Public+Speaking+Games

= Public Speaking Games = Taken from http://www.write-out-loud.com/public-speaking-games.html

7 fun-filled speech activities to develop and nurture competent, confident public speaking skills. These public speaking games are adaptable to suit children of all ages. Use them in your class room, with the members of your speech club, or as an extension activity for a life skills or communications program.
 * [[image:http://www.write-out-loud.com/images/publicspeakinggames.jpg width="300" height="201" caption="public speaking games: words"]] ||
 * [|Photo:Brenton Nicholls] ||
 * Public speaking games:**

Before you begin
> **Rules for public speaking games** > If you've had your class working in groups get them to report back with questions like: Who heard a good story? Why was it good?
 * **If your class is new** to these start with the simple activities first for example the[| **Story Starters**.]
 * **Model or demonstrate** the public speaking games before you ask them to play themselves.
 * If it's too threatening to have the entire focus of the class on one person at a time - **split into smaller groups** of 4-6 players. It will be rowdy but worth it!
 * You might like to establish some **ground rules for positive participation**. You can check out the ones I used in my teaching here.
 * Do include full class **quickfire feedback sessions** at the end of each game. I found these invaluable for drawing attention to and reinforcing what had been done well.

1.Connect the Dots
Prepare a collection of word cards each with a familiar noun on it. You'll need at least 100. Put the word cards into box or non-see through bag. A player picks two cards and then must tell a story connecting both words together convincingly. The story needn't be long, complicated or true. Once your class is comfortable with connecting two words, add to your word collection and increase the number of cards selected to three or even four.
 * For example:** bird, wheelbarrow, hammer, cow, witch, moon, grass, hat, elephant, computer, book, vase, photo, candlestick, shoe, painting, mug, plane, eclipse, operation, halo, knife, eye, storm, girl, pillow, lid, thermometer, jungle, barn, wheel, thistle, steam, mud ...

2.The History of ...
Prepare a starter list of events or things. Each speaker is to give an account of the history (story) behind the thing or event. It needn't be factual! The goal of this public speaking game is credible fluency.
 * For example:** birthday cake, books, a zebra's stripes, a chimney, the tooth fairy, common sayings like 'a penny for your thoughts', 'a red rag to a bull', 'a pinch and a punch for the first of the month', April Fools Day, a wheel, a christmas tree, icecream, a ladder, Father Christmas, May Day, a siren, a postage stamp, shaking hands on meeting someone ...

3.End lines
Prepare a list of endings. Each speaker is to tell a story ending with the line they've been given.
 * For example:** 'Just do it', 'Diamonds are forever', 'He's fallen in the water', 'Some like it hot', 'His bark is worse than his bite', 'Love makes the world go round', 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away', 'First up, best dressed', 'King for a day', 'Funny money', 'Laughter is the best medicine'...

4.
Prepare a list of opening sentences or phrases. Each speaker begins with their opener, building a story extending it however they wish.
 * For example:** 'It was a dark and stormy night', 'I wish people would not say ...', 'Yesterday I saw a herd of cows ', 'My favorite activity is bird watching', 'The wisest saying I ever heard was ...', 'In 20 years time I will be ...', 'It made me yell', 'All I want for Christmas is ...', 'Something is terribly wrong ...', 'The little voice inside my head ...', 'This is the secret I've never shared before', 'I never knew what happened ...', 'Sometimes I just want to ...', 'You know it's Summer when ...', 'Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you', 'The story made me want to ...','I heard the best news this morning', 'The sound of people laughing ...'

5.Oink Substitution
In this game choose a commonly used word to substitute with //'oink'//. For example: If the chosen word is //'I'//, the speaker says //'oink'// instead. Oink is best played as an extension of already known public speaking games for instance, Story Starters or End Lines. Once they are confident, add the 'oink' factor for more fun! Substitution hones //thinking while you're speaking// skills really well.

