Speech Team

One of Our Lady of the Lake School's student learning expectations is that students will demonstrate an ability to speak effectively, both in conversation with another person and in front of a group of people. Public speaking is said to be the most common phobia amongst the US population, yet with practice, most people will become comfortable with speaking in front of a group. Our Lady of the Lake School provides each student with opportunities to practice and nurture this valuable skill.

 

Curricular Speech Program

Within the curriculum, students will learn how to do:

  • Oral interpretation of a reading. This is done in grades K-8.
  • Expository speaking. This is done in grade 5.
  • Extemporaneous reading. This is done in grade 6.
  • Impromptu speaking. This is done in grades 6, 7, and 8.
  • Editorial commentary. This is done in grades 6, 7, and 8.
  • Oratory. This is done in grades 7 and 8.

Parents can get involved in the curricular speech program by keeping track of and reminding their child of speech program deadlines, helping their student choose and edit a reading or select a topic for a prepared speech, listening to and timing their child's presentation on a daily basis, and (in the younger grades) word-processing a copy of the speech for the child's teacher.

 

Extracurricular Speech Program

OLL also has an active extracurricular speech program, to help students prepare for the Bishop Blanchet High School and Seattle Preparatory School annual speech tournaments.

Coaches for the extracurricular speech program are always sought. What does it take to be a good speech coach?

  • First, the ability to listen carefully and objectively to a speaker’s entire presentation.
  • Second, the ability to recognize and articulate things the speaker is doing that are effective and elements which still require work.
  • Finally, a good speech coach will be able to provide useful feedback to a student in a motivating and encouraging manner.

Coaches without any previous experience in speech are as welcome as coaches with experience. In this website coaches can find general information about coaching, and more specific information in each of the event categories.

Students interested in being part of the speech team should expect to begin preparing for the speech tournaments beginning in September, and to meet weekly with their speech coach in October, November, and December. Students should also expect to present their speech daily to a parent willing to time them (daily won't always be possible, but it makes a good target).

Some of the information in links to this web page is in Adobe Acrobat format. You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader loaded onto your computer in order to open and read any file ending in .pdf. You can download the reader for free from Adobe's web site.

 

Individual Speaking Events

The different speech categories are:

Children’s Storybook. The speaker will do a 6-minute reading from a children’s book of the speaker’s choice. This category is for younger students (6th and 7th grade); it is an excellent category for students participating in their first speech tournament. It will only be done at the Seattle Prep Tournament. This presentation is not memorized.

Dramatic Interpretive Reading. The speaker reads a selection (< 8 minutes in length) of a published work (prose, poetry, or drama) that is dramatic in nature. The reading is chosen by the speaker. The speaker must also write a short introduction to the reading. Only the introduction must be memorized.

Dual Interpretive Reading. Two speakers participate in this event. Each student reads about 50% of the material. The reading can be dramatic or humorous in nature, and can be from a play, prose, or poetry.

Editorial Commentary. This speech is about a topic of current interest. The speaker clearly explains his or her position on an issue of public concern. The maximum time limit is two minutes, which forces the speaker to be concise. This is a memorized speech.

Expository. The purpose of this speech is to describe, clarify, explain, and/or define an object, idea or process. The speech must be the original work of the speaker. It should not be longer than eight minutes. This speech does not have to be memorized.

Extemporaneous Reading. This is a reading from a literary work chosen by the speech tournament organizers. Students have 2 minutes to skim the reading before standing and reading the selection to the listeners.

Humorous Interpretive Reading. The speaker reads a selection (< 8 minutes in length) of a published work (prose or poetry) that is humorous. The reading is chosen by the speaker. The speaker must also write a short introduction to the reading. Only the introduction must be memorized.

Impromptu. This speech is prepared and delivered without the use of notes or materials. Speakers are given three potential topics and have two minutes to choose one topic and organize the framework of the speech. Impromptu speeches are generally 4-5 minutes long.

Oratory. This speech (< 8 minutes in length) is written by the speaker. The topic must address some issue or eulogize a person. The speech must be persuasive. This speech is memorized.