Unit 5
Speech
About this unit
A speech persuades people who are listening to you — at an assembly, a meeting, or an election. It uses the same clear reasons as persuasive writing, but it must sound spoken: direct address, hooks, signposts, and a strong ending.
This unit teaches assembly and community speech structure, oral rhythm, and how to use facts from a stimulus without turning your speech into an essay.
What types of questions will you face?
- 1School assembly speeches — student representative, captain, or house leader addressing students and staff. Tone is confident but respectful; you usually argue for or against a school change.
- 2Community or P&C speeches — parents or volunteers speaking to families about funding, facilities, or events. Use local facts and a clear request (attend a meeting, donate, sign a petition).
- 3Election or candidacy speeches — convince listeners you are the right choice; include values, one promise, and why you understand the audience.
- 4Stimulus fact boxes — costs, dates, numbers you must weave into spoken sentences, not bullet lists on the page.
- 5Required lines — a sentence you must include naturally, often after you have shown why the issue matters.
Skills you will build
- Direct address — fellow students, parents and carers, we, you — so the piece sounds spoken.
- Hook and thesis — open with a question, image, or bold claim; state your position before reason 1.
- Signposting — First…, Second…, Some will say…, So here is my call to action — guides listeners through the argument.
- Oral rhythm — mix short punchy sentences with longer ones; avoid dense essay blocks with no breaks.
- Rhetorical devices — rhetorical questions, rule of three, repetition — used sparingly, not every line.
- Call to action close — vote, attend, trial, donate — specific and doable, then thank the audience.
By the end of this unit, you will be able to
- Tell speech tasks apart from letters, essays, and news reports on the Selective test.
- Write a persuasive speech with hook, reasons, counter-argument, and a spoken closing.
- Address a named audience with appropriate tone (assembly vs parent meeting).
- Integrate stimulus facts and a required line without breaking speech format.
- Edit for oral flow — paragraph length, signposts, and no letter-style greetings or sign-offs.
Difficulty profile
Speeches are medium difficulty because students already know persuasion from Unit 2 but often reuse essay habits (no direct address, no hook). Stimulus speeches are harder — you must sound natural while hitting every fact. Practise reading your draft aloud in 25 minutes; if you run out of breath, shorten sentences.
Exam tip: Speech
Read the prompt twice. If it says speech, address, or names an audience (assembly, meeting), use speech skills — not a letter (Dear…) or a news report. Plan hook + thesis + two reasons + call to action before typing. If a required line is given, place it after your strongest example. End with thanks only if the prompt implies a live audience.
Guided Practice
A speech is not a persuasive essay with "Dear Principal" removed. The examiner is listening for you on a stage — short sentences, eye-contact phrases, and reasons that sound believable when spoken aloud.
Speech tasks appear on Selective papers when the prompt asks you to address an audience — a school assembly, student council, community meeting, or awards night. They use persuasive ideas but must sound spoken, not like a formal essay pasted on screen.
Markers reward a clear position, direct address ("we", "you", "fellow students"), and rhythm that would work aloud — hooks, signposts, and a memorable close. They penalise letter openings ("Dear Sir"), essay headings, or lists with no voice.
You receive a role (school captain, student representative, guest speaker), an issue, and about 30 minutes. You persuade listeners in real time: open with attention, argue with examples, answer one objection, and end with a specific call to action.
Best approach: Plan four beats: hook (question or bold claim), thesis, two reasons with examples, call to action. Open with "Good morning…" or "Fellow students…" only if the prompt names an assembly. Use signposts: First…, Second…, So what can we do?
Your writing task
Allow 25 minutes to write, then 5 minutes to edit. · In the exam, aim for roughly 350–450 words (about four to six short paragraphs).
Write a speech to deliver at a school assembly.
You are the Year 6 student representative. Argue for or against this proposal:
Every student should have at least twenty minutes of unstructured outdoor play after lunch each day.
Your speech must:
- Address the audience directly (students, teachers, or both)
- State your position clearly in the opening
- Include at least two reasons with specific school-life examples
- End with a call to action — what should happen next?
Quick plan (before you write)
Audience: who is in the room — only students, or teachers too?
Hook: one question or surprising fact before your thesis.
Reason 1 + example: health, learning, fairness, or safety — be specific.
Reason 2 + example: a different angle from reason 1.
Quick counter: one sentence acknowledging the other side, then refute.
Close: exact request (trial week, survey, timetable change).
Write your response on paper or in a notes app first. When you are ready, read the example below.
Example response
Study structure and detail — do not memorise phrases.
Example response (about 400 words — speech arguing FOR outdoor play)
Good morning, Ms Cho, teachers, and fellow students.
How many of you have eaten lunch, then sat indoors until the bell — legs restless, brain foggy, ready to burst? I am here today to argue that every student deserves at least twenty minutes of unstructured outdoor play after lunch — not as a treat, but as part of how this school takes learning seriously.
First, movement after eating helps us focus in the afternoon. Last term, 5 Blue trialled ten extra minutes on the oval after lunch. Our teacher reported fewer arguments and faster starts to maths — because we had already burned off silliness outside. Play is not the opposite of work; it is the warm-up for work.
