English orals, HELP! tips and stuff to maximise your mark.

[spherelin]

Hey everyone, my English oral is coming up next term and I was just wondering how I should begin my oral. I know this sounds really silly, but I really do NOT want to do the tedious "Good morning everyone... today I will talk about..." opening sentence. However, when I consider beginning with a leading question or strong statistic, it sounds a bit confronting and odd as an opening sentence?! Does anyone have any good ideas that don't sound awkward!?
Thanks!
P.S, is it really recommended that you memorise your oral to maximise your marks? ARE THERE ANY OTHER TIPS? I really want full marks in my English oral HAHAHA

[astone788]

A riveting "personal" anecdote 
Otherwise, a rhetorical question or two might be a good way to get the ball rolling.

[lexitu]

In my year 12 oral (about asylum seekers) I started by comparing the number of asylum seekers entering Australia by boat to the number of people in my school (both ~1500 - a small number compared to the 200000 in our electorate). I felt that gave me a really good visual launchpad and captured everyone's attention.

I am personally not a fan of leading questions, unless they are really really thoughtful so I agree with you there. I think my first sentence - beyond the greeting - was simply a description of what I was talking about. Then I proceeded with my statistics.

I agree with you, as the very opening sentence a statistic or leading question can be confronting and feel out of place.


Memorisation the whole oral is pointless if you talk robotically. It is perfectly fine to carry some notes with you as a prompt. I recommend you know your oral inside-out, but don't feel as though you can't bring memory aids. Clearly almost all of the best orators - such as politicians - bring notes with them.