Smacking of children

[Anchy]

Hi all.

My SAC is approaching soon and it consists of a persuasive speech. The prompt is;

"Should Australian parents be prohibited from legally smacking their children?"

Since everybody in the class has the same prompt, i was just wondering if there are any points i should talk about to make my arguments stand out from everybody else. My stance on the prompt is that i agree that it should be made illegal.

Also, any points regarding the psychological and mental effects of the smacking of children would be appreciated.

Cheers

[Stick]

The thing about the oral presentation is that the content in your written script will only partly contribute to your final result. To stand out from the others, you'll need good public speaking skills, and some clever presentation ideas. Some pointers which you may wish to think about are:

• Taking on a persona of someone involved in the issue - perhaps a concerned parent or teacher, an abused child, or an expert. You'll then need to set up an appropriate target audience and contextualise the scene in which you deliver your speech, such as a parent information session.
• Using visuals - in addition to a Powerpoint or Prezi presentation, you might want to present relevant images, videos or audio that will strongly resonate on an emotional level with the audience (be sensitive though; e.g. don't show a child being beaten in your presentation ).
• Using props - maybe you could bring in items that are commonly used to smack a child, such as sticks, canes, wooden spoons or belts.
• Using a variety of evidence. Persuasive oral presentations rely on emotional appeals, so the use of personal stories or anecdotes in addition to traditional forms of evidence would be useful. It needs to be well balanced though - too many facts and figures and chances are your speech will be dry, too many emotional appeals and it will noticeably lack substance and will come across as forced and not genuine.
• Starting strongly. This is challenging, but it's crucial to grabbing your audience's attention. You'll need to set up your scene and address your audience whilst also introducing the issue and contention in a captivating and engaging way. Think emotionally and avoid being too formulaic. Personal stories or anecdotes may be highly effective.
• Rebutting opposing views. It doesn't necessarily matter when you do it, but it must be done because it will make you appear more considered and your argument more well-rounded and robust. Try to move beyond the stock-standard rebuttal and instead portray the contrasting point of view as immoral on an emotional level, using traditional evidence as a support, rather than the focus.
• Finishing on a powerful note. There's a lot of scope here, but leave your audience with a lasting impression that your point of view is correct, and that something must be done immediately.

As you can see, I haven't given you anything specific to work with, but it's clear I do have some potential ideas in the back of my mind. Although, you probably have some ideas of your own running already. This is actually a very good prompt and there's a lot of room for innovation and creativity here. I hope you really make this your own and that you nail it when the time comes. I also had a fixed prompt, so I understand your position exactly. Although, we had a lot more restrictions put on us: we had to source all of our evidence from a 90 page booklet,  take on a persona of a stakeholder in the issue and were forbidden from using props or visuals. Do any of these apply to you by any chance?

If you'd like to see my oral presentation script, it's here: Re: English Work Examples Directory

Feel free to ask me for further help. Good luck!

[Anchy]

The thing about the oral presentation is that the content in your written script will only partly contribute to your final result. To stand out from the others, you'll need good public speaking skills, and some clever presentation ideas. Some pointers which you may wish to think about are:

• Taking on a persona of someone involved in the issue - perhaps a concerned parent or teacher, an abused child, or an expert. You'll then need to set up an appropriate target audience and contextualise the scene in which you deliver your speech, such as a parent information session.
• Using visuals - in addition to a Powerpoint or Prezi presentation, you might want to present relevant images, videos or audio that will strongly resonate on an emotional level with the audience (be sensitive though; e.g. don't show a child being beaten in your presentation ).
• Using props - maybe you could bring in items that are commonly used to smack a child, such as sticks, canes, wooden spoons or belts.
• Using a variety of evidence. Persuasive oral presentations rely on emotional appeals, so the use of personal stories or anecdotes in addition to traditional forms of evidence would be useful. It needs to be well balanced though - too many facts and figures and chances are your speech will be dry, too many emotional appeals and it will noticeably lack substance and will come across as forced and not genuine.
• Starting strongly. This is challenging, but it's crucial to grabbing your audience's attention. You'll need to set up your scene and address your audience whilst also introducing the issue and contention in a captivating and engaging way. Think emotionally and avoid being too formulaic. Personal stories or anecdotes may be highly effective.
• Rebutting opposing views. It doesn't necessarily matter when you do it, but it must be done because it will make you appear more considered and your argument more well-rounded and robust. Try to move beyond the stock-standard rebuttal and instead portray the contrasting point of view as immoral on an emotional level, using traditional evidence as a support, rather than the focus.
• Finishing on a powerful note. There's a lot of scope here, but leave your audience with a lasting impression that your point of view is correct, and that something must be done immediately.

As you can see, I haven't given you anything specific to work with, but it's clear I do have some potential ideas in the back of my mind. Although, you probably have some ideas of your own running already. This is actually a very good prompt and there's a lot of room for innovation and creativity here. I hope you really make this your own and that you nail it when the time comes. I also had a fixed prompt, so I understand your position exactly. Although, we had a lot more restrictions put on us: we had to source all of our evidence from a 90 page booklet,  take on a persona of a stakeholder in the issue and were forbidden from using props or visuals. Do any of these apply to you by any chance?

If you'd like to see my oral presentation script, it's here: Re: English Work Examples Directory

Feel free to ask me for further help. Good luck!

Awesome! Cheers for that.

Yes, the presentation has a few restrictions, no visuals (such a power-point etc), no props. Strictly only palm-cards with dot-point information only, others will be confiscated. I was also given a source booklet, consisting of about 20 or so pages which included articles and whatnot, however we are allowed to find other sources.

[Chazef]

sucks that you can't just write it all down on palm cards, I think students should be able to just rely on their cards at the cost of losing marks for eyecontact/fluency etc, rather than being mandated to just go with dot points; not everybody is a boss at articulating themselves on the spot

[Stick]

If you practice it enough, it shouldn't be an issue. I practiced mine for 30 minutes each day over most days of the holidays and by the end I knew it off by heart.