Claire\'s exercise text STaps L2 APril 2020 Adapted from K. Mariama Text A with answers PDF

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Download Claire's exercise text STaps L2 APril 2020 Adapted from K. Mariama Text A with answers PDF

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Adapted from Karima Mariama-Arthur Founder and CEO of WordSmithRapport April 14, 2018

Effective Communication Is Something You Learn, Not Something You're Born With Silver-tongued orators are like world-class magicians. They float onto the stage with enviable swagger. They use choice material, and their compelling delivery keeps audiences rapt. They know that to touch the heart is to affect change; to stir the imagination is to inspire action. But they also know something that others don't: Effective communication is an attainable and deliberately acquired skill set -- one that can be learned and practiced over time. Too many people mistakenly believe that good communication skills are written into a person’s DNA. While it’s true that individual attributes can make these abilities easier to acquire, there is nothing that the world’s best communicators have that you can’t acquire through hard work. …. And as author and former presidential speech writer James C. Humes writes, “The art of communication is the language of leadership.” Those who master the art can convince others to help them move mountains. Smoke out original thought. … People loathe hearing the same old ideas, over and over again. Smart leaders know that stretching their creative capacity is required to increase industry clout and deliver meaningful messages that matter. Make no mistake, to become a more effective communicator, you must 'smoke out' original thought. Rather than conforming to the status quo, make a conscious decision to abandon overdone and clichéd material. When a disruptive idea rears its peculiar head, instead of immediately dismissing it, meditate on it to see where it takes you. The most inspiring and provocative ideas usually evolve this way.… Prepare an impactful delivery. ….Once you’ve developed a fresh idea, it’s time to work on organizing your message and polishing your delivery. How will you launch a stunning opening and closing line? How will you organize your material succinctly, so that it is both moving and memorable (perhaps tweetable and repeatable)? Should you use humour? Persuasion? What kind of compelling details should be included? Would a story be appropriate? Remember that your delivery also includes your vocal and non-verbal communication (body language), which are critical to the success of your overall message. Winston Churchill practiced one hour for every minute of talk-time. A polished delivery is not about cobbling together the "perfect words" and then memorizing them like a robot. It is all about the way you competently and confidently convey your message in real-time. Take the time to internalize the subject matter and work on the mechanics until you own them. The delivery should feel so natural that you hardly have to think about it. Note that while practicing your message aloud, you may realize that the content needs to be tweaked. Welcome these edits. You're on your way to chiselling out the heart of your message so that it falls nicely on the ear. It's often a good idea to send your draft material to someone you trust (even a subject matter expert) for honest, constructive feedback. Once you've honed the content, practice it in front of someone with a good eye and ear for impeccable delivery. Whatever you do, don't become defensive. Throw your ego out the door and apply what you learn to sharpen your saw. Use active listening to your advantage.

George Bernard Shaw coined the famous phrase, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” Poor listening skills create roadblocks to communication, especially when the single-minded goal of the speaker is to be heard. Anytime you are engaging an audience, there should be continuous cycle of give and take, which includes listening and learning, as well as offering tangible value. A speaker communicates best while he or she listens actively, which helps them to respond more organically to the needs of the audience…. However, if you’ve convinced yourself that you’re the only person in the room with something interesting or valuable to say, then you'll miss key opportunities to clarify, provide relevant examples and challenge the audience to dig deeper to extract greater meaning. Develop rapport by engaging in real dialogue. Most people know when they’re being "talked at" rather than "talked to." And being "talked at" almost always turns people off. Leaders who engage in dynamic, interactive dialogues -- rather than defaulting to stale monologues -- establish trust, develop rapport and experience greater empathy from their audiences. We've all sat through lacklustre, canned presentations hardly salvaged by the PowerPoint slides that consumed them. And when they're read verbatim, with little to no emotion, it's a miserable experience for all. If you’re not focused on building rapport and having an organic conversation with the audience you're attempting to sway, then you’re squandering your efforts and wasting everyone's time… …Remember, connecting with your audience (whether that be an audience of one or 1,000) will always mean taking the time to engage them, exposing your humanity and jettisoning the unfortunate behaviours so commonly associated with an aloof and ill-prepared presenter. Check in with surgical follow-up. Part of mastering the four skills mentioned so far necessarily includes following up with your audience, in real-time. Even the most accomplished communicators observe this critical step. How do you do that in a speech? You check in with your audience to make sure that they "got" what you intended to give. One way to do this is to emphasize the main points of the presentation by strategically reintroducing them at the end. By no means does this suggest regurgitating a mundane list, though. Be creative! For example, you might offer several calls to action, complemented by an expansion of each point. Another way to accomplish this is by eliciting feedback and answering audience questions, especially when a live Q&A session is part of the engagement. This allows the audience to flesh out any unanswered questions, resolve any misunderstandings and walk away with greater value. If a Q&A session is not possible (and even still in most cases), offer a mechanism that allows the audience to provide anonymous, but targeted feedback. You'll want to know what worked and what didn't….. To swagger = to behave self importantly To chisel / to hone = to make something better, to improve it, to perfect it. Lacklustre = something which is dull, boring, lifeless To jettison = to give up, to get rid of, to abandon To elicit = to make people say something instead of saying it yourself

