7. Tell a Story.

We all enjoy stories – especially if they are provocative, amusing, dramatic or suspenseful. To work well as introductions, they shall be also clearly relative to the main point of the speech. Used in this way, stories are perhaps the most effective way to begin a monologue speech. On one of the lessons, a student told a story to open her speech about the problem of Kazakhstanʼs teenager girls nowadays:

There was a soul who was waiting for the day she would be born. She was wandering what the life outside was like. She was imagining it as a bright light, with many beautiful things in it that would make her very happy. And of course, what she wanted to see the most, was her mother. She hoped to see her angelic face, to touch her skin, to see her beautiful eyes, smile, because she was already hearing her sweet voice. But at some moment, she heard her mother cry and wanted to cry too. But she didnʼt have eyes or even tears to do so. But even so, she was saying, “Mommy please donʼt cry, when I will be born, we will be very happy together.” And suddenly, she felt a burning and agonizing pain. She was wandering what was it, and why was this happening to her. She didnʼt know that her mother was doing an abortion.

Like many good introductions, this one does a double job – it gets listeners emotionally involved in the speech, and previews the main topic of the speech. The speaker can also use stories based on his or her own experience. Here is how one pre-med student used such a story. She began by recounting the first time she observed doctors performing surgery in the operating room:

There I stood, wearing a surgical mask, in the middle of a large, brightly lit room. In the centre of the room were five figures huddled over a table. I found it difficult to see since everything was draped in blue sheets, yet I didnʼt dare take a step toward the table.

The one of the figures called to me, “Asiya, get over here and take a closer look.” My knees buckled as I walked through the sterile environment. But eventually I was there, standing over an unconscious body in the operating room.

The seven ways to introduce a monologue speech discussed above were “the most effective and easy to work with” ways to begin the monologue speech for the students. These methods to introduce the monologue speech are easy to understand and use for the high school students. And of course it depends on their critical thinking what method to choose depending on their speech topic, audience(mostly their peers), and the occasion so that it would be the most suitable.

2. Revealing the topic of the monologue speech.

In the process of gaining attention, the speaker should be sure to state the topic of the speech. If he or she does not, then the listeners will get confused. And once they are confused, the chances of getting them absorbed in the speech is extremely low.

This is a basic point – so basic that it may hardly seem worth mentioning. Yet it may be surprising how many students need to be reminded of it. Some students may give such a speech in which the topic is not clear by the end of the introduction. As an example what to avoid, here is such an introduction:

Imagine taking a leisurely walk on one of the highest mountains of our country – Altay . The sun is high in the sky, reflecting brightly off the snow around you. The nature is so wonderful and peaceful. You grab a camera, snap a shot, and check the result. The picture is perfect. But will it be perfect in the future? That is the question I want to explore today.

What is the topic of this speech? Photographing? No. Birding? No. Tourism in the tropics? No. The student was talking about efforts to restore the natural beauty of the Altay mountains. But the topic was not clear to the audience. And imagine if instead of the above introduction, there would be a one like this:

Siberian ibex, argali, Siberian musk deer, the wild boar, Mongolian gazelle, snow leopards – these and other creatures have lost over 50 percent of their habitat in Altai Mountains over the past few decades. Now, however, there is an $8 billion program to preserve their home in the Saylyugem national park. The largest restoration effort in the history of the world, it will rejuvenate one of Kazakhstanʼs most diverse ecosystems and protect it for future generations.

This opening would have provided a way to get the audienceʼs attention, but it also would have related directly to the speech topic. If the speaker beats around the bush in the introduction, the speaker may lose his or her listeners. Even if they already know the topic of the speech , it should be restated clearly and concisely at some point in the introduction.