function. Decide PAIRS
who the speaker might be. Do some research about the speaker. Make notes.
Prepare a speech to introduce the speaker to the audience.
self
assessment

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