Orators of folk literature and nursery rhymes entertain, inform, and persuade their audiences through the straightforward plots in those genres. Because nursery rhymes recitations usually happen in groups, they help children acquire the mechanics of oral communication and promote communal bonding. Although nursery rhymes have a simpler form than…

Teaching students to understand the importance of audience analysis can be challenging. In fact, many public-speaking texts suggest methods for engaging audience analysis that is not always practical or possible (e.g., polling audiences before you speak to them). One practical way of understanding audience analysis is to see it at work in the text…

Objective: To allow students an opportunity to speak publicly on the first day of class while becoming familiar with fellow students. The activity encourages students to examine the perceptions and stereotypes they have about one another by blindly guessing certain characteristics about their partner. By participating in the exercise, students…