Week 11

In this week we closed the topic of humor with an example of a classic American joke (who's on first?) and with some smaple clips from two very popular sitcoms that Katie brought to class.

Then we moved to speeches as another genre of oral texts. We discussed the different types and purposes of speeches and its main characteristics. Speeches are usually example of public speaking, they are planned and are related to the special social event in which they are produced. For example, a commencement address occurs in a graduation act at college; while a political speech might occur in the context of an election campaign. Some speeches have the aim of being inspirational, others are intended to thank people, but most have a persuasive purpose. Some may have more than one purpose.

In class we studied and discussed two speeches that are considered exemplary in English rhetoric: Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stratford University and Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech”. Here’s the video of the “I have a dream” speech.

                              
Next week, we will took a more analitic view of speeches and close this topic. After that, we will start our next genre, movies.

See you next class.