Finding a speech topic middle school kids actually want to talk about
Why choosing the right idea matters -141 themed speech topics sorted by grade level and speech type to make that choice easier for teachers, parents, and students.
When I put together this page on speech topics for middle school children, I was acutely aware of the challenges parents, teachers and the kids themselves face when it comes to choosing a subject they actively want to talk about.
They are real. I knew because I’d been there both as a parent AND as a teacher. Finding that gem of an idea to light up a child’s imagination can be a mutually exhausting exercise.
What about showing them your strategies for completing a jigsaw puzzle in double-quick time? Nope. They’d laugh.
How about talking about why we have seasons: fall, winter, spring and summer?
That’s not very exciting. Nah.
And so on.
My hope was to prepare a collection of themed topics that were sufficiently broad reaching and varied enough for most students to find something of interest reasonably quickly.
The first iteration of the article had eight themed lists, (community and social issues, art and culture, fun and whimsy, sports and games, hobbies and interests, food…), plus resource links for preparing, writing and rehearsing speeches. It has been well visited over the years it’s been online.
Over the last couple of days, I’ve updated it. Each of the lists has been sorted by approximate grade level suitability and speech type: personal, demonstrative, persuasive or informative.
And I’ve added three printable pdfs. These are all the topics for Grades 5-6, 6-7 and 7-8, sorted by type, regardless of theme. I thought they’d be welcomed by teachers and parents who didn’t want to trawl through lists and wanted age-appropriate ideas fast.
Here’s the link again: 141 best speech topics for kids: approx. 11-14yrs, grades 5 - 8: middle school
As per usual, I sincerely hope you find it useful,
Susan
As I’ve said many, many times before, if you have ideas for topics you’d like to see covered in this newsletter, or if you’d like to share an article on some aspect of public speaking, please get in touch. Either reply to this email or click on the image link above to contact me through the form on the ‘about me’ page on my website. I’d love to hear from you!