6.The BIG Fat Lie
This game fosters imagination, fluency and fun. In playing it they'll learn about effective body language too! Each speaker is to tell 3 things about themselves on a theme that you set. Two of the things they say about themselves are to be true. The third is not. When they've finished speaking, ask the class to identify the lie. PS. This makes a great icebreaker for groups getting together for the first time.
 * Examples of theme:** holidays, the future, my favorite afterschool activities, when I was young, my beliefs, the best books I've read, the best adventures I've had ..., my family

7.In the News Today
In the last activity making up of this collection of 7 public speaking games, your class are broadcasters, anchor people for a news show. The news is whatever has happened during the day. It could be an event on the way to school like a traffic jam. It might be a new menu in the canteen or lunch room. It could be an announcement the principal made. It doesn't matter how trivial the happening; encourage the big news treatment for anything at all, even a new set of pencils! The aim of the exercise is give whatever subject they choose the standard news format. They'll need to cover //who, what, where, why, when and how//. Once they've mastered that encourage experimentation; adding introduction hooks, on-the-spot interviews, switch backs and summaries.

**More Games! Taken from** http://www.write-out-loud.com/improv-games.html

Murder

 * Instructions**

> They may not choose someone directly on either side of them. Anyone other than that is fine.
 * 1) Sit your class in a fairly tight circle on the floor.
 * 2) Instruct them to drop their heads (//'Heads Down'//) and close their eyes.
 * 3) While their heads are down tell them to choose a person to fixedly stare at when you call //'Heads Up'//.
 * 1) Call //'Heads Up'//. If any player finds them their stare reciprocated, they both must scream loudly and 'die'.
 * 2) Once players are 'dead' they leave the circle.
 * 3) Close the circle up again and start again by calling //'Heads Down'//.
 * 4) Play several rounds applauding new methods of dying - gurgling, etc.
 * 5) Vary the time between your calls to heighten tension.

And now for some **quiet improv games**...

Walk As
This exercise is borrowed from mime, best done in a hall, is good for people of all ages and for maximum impact needs to be done in silence.


 * Instructions**


 * 1) Split your group or class into pairs.
 * 2) Ask one person of a pair to start walking how they naturally or normally would.
 * 3) The second observes for at least 10 seconds before following them copying to the very best of their ability everything the first does when they walk.
 * 4) After a several of the laps of the hall, have the first person stop and watch the second who will keep walking in the style of the first.

//Walk As// is great for observing where weight is carried, which part of the body leads, and what emotional shifts occur in the second person to accommodate the walk of the first. It takes HUGE focus to do it well.

Change partners several times to have your group experience being in a variety of other people's shoes.

Have a feedback round at the end.

Here are more games, taken from the following website.

The Naming of Things

 * Instructions**

Tell your class to walk authoritatively around the work space naming everything they see as //something other// than what it is. They must //point// to the object as they declaim its new name.

Example: 'A' sees the floor, points while loudly exclaiming 'dog'.

//The Naming of Things// is brilliant for concentration/focus and only works if each person is thoroughly in the 'now'.

When they get proficient do the exercise with a drum beat to set a walking pace. Strike 1-2-3-4 and then pausein which the class names something as something else and then pick up the beat again.

For variation try - faster and slower beats plus varying the number of beats between the pauses.

5. Lines
This is another of those improv games borrowed from mime and therefore is best done in complete silence.

When I used it if there was //any verbal communication//, I made the group begin again!


 * Instructions**

You're going to tell your class to line up according a range of differing criteria.

Allow about 3-4 minutes to complete the task and tell them to sit down in order when they're satisfied they've got it right. You then check the results.

Start with obvious physically observable criteria for example, from smallest to tallest, or shoe size and then move to more difficult ones, for example, lining up alphabetically according to the first letter of their their middle name, or by birthday (date and month).

You'll get bad mime in all directions but it's a great exercise for focus!

[|Even More Word Games]