Internet Exercises

Exercise 1

Goal: This activity is designed not only to give students an opportunity to practice making their opening statements more attention-getting and memorable, but it is also designed to show them how easy it can be to locate a variety of different types of openers that can be easily adapted to a speech.

Instructions: Your task is to take any three of the topics from the list below, go to the Reader's Digest home page <www.readersdigest.com>, and locate a story or anecdote that would make a good opening for this speech. Be prepared to discuss your findings with the class.

Topics:

a) The Stock Market

b) George Bush's Tax Rebate

c) Divorce

d) The Penal System

e) Day Time Talk Shows

Exercise 2

Goal: This activity is designed to help students see how important a good introduction and conclusion are to the success of a speech. They will also have a chance to practice writing an introduction and a conclusion to further refine their skills.

Instructions: Your job is to locate a speech online that has the full text available and then rewrite the speech's introduction and conclusion to give it more impact. For some ideas, you might try Vital Speeches of the Day online <www.votd.com>.