Second, unstructured time teaches skills no worksheet can. When we organise a handball court or build a fort from crates, we negotiate rules, include younger kids, and fix problems without an adult script. Those are leadership habits — not "wasted" minutes.
I know some will say the timetable is already full, or that the oval gets crowded. Crowding is a planning problem, not a reason to ban play. Stagger year groups, open the basketball courts, and train senior students as play leaders. A crowded oval is proof we need the space, not proof we should stay inside.
So here is my call to action. Vote this week in the student suggestion box for a four-week trial: twenty minutes outside for every class, rain plan included. Teachers, measure afternoon engagement. Students, use the time well.
Let's stop treating lunch as the end of learning and start treating it as the reset button. Thank you.
Why this works
- Assembly voice — direct address, questions to the room, short paragraphs.
- Clear thesis early — twenty minutes of outdoor play, framed as learning.
- Two reasons with a specific trial example and a skills angle.
- Counter-argument in one paragraph without losing the position.
- Call to action — trial, vote, measure — not a vague "think about it."
Election and council-style speech prompts often bundle facts you must use. Treat them like evidence in a debate, not a checklist to paste — weave numbers and groups into sentences you could say without looking at notes.
Speech tasks appear on Selective papers when the prompt asks you to address an audience — a school assembly, student council, community meeting, or awards night. They use persuasive ideas but must sound spoken, not like a formal essay pasted on screen.
Markers reward a clear position, direct address ("we", "you", "fellow students"), and rhythm that would work aloud — hooks, signposts, and a memorable close. They penalise letter openings ("Dear Sir"), essay headings, or lists with no voice.
You receive a role (school captain, student representative, guest speaker), an issue, and about 30 minutes. You persuade listeners in real time: open with attention, argue with examples, answer one objection, and end with a specific call to action.
Best approach: Underline each fact in the stimulus and assign it to a paragraph. If the prompt includes a required line, place it after you have shown harm or hope — the same rule as persuasive letters. End by naming what the audience should do (vote, sign, attend a meeting).
Your writing task
Allow 25 minutes to write, then 5 minutes to edit. · In the exam, aim for roughly 350–450 words.
Context
- Riverside Primary's library refurbishment will cost $240,000 and close the library for one term.
- During closure, only one portable classroom will be available for quiet reading.
- The P&C has raised $38,000 so far; the council will match up to $50,000 if the school community raises the rest by 30 June.
- A public meeting about the plan is on Tuesday 18 June at 6:30 pm in the hall.
Write a speech to deliver at the P&C meeting.
You are a parent volunteer asking families to support the library refurbishment (fundraising and/or attending the meeting).
Your speech must:
- Use a suitable opening and closing for a spoken address
- Include at least two details from the stimulus
- Include this sentence somewhere in your speech:
"A library is not a room of shelves — it is where children learn to think on their own."
- End with a clear call to action
Quick plan (before you write)
Opening: thank the audience; state why you are speaking.
Stimulus fact 1: cost/closure — acknowledge honestly, then reframe.
Stimulus fact 2: P&C progress + council match — show the plan is achievable.
Where does the required line fit — after describing what kids lose?
Close: meeting date/time + one thing families can do this week.
Write your response on paper or in a notes app first. When you are ready, read the example below.
Example response
Study structure and detail — do not memorise phrases.
Example response (about 420 words — speech)
Good evening, parents, carers, and teachers. My name is Samira Okonkwo; my daughter is in Year 4. I am not here to pretend that closing our library for a term is painless — I am here to ask you to help us get through that term together, because what we rebuild matters for every child who will sit in these classrooms after us.
Yes, the refurbishment will cost $240,000 and the library will close. During that time, only one portable room will be available for quiet reading. That sounds stark — because it is. But a patched roof and twenty-year-old carpet are not a plan; they are a delay. Our students deserve a space built for how they learn now: research, clubs, storytelling, and calm reading without a leaking ceiling above their heads.
A library is not a room of shelves — it is where children learn to think on their own. Last month I watched Year 3 students argue kindly over a science book they had chosen themselves. No teacher told them whose turn it was; the library taught them. If we postpone repairs again, we teach something else: that books can wait, but they cannot.
Here is the part that should give us hope. The P&C has already raised $38,000. Riverside Council will match up to $50,000 if our community raises the rest by 30 June. That is not a distant dream — it is arithmetic we can finish if every family gives what it can and spreads the word.
Some will ask whether we should spend on sport instead. I say we are not choosing sport or literacy; we are choosing whether our school still has a heart that works in winter, when screens are loudest and reading is most needed.
So this is my call to action. Come to the public meeting on Tuesday 18 June at 6:30 pm in the hall — bring one question and one offer. This week, fill a pledge card, share the online fundraiser, and tell one neighbour why the match matters.
Our children will not remember the term the library was closed. They will remember the term their community opened something better. Thank you.
Why this works
- Spoken shape — greeting, thanks, short paragraphs, oral signposts ("Here is the part…").
- Stimulus woven in — $240k, one term, one portable, $38k raised, $50k match, 30 June, meeting date/time.
- Required line placed after concrete library behaviour — not as a floating slogan.
- Persuasive but not a letter — no "Yours sincerely"; ends with meeting + pledge actions.
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