Humorous Introductions
How to incorporate a humorous introduction to a speech.
Objective: Students will write an introduction that successfully incorporates a joke/anecdote.
Materials: Small slips of paper containing a speech topic and a joke/funny anecdote.
Steps:
- Have each student select one topic and one joke/anecdote.
- Tell the students they should prepare an introduction for a speech on the topic they selected. The introduction must incorporate the joke/anecdote. Assure the students they will not have to give an entire speech on this topic.
- Give the students fifteen minutes to construct their intro. If any student finishes early let them pursue their passion.
- After the fifteen minutes select a student to give their introduction and name their topic.
- Bring the class into a discussion about if the humor worked in the introduction. Cover why or why not [some of the jokes won’t match the topics – it’s important to look at why]. Use questions to get the students to the conclusions. Limit the discussion to 25 minutes.
- Tell the students they all need to prepare another introduction using humor. It can be on a topic of their choice and the joke/anecdote is theirs to choose as well. Allow them the remainder of class for this project.
Scott Ritterbush
9 September 2009