
Session 1 · AUTHOR: Audience
What makes people listen?
- 10 minHook: the teacher reads two speech openings on the same topic (the brooch and the rugby boot). Which pulled you in, and why?
- 15 minListening roles fishbowl: five students discuss 'What makes someone worth listening to?' as facilitator, speaker, listener, questioner and summariser. The rest observe and note what each role does.
- 15 minAudience profile: who will be at the speech festival? What do whānau and classmates care about? What would bore them?
- 10 minChoose a speech topic from the list and a context (festival, podcast or occasion).
Session 2 · AUTHOR: Understand
Hook and angle
- 10 minHook types: question, bold statement, fact, mini-story, a few lines of poetry. Warm-up: circle the hook type in each exemplar and underline the angle sentence.
- 10 minFind the angle: ask 'So what?' about your topic three times until something worth arguing appears.
- 20 minWrite your introduction: a hook (one to three sentences) and your angle sentence, 'This speech is really about…'. Use one toolbox phrase: 'Imagine if…', 'Have you ever…?', 'Somewhere in your ___ right now…'.
- 10 minRead it aloud to a partner. Did it sound interesting, or like reading? Fix one thing.
Getting started
Start from a hook sentence frame and the list of topics with example angles.
Stretch
Write two hooks of different types and test both on different partners.
Checkpoint
Each student has a topic, an angle sentence and a draft introduction read aloud once.
Activities for this week
- Hook speed-round: Which kind of opening makes people lean in?
- Listening roles fishbowl: How do good listeners help a group think?
Useful this week
- Cool kids content ↗ NZ podcasts made for kids: hear how hosts talk to listeners.