Aims and Benchmarks:

• Organization and Structure: 

 Ideas are well organized, both within the speech as a whole (including a clear introduction and conclusion), and within each subpoint (including appropriate use of transitional words). Prompt questions are answered in a logical order and ideas within question responses are ordered and linked together in a logical way. The audience is able to understand the speech.

• Subject Knowledge and Main Idea:

The student has a clear grasp of the subject matter. The student covers all key information and elaborates on it with well-organized comprehensive details. The student is able to not just recite information from the referenced text but can transform it into their own words and highlight the most important areas. 

• Audience Awareness: 

The student presents all information in a clearly understandable way, including all necessary background information for the audience to understand their points. Information is presented in an engaging way, leaving the audience focused. The audience’s understanding is shown in their response through questions.

• Delivery:

The student speaks with a consistently loud and clearly audible volume, and with a confident tone of voice. The student’s speech is clearly understandable by the audience without any mumbling or trailing off. The student maintains eye contact with the audience throughout the speech. The student’s confidence reinforces the audience’s confidence in their subject knowledge.

• Response to Questions:

Students can answer all audience questions completely, with elaboration on the key points to give a complete understanding. Students are respectful in their response.

 

​

Contents and Topics:

• Popular Culture

• History

• Arts and Humanities

• World Travel

• School Issues

• Government and Civics

• Science and Technology

• World Mythology, Folktales and Culture

• Nature and Environment 

• Health and Medicine

• Personal Experiences

• Self-Reflection

 

Sample Topics:  

• Kid Inventors

• The Cyberbully

• Women and the Vote

• Earth Day

• Life in Space

• Say It with Pictures (Hieroglyphics)