Students must think creatively in presenting 90-second speeches.
A 90-second speech, sometimes known as a mini-speech, is a descriptive but concise talk giving the speaker's opinion about a set topic. Students may plan out and rehearse a response, or you may assign impromptu topics right before students speak. Whichever you choose, 90-second speeches require quick, critical, creative thinking that is perfect for speech class. Whether prepared or impromptu, topics spoken about in a limited time must be specific or easily picked apart to give the speaker a full range of direction on which to elaborate, demonstrating a good sense of organization.
Intangibles
An intangible is something that cannot be physically touched. Ask students to speak about an intangible, such as silence, poverty or feelings like love and hate. Speakers should explain what the intangible is and discuss it through examples. An alternative to having students simply explain and describe is to ask them to speak as that intangible, for example, "I am silence" or "I am hate," and explain it from that perspective. These topics are difficult to speak on, especially as an impromptu speech, so 90 seconds is more than enough to demonstrate creativity and critical thinking abilities.
Animals
Even those who are not pet owners can laugh at the quirkiness of animals, and for that reason, animals can supply a wealth of speech topic ideas. Ask students to give a speech about their favorite animals, a pet or a funny zoo experience. Another more humorous option is to assign students an unusual or extinct animal to discuss, such as a leech, do do bird or duckbill platypus. If students are not familiar with some animals, ask them to make up information. Animal topics work well as 90-second speeches because they are very casual and easy to think about on the spot. Use them early on in the speech class to get students more comfortable with speaking freely in front of an audience.
Personal Metaphors
A metaphor, such as "He is a fox," is a comparison of two unlike objects, made without using the words "like" or "as." Personal metaphors allow students to compare themselves to something and then explain the metaphor in further detail, giving examples of how they are similar to that object. These speeches are quite versatile. For instance, a personal metaphor in which the speaker claims he is a toaster lends itself to a humorous tone, while a speaker that compares herself to a flower not yet in bloom offers a more serious, contemplative attitude. Like intangibles, personal metaphors require a higher level of thinking. Presenting for 90 seconds allows students to demonstrate their ability to organize a difficult topic.
Rhymes
Assign a random topic, or let students pick their own; for this activity, it does not matter. The point is to rhyme the entire speech. If a student is speaking about a current event, such as raising the country's debt limit, he might say, "The President says to raise the debt ceiling, but lots of our citizens are mad and they're squealing." Rhyming in couplets probably is the easiest format. The difficulty of this idea will increase the longer the speaker presents, but 90 seconds will easily showcase skills in organization, critical thinking and creativity.
Tags: 90-second speeches, critical thinking, impromptu topics, speech class, students speak