Speaking Step 9

Speaking: The oral transmission of information or ideas.

Step 9: I speak engagingly by using tone, expression and gesture to engage listeners

Outcomes

To achieve Step 9, learners will show that they can use their tone, expression and gesture to engage listeners with what they are saying.

In Step 6, the concepts of tone, expression and gesture were introduced. This step goes much further than that by focusing on how to use tone, expression and gesture to speak engagingly.

Learners need to be able to:

Remember what tone, expression and gesture are
Choose a tone to be engaging
Adapt and use gestures to be engaging

Introduction

When we are speaking our listeners are building up an understanding of what we are saying. As well as through the words, this also comes from how we move our body and face:
- Tone is the way that something is said.
- Expression is how your face communicates information to whoever you are speaking to.
- A gesture is a movement of the body which means something.

Skill Starter

What feelings?

Put learners into pairs. One person in each pair comes and picks a card with a sporting scenario on it, for example, missing a penalty, winning Wimbledon or completing a world record high jump.

That person has to act out what would happen just after the event, thinking about what they would say, their tone, facial expressions and gesture. Their partner has to guess the situation and how that individual was feeling.

They then swap roles.

10 mins

Paired activity

Active

Teach & Apply

When you choose the right tone you need to think about:
- Pitch: Keep your pitch from low to medium as this gives the appearance of calm and confidence.
- Tempo: Try to speak at a moderate pace so the audience doesn't get too bored and you are easy to follow.
- Volume: Speak at a volume that makes it easy for the listener to hear you.
- Intonation: Generally, a downward intonation adds gravitas and authority to what is being said.

Normally, when sharing information, you will want to keep an expression of being interested and enthused. You should also think about what emotion you want your listeners to feel, and ensure your facial expressions support that.
If we want to show an openness and interest in what we are saying, we should use open gestures and eye contact to show engagement. However, when we are looking for a particular emotional response we can also model that with how we gesture.

Optional Activity

My Favourite Sport

Ask individuals to prepare a 3 minute speech on their favourite sport or activity. They should explain:

What it is
How you do it
Why they like it
Any other interesting facts about it

Remind learners to choose an appropriate tone, expressions and gestures when presenting their speech. After each individual has done so open up a discussion around what they did well, how they used them and what they could improve on next time.

20 mins

Group activity

Discussion

Reflection & Assessment

Embed these strategies across your teaching and coaching to help learners apply what they’ve learnt.

Learners can be reminded of how they might use their tone, expression and gesture before giving presentations or speaking in front of the wider group.

Use these ideas for ways of assessing this skill step to help you check learners’ understanding and confidence.

This step is best assessed through observation of a structured exercise. For example, allowing learners to have the opportunity to present to their peers, assessing their use of tone, expression and gesture.
Ask these reflective questions:
- What are tone, expression and gesture?
- How do they work together to affect the meaning of what is said?
- How can you use tone, expression and gesture to make your speaking engaging?