Oral Text

STAGE ONE: PLANNING

Option #1: Turn a creative writing piece into an oral text.

Option #2: Craft an open letter to someone or something from pop culture.

Option #3: Craft a spoken essay informing your audience about a specific song, album, show, movie, book, game, food, or drink that really connects with you. Here’s an example (albeit written) of what this essay could look like.

Option #4: Craft a How-To speech, talking us through how to make/do something interesting.

STAGE 2: DRAFT A TRANSCRIPT

Begin writing your piece. Don’t spend too much time worrying about oral language features at this point—your goal is to get words on the page! Once you have at least 200 words, time how long it takes you to speak ALOUD what you’ve written. Note that time in your draft. Let me know when a complete rough transcript is ready for feedback, and I’ll leave comments as a “listener.”

Aim to have a rough transcript shared with me by Friday, 9 Sept (Week 7).

STAGE THREE: EDITING TO IMPROVE QUALITY

“Making a piece better is not the same as making it more correct.”

Look at the variety of oral language techniques listed on the marking schedule. Read through your transcript and consider the following:

• What techniques am I using to hook and sustain my audience’s attention?

• Where could intentional repetition help emphasise an important point or feeling?

• Is the structure of my speech well-organised? (help video)

• Am I developing my main idea clearly? (help video)

• Where could I emphasise an idea or feeling by playing with language (through similes, alliteration, rhyme, onomatopoeia, etc.)?

• Do my sentences often start the same way? If so, is it intentional repetition (anaphora)? If unintentional, how might I try different arrangements or sentence lengths so my reader doesn’t get bored?

• Am I choosing words and phrases that allow me to showcase my distinct voice and/or narrator personality?

• Where will I want to vary my volume, rate, or pitch so that my vocal expression matches the content of my speech? ANNOTATE YOUR SCRIPT where you plan to use gestures, vary expressions, etc. (example)

After you’ve made thoughtful edits, let me know you’re ready for more feedback.

STAGE FOUR: PRACTICE!

• Effective oratory is delivered with few notes. Put in some time to familiarise yourself with your work, getting as close to memorising as possible.

• Practice it aloud to anyone who will listen—even your reflection in the mirror.

• The better you know your content, the less you have to be nervous about when you present.

• You can use slides (or other visual aids) to help prompt your memory.

• Frequent practice also helps ensure your speech meets the required length.

STAGE FIVE: PRESENT

Think of this as acting: this isn’t ‘normal you’ – it is ‘presenting an oral text you’.

• Remember to vary your vocal expression where appropriate. Give us time to process what we’re listening to.

• Avoid putting too much text on your slides (if you have them)—your audience is there to view and listen, not to read.

• Gestures, body language, and eye contact go a long way! They help you create a sense of relationship with your audience, maximising the chances your ideas stick with them and leave an impression.

You’ll deliver your oral text to an audience of your peers and your teacher. This could take many different forms: a speech, seminar, oral history, debate, dramatic performance, podcast, spoken word poetry, live/recorded TED-Talk-esque presentation. It must be primarily spoken, but you may use other presentation techniques where appropriate.

What does the finished product look like? → WHS EXEMPLARS / NCEA EXEMPLARS

Any other nitty-gritty things I need to know? → THE CLARIFICATIONS FROM NZQA:

• Both criteria must be met at the same grade. For example, a speech that convincingly develops ideas (Merit) but uses oral language features appropriately (Achieved), is correctly graded at Achieved.

• Oral texts that are recorded for delivery to an audience at a later time must be appropriate to that audience and purpose. Presentations such as vlogs must include oral language features appropriate to that audience (YouTube viewers for example). Reading a script from a computer screen is unlikely to meet the standard.