Orbit Activity 3

Adding some interest to the club by giving them information contained within the historical reading, particularly information the club may not have heard before.

Giving practice in reading. Although reading is not a common practice that all members need to do in their day to day life, some members do. 

Activity 3 – Famous historical reading

Duration: 4-5 mins
Pre-requisites: Completion of Launchpad Program

Aim

To present a historical reading, which is engaging and significant for history, and for the club members.

Objectives

  1. To find an engaging reading that members may have heard about, but not actually heard
  2. To present with appropriate pace, expression, and vocal variety
  3. To read in a manner which engages your audience

The Why…

There are two ‘why’s for this particular activity.

The first ‘why’ is to add some interest to the club by giving them information contained within the historical reading, particularly information the club may not have heard before.

The second ‘why’ is to give practice in reading. Although reading is not a common practice that all members need to do in their day to day life, some members do. It’s still a skill that’s worth having particularly when working on the voice, and eye contact.

The How

Specific guidelines on how to tackle this activity.

Do some research. Go to Google and look for famous historical readings. That’s all you need to type in, and you’ll find many of them. The most common ones will jump out at you as you would have heard of them. This doesn’t mean you should reject them. Look for things like:

  • The speech of the US president that was written in case the moon landing failed
  • The abdication speech of Edward VIII
  • The Gettysburg Address

There’s plenty of information available online or in historical books.

You must find a reading that fits in with the time you’ve been rostered. You cannot do a 7 minute reading when you’ve been given 4 minutes to read. You must stick to the time limit.

Tips and traps

Tip: Look at the time limit and find a reading that fits. Work on the basis of 120 to 140 words per minute.

A famous historical reading is not one you should edit. You can, however, shorten it by taking out certain sections in order to fit with the time. You may have to limit the reading to only key parts of the speech, such as the opening or conclusion.

Copy the reading onto card in larger print. If possible, type it out and present it in double spacing. It’s much easier to read when double
spaced.

Look for words or phrases you may not be familiar with and practice your pronunciation so you don’t stumble over them.

When doing a reading there are several tips which work really well.

  • Type in both upper and lowercase; Don’t type in uppercase only as it’s much harder to follow when reading aloud.
  • Type in a 10 cm wide column, not the full width of the page. Newsreaders read news from a 10 cm wide script, not a page wide script. This is because it’s much easier for the eye to scan. You should do the same.
  • Use an easy to read font. If you’re over 50 put it in Times New Roman, Century Schoolbook or a Serif typeface because people of that age group learnt to read with fonts like those. Younger people
    have learnt to read with textbooks or reading books that are Sans Serif, Helvetica or Arial. Choose a typeface that’s very easy to read for you. Comic Sans MS is the font that people with dyslexia find easiest to read.
  • Put it on card, not paper. You can print it on paper and then stick it on card if necessary. That way it’s much easier to hold and read from. What you’re holding is less likely to rustle, crumple or distract your listeners.

Guidelines for Program Director:

When you’re rostering, highlight the why, the how and the tips and tricks for the speaker. Make sure you direct them to the Orbit Compendium so they know what they need to do.

Give a time limit. You may make it 3 to 5 minutes, or you may say 4 minutes. Whatever it is, don’t leave it open ended, because some members will go over time. Advise them to do a word count and base the length of their reading on about 120 to 140 words per minute.

Ask newer members to run it by you or one of the more experienced members first. This is particularly for newer members who have gone through Launchpad relatively quickly and they may choose a reading that someone else has done recently.