Comprehension questions: 1. Who are the people the writer quotes or refers to in this article? Do they have anything in common? In this article, the journalist speaks about James C Humes, who was a speech writer for US presidents. He also quotes Winston Churchill, who was the prime minister of the UK during and after the 2nd world war, he wrote his own speeches and was a great talker. The last famous person mentioned in the text is George Bernard Shaw, who was an Irish screenwriter, essayist and book reviewer at the end of the 19th Century, he was awarded the literature Nobel Prize in 1926. What they had in common is that all of them were used to writing and to speaking in public, to be in front of a large audience and they had learnt to attract and keep people’ attention during their speeches. They also all of them spoke about politics and government issues. 2. What advice does the author give to be an effective communicator? Make a list. The author gives a lot of tips to become an effective communicator. First, he says that you must learn to be a communicator, you are not born with this talent. Then when you prepare what you want to say, you must be CREATIVE. Your message must be MEANINGFUL, that is to say it must have some meaning, some interesting and new ideas. You must ORGANIZE your ideas, there must be a strong and attractive opening and end. You should illustrate with examples, memorable anecdotes, maybe humour, so that people will remember and possibly repeat the ideas you have developed. The next step is to practice, rehearse, Maybe asking somebody you know very well to listen to you practicing, or to help you improve your speech is a good idea. When you are in front of your audience, don’t forget to LISTEN to the questions, to watch how the people react to what you are saying, and to use the appropriate BODY LANGUAGE. Introduce interactivity, dialogue between you and the people, to develop trust, empathy. Finally, don’t forget to recap the main points of your presentation and elicit some questions and feedback from your audience. 3. Why is it important to practice a speech extensively before giving it? It is important to practice because you must be able to deliver your speech in a natural and confident way. When you practice, you will probably change some words, and if you have somebody you trust listen and correct you, it can help and improve the speech. When you rehearse, you will also think about your body language and improve the way you will look and move in front of the people.

Throughout your practice, you will internalize your subject, learn it, and it will be more natural and automatic when you are in front of the audience. 4. What difference is there between “being talked at “and “being talked to? To be talked at means that the speaker is delivering his speech but not really engaging with his audience. He more or less speaks for the sake of speaking, to demonstrate that he can do it in public. He is not interested in how his ideas will be received and remembered by the people. To be talked to is when the speaker really looks at his audience, connect with them, takes the time to develop interactivity, a real dialogue, maybe through Questions and Answers. 5. What different ways does she suggest to follow up with your audience? You can interact with them with questions and answers, make them tell you what they understood or liked, check with a quiz what they remember, or if it not possible to do it face to face after your presentation, organize an anonymous feedback (with a questionnaire maybe).

Free writing: (150 to 180 words ) Choose one of the following topic: 1. Do you agree with the writer that listening and interacting with your audience is essential? Why or why not. Communication is about exchanging with others. You give and you receive. Interacting is essential: you don’t speak in front of people because you like speaking and hearing yourself, but because you want to convey a message, convince people of your ideas and see that they adopt them and spread them to many others. That’s why questions and answers, quizzes are good at the end (you can learn from your mistakes for the next presentation) Listening to your audience allows you to improve your communicating skills, to adapt to the people, maybe introduce humour or personal experience, to improvise if necessary. If you don’t listen, you don’t know how your ideas are perceived and you can’t find out if your speech was successful. Listening is as important as speaking. A good communicator is someone who can listen to the others, this is the only way the others will listen to him in their turn. 2. Do you think that anyone can become a good communicator? What does he/she need to develop? Yes, anybody can become a good communicator. But for some people it is easier, if they already have a talent for speaking and attracting attention to them.

You must learn how to be natural, charismatic, develop your body language, move your hands, adapt to the audience. You must learn how to speak clearly and slowly, look at people, listen to them and show empathy. You must learn to be confident, assertive, positive, smiling. It is also important to dress appropriately, depending on the audience you are speaking to. Looking at the audience, eye to eye with them is very important to keep them listening. Of course what you have to say is essential, so you must learn how to express creative and attractive ideas, organize your points and link the different parts of your message. You must also learn your message by heart, you should not be reading notes, only look down to check you have not digressed, keep an eye on the clock (to respect your speaking time)....