How to Make a Good Speech
Haruto Yasuda, Ryoutaro Hoshiyama
of English groups

1. Introduction
Our team thinks many high school students have never made speeches. Theymay have never been asked to give a speech, either. However, the ability to makea good speech will be required for them in the future. We researched strategies
for improving our ability to make speeches by comparing several speeches madeby two famous people; President Obama and Abraham Lincoln. As a result, wefound some techniques for making good speeches.

2. President Obama’s speech in Hiroshima
The following is an Obama’s speech in Hiroshima. He used some uniqueexpressions in his speech.

“Seventy-one years ago, on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky
and the world was changed. A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a cityand demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself. Why do
we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder a terrible force
unleashed in the not so distant past. We come to mourn the dead, including over
100,000 Japanese men, women and children, thousands of Koreans and a dozen
Americans held prisoner. Their souls speak to us. They ask us to look inward, totake stock of who we are and what we might become. It is not the fact of war
that sets Hiroshima apart. Artifacts tell us that violent conflict appeared withthe very first man. Our early ancestors, having learned to make blades fromflint and spears from wood, used these tools not just for hunting but against
their own kind. On every continent the history of civilization is filled with war,
whether driven by scarcity of grain or hunger for gold, compelled by nationalist
fervor or religious zeal. Empires have risen and fallen, peoples have been
subjugated and liberated, and at each juncture innocents have suffered -- acountless toll, their names forgotten by time.”
We can see that he often uses the word “we”. The speaker could emphasizethat what he wanted to convey applies to everyone in the world. He also often
use “positive words” like “God”, “new”, “common”, and “generation”, which madeeveryone more likely to agree with his opinions (Azuma, 2009).
Through his speech, we can notice that making a speech needs some words
that inspire the audience. So If you want to make a good speech, you should use
some positive words such as the words President Obama used in his speeches.

3. Gettysburg address by Abraham Lincoln
The following is the script of the “Gettysburg address” by Abraham Lincoln.

“—we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any
nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great
battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a
final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense,
we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow - this ground.”Abraham Lincoln’s speech has some similarities to Obama’s. They both use
the same kind of expressions and positive words. Lincoln’s speech refers to war
and the tragedy it causes. He was able to emphasize the importance of avoidingwar.

4. Conclusion
Our team learned two things through this study. First, both President Obama
and Abraham Lincoln used metaphorical expressions, so that the audience could
easily understand what they wanted to convey. Second, they both used a lot of“positive words”, so that the audience had good impression and was persuaded tothink that the speakers were right. Therefore, if we use these strategies, we will
be able to deliver a better speech.

5. References
Azuma, S. (2009). The language sense of Obama. Trans. Tokyo: Nihon Hoso
Shuppan Kyokai.
Miura, T. (2013). Speeches of Obama. Trans. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.