During English this term, the Year 8’s have been exploring persuasive speeches and particularly the techniques employed to deliver them.
Over the course of this week, the extension class were presented with the famous speeches of: Winston Churchill “We Shall Fight on the Beaches”; Barack Obama’s acceptance speech for presidential nomination on 28th August 2008; Mala Yousafzai “The right to be learning should be given to any child” (2015); Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream“; Emma Watson’s “He for She” (2014); and John F Kennedy’s inaugural address in 1961.
The class had thirty minutes to examine the mannerisms of each speaker and in a two part series delivered a jaw dropping performance of these speeches. Public speaking, teamwork, initiative and leadership skills were exercised to it’s finest with students also using their ICT skills to create an iMovie of the entire experience, demonstrating a multiple of directing and staging skills. The video is embedded below, thank you to Josh L for directing and editing.
Maya Angelou cited that “life is not measured by the breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away”. Well this week has been one of these moments with the entire class and was an incredibly proud and memorable moment. Well done to my English class!
Mrs Qasem, English Teacher