Title: Mastering the Lost Art of Oratory
Author: Robert A. Babcock
Publisher: PageTurner Press and Media
ISBN: 1638710740
Pages: 226
Genre: Non-Fiction
Reviewed by: Liz Konkel

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Mastering the Lost Art of Oratory is a workbook which follows a unique curriculum designed for helping students with speeches and public speaking through advice, exercises, and lessons that aids in the idea of good writing equals good speaking.

Students will develop stronger skills in a variety of fields that will further their careers, performing arts, and writing. This program from the Young Speakers Academy has proven successful in a variety of environments and has led to an increase in the public speaking skills of students. The goal of Mastering the Lost Art of Oratory is to prevent carelessness in speech as an adult by helping students master these skills before they graduate. Several benefits come from mastering speech including descriptive thinking, mastery of self, and good leadership. Students need to have clear thinking, sound thought, and an understanding of good speaking, writing and listening.

The workbook provides a great resource for parents and educators to help students engage in better speech practices with clear directions that explain the stages of preparing a speech and exercises that will help students become better speakers. Author Robert A. Babcock has created the ideal workbook that paves the way toward good leadership and stronger speech practices. The workbook dives into the realm of public speaking with a focus on vocabulary, structure, and audience. The writing style contains easy-to-understand sections that create a comfort zone for students to learn the art of public speaking. The foundation of this program is rooted within the idea of support from teachers, parents, and the audience. Your students will find worksheets for speech development that will allow students to gain a thorough understanding of the subject matter. The types of speeches explored are impromptu, reading, extemporaneous, and memorization.

The worksheets and exercises provide ways for students to participate and engage them into thinking about the precision that goes into everything they say and the specifics behind their word choices. These lessons allow students freedom in learning with easy assignments that will take students through speechmaking step-by-step that explains how to pick topics, how to know the audience, how to organize speech structure. Mastering the Lost Art of Oratory also contains sections on diction, style, and word choice with useful examples throughout that includes poems, questions, and outlines to perfect skills in grammar, vocabulary development, speaking style, and presenