On-line Task 4

1. Think of at least 3 benefits of using speeches by famous figures, in the classroom.

a)     Most of the time, speeches by famous figures are trustable. Famous figures will not make up stories but they will relate to the facts in reality. Their speeches might influence students to be great thinker in the future.

b)     Good speeches not only influence students’ thinking, they also inspire students to achieve higher performance in their study.

c)      Speeches by famous figure can be good examples for students to produce quality writings. The guidelines can be useful.

2. Go to www.youtube.com and find the audio-visual on the speech. In not less than 50 words, state would the audio-visual be of any use in helping understand the speech better? State your reasons.

Students are poor listeners most of the time. They would prefer visual input if possible. Nevertheless, it would be even better if both audio and visual exist at the same time. The concept is just like people tend to watch more television than listening to radio. We cannot deny that audio-visual speech has helped students to understand the speech better as in the context of they can learn from the facial expressions, intonation, speed, gestures and body languages during speech delivering. The liveliness at least can attract their attention to listen and focus.

3. Who is Martin Luther King?

Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. On the evening of April 4, 1968, while he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

4. Based on the questions below, analyse the features of the given written speech:

a. What is the purpose of the speech?

The purpose of Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech was to unite both white and coloured people. King Jr. was an African American, so he felt the discrimination between blacks and whites firsthand. He wrote the speech in hope that the people listening would be able to feel the pain that the African Americans were going through, and they did. King Jr. played a major role in stopping discrimination.

b. What is the tone of the speech?

The tone of the speech is persuasive, sincere, intellectual, honest, passionate and motivational.

c. What interesting major feature(s) can you see from the speech? (i.e. Repetition of phrases, emphasis on certain things said etc)

In the speech, there are quite a number of repetitions of phrases: i) “I have a dream”, ii) “Now is the time”, iii) “One hundred years later”, iv) “We can never be satisfied”, v) “With this faith”, “Let freedom ring” and “free at last”. Emphasis through repetition makes these phrases more memorable.

d. Any interesting facts that you can gather based on the background of the speech?

1) The speech is known as “I Have a Dream” but those words were never in the original draft, they were ad libbed on the day.

2) It lasts 17 minutes and is widely considered to have been drafted in New York and then in Washington in the hours before the rally.

3) As a result of the speech, Dr King was named Man of the Year by Time Magazine in 1963, and won the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.

4) Dr King drew his references from a wide variety of sources, including the Bible, the US Declaration of Independence and Shakespeare.

5) The speech was watched by more than 200,000 people assembled for the March on Washington, the largest march of the civil rights movement, as well as millions on television.

6) According to his co-authors, Dr King was so busy with the march that, 12 hours before the speech, he still did not have a firm idea about what he was going to say.

7) It was ranked the top speech of the 20th Century by a poll of academics.

8) It is said to have had several names and drafts, including “The normalcy speech” and “A Cancelled check”.

9) Dr King was the subject of one of the Irish band U2’s most famous songs, Pride (In the Name of Love).

10) Describing watching the oration, his co-author Clarence B Jones said the speech “went on to depart drastically from the draft I'd delivered”, adding: “In front of all those people, cameras, and microphones, Martin winged it.”

5. Suggest a while-reading activity that can be derived from this particular speech.

Role-play.