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QCE English Questions Thread

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literally lauren:

--- Quote from: josephinewarda on October 15, 2020, 10:44:10 am ---Hi, I'm starting Unit 3 and we have to do a persuasive speech for the UN Youth Delegates on an issue from 2020. I have chosen to do FGM. Any specific tips or general advice?

--- End quote ---
Hi Josephine! :)

That's certainly a relevant issue for the context of a UN delegation, and there'll be lots of opportunities for powerful, emotional moments. I'l separate my advice into five different tips:

1. The first very important step would be to do lots of research and make sure you understand the topic well. Find reliable and reputable sources like the WHO, groups like End FGM, or documentaries like this (I haven't watched the whole thing but this looks informative!).

2. For your assessment task, you should make sure you find an argument that isn't too overly simplistic like 'FGM is bad and we should stop it.' Most people would completely agree with this, but it doesn't let you construct interesting ideas/sub-arguments. That's not to say you should take a deliberately controversial approach and argue the opposite, but rather, start from a simple idea and make it more nuanced.
For instance, you might want to look at the cultural history behind this practice in order to argue that the UN must work with groups who understand the cultures and communities involved in order to end FGM.

3. When writing the speech, try to focus on two separate parts of the discussion: 1) What is the problem and why is it so bad? and 2) What is the solution and why is it so good?  You don't want to spend so much time talking about the issue and all of its horrible consequences that you forget to drive your audience towards a course of action. But you also don't want to spent too much time talking about possible solutions without explaining to your audience why the issue needs to be addressed. It doesn't have to be 50/50, but just make sure you're thinking about both the problem and a proposed solution while writing. 
For your argument/solution, don't feel you need to 'solve' the issue (that's an awful lot of pressure for a Year 12 student, and your teacher won't expect you to fix everything!). Rather, find a rational solution and explain how this could be implemented . You're marked on how persuasive you are, so just concentrate on persuading your audience that your point of view is important and your solution would lead to the best possible outcome.

4. Make sure you strike the right tone. For some speeches, using humour or colloquial language can help the audience feel at ease and make them more likely to agree with your arguments. But for a serious issue like FGM, it would be pretty weird to use jokes or similarly light-hearted persuasive techniques! Instead, you'll have lots of opportunities to tell emotional stories, so think about what kinds of feelings you want to evoke in your audience. Should they be outraged? Disgusted? Horrified? Depressed? It would be relatively easy to make them feel sad, or to feel pity for victims of FGM, but I'd recommend trying to elicit emotions like anger towards a socio-political system that allows FGM practices to continue. That way, you're directing your audience to the root of the problem, not just its consequences.

5. Finally, consider how you will construct your 'persona' (i.e. pretending you're a youth delegate speaker at the UN). Where is your persona from? What's their backstory? Why do they care about the issue? This should be something you weave throughout the speech - don't just introduce yourself at the beginning and forget your backstory/context/audience. A good starting point might be to find a real journalist or activist and model your persona around them, or you could make up your own story based on your research.

Best of luck! If you have any other questions about your speech feel free to drop them below :)

jasmine24:
Hi, I was wondering what kind of techniques I could use in my persuasive speech so it's not just informative?
thank you!

Bri MT:

--- Quote from: jasmine24 on October 29, 2020, 06:43:16 am ---Hi, I was wondering what kind of techniques I could use in my persuasive speech so it's not just informative?
thank you!

--- End quote ---

Hi, sorry about the late response but replying in case it can still help anyone:

I suspect what might be useful is to adjust how you think about the speech so that non-informative components don't seem like an extra you need to find space for but rather an integral part of the speech.

When making a speech I tend to think about it from the perspective of "what do I want the outcome to be?"

Having the audience take an action in line with your intent involves:
> Getting them to care
> Getting them to believe your suggested action will help
> Having them pay attention to your speech and remember it

Giving them information can be used for the first 2 but think about why you care about the issue, is it just the knowledge you have?

In terms of specific techniques, sometimes people will go for immersive strategies like asking the audience to visualise something or showing something physically in the space (e.g. filling up containers with grains of sand where each grain is x). You might tell them a story of one particular person as your case study to develop an emotional tie or physically act in a particular way (in first year uni some people did a handstand or jumped on a table during their speeches - might be best to clear something like that with your teacher first) to increase engagement. If you're emotional and you show that through your face, speech body language, etc. this also encourages others to care and be engaged. Even things like using alliteration or rhyme to increase engagement can help. You might also be interested in this I wrote a while ago.

One thing to be careful of, is to try and integrate emotional pulls and engagement strategies throughout your whole speech rather than dedicating a paragraph or so to it.

hashy1231:
Hi guys I'm currently in Year 12 and we have been given our assignment for General English and there's just something I don't understand in the task.

The task is:
Write an analytical essay that contributes your perspective to the ongoing public conversations about the cultural value of examining connections between literary and non-literary texts. In your essay, you must explore how representations of power in The Crucible resonate, relate to and/or clash with the representations of power in the Four Corners episode, Riot and Revenge. Your perspective must be supported by analysis of the textual construction of power in each text, as well as the cultural assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs underpinning them.

I was just wondering if anyone could explain what they mean by 'cultural value of examining connects between literary and non-literary texts'.

I was also wondering if anyone had any ideas that could help kick me off as drafts are due in a week.

Thanks for the help guys!

Bri MT:
Hey,

If you haven't already, I would recommend you look into why the Crucible was written by Miller (it was very intentionally written as an allegory for real world events). When they're asking you about connecting literary and non-literary texts, that's referring to the Crucible (literary) and the Four Corners episode (non-literary). One way you can break down power in terms of brainstorming is looking at the different characters and asking yourself what power they have (& why) and how do they use it (& why). Consider what Miller was trying to say about how power functions in society.

I hope this helps :) 

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