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Teaching Chapters 1–4: Approaching Public Speaking
Chapter 1: Understanding Speaking
Key Concepts
1-1 Understand what it means to be a public speaker.
Suggested Activities and Exercises
The following are community-building exercises.
The Name Game
Nearly every communication teacher has some version of this game. Learning classmates’ names
Tell Us a Yarn
The instructor should bring a large length of knitting yarn to class. Beginning with any student,
Uncommon Commonalities
There are several variations on this activity as well. We find that it is a nice way to introduce the
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Circle of Diversity
In addition to the preceding activities, this activity can be adapted to fit the needs of most
classes. Have students form a double circle in the middle of the classroom. The Dyads should
face each other and take turns introducing each other. After the introductions, the students take
turns answering specific questions. However, when the student in the inner circle is speaking the
outer student should be silent, and vice versa. Allow approximately one minute for each
question. Next, have the outer students rotate clockwise and begin the process again. The
following questions can be adapted to fit the individual needs of any instructor, course, or time
limit. This activity works especially well in the beginning of the semester as it helps foster a
supportive climate while also allowing students get to know each other in a non-threatening way.
Potential questions:
x Describe one goal you have for this course. How do you plan to accomplish this goal?
x What is your greatest fear about public speaking? How might you overcome this fear?
x What irritates you the most about this world?
x What would be the title of a book about your life story?
x Which food best describes your personality? Why?
x If you had to lose one of your 5 senses, which one would you choose?
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x Describe an embarrassing moment you’ve had that was witnessed by someone else. Why
were you embarrassed? How did you overcome the embarrassment?
x If you could change your race, gender, sexual orientation, or political view, which would you
choose? Why?
x What does a grade of A mean to you?
x What grade do you hope to earn in this course this term? How do you plan to accomplish this
goal?
What Is Public Speaking Like?
This is a good exercise to do the first or second day of class. In some ways, it is most successful
even before the students read Chapter 1. It can serve as one of your community building
Divide the class into six groups and give one statement to each group. Give the students
about ten minutes to list as many reasons as they can think of to support the statement. This
works best if the groups are not informed about the topics assigned to other groups. They can
concentrate on their own statement without thinking comparatively.
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M&M Activity
This is another good activity to do on the first day of class as an introductory exercise. For the
first day of class purchase a bag of M&Ms and have each student take at least three M&Ms at the
Tests
Correct answers are marked with an asterisk. The places in the Compact Handbook where the
information was presented are shown in brackets.
True/False Questions
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Multiple Choice Questions
11. The three familiar communicative resources public speakers should draw on are:
12. Which of the following is not one of the steps in the skill learning process?
13. A person in the ________________ stage has made the realization that she or he is doing
something ineptly and that there is room for improvement.
14. Which of the following can happen as a result of not balancing familiar communicative
skills?
15. Meaning-centered communication is _____.
Essay and Short Answer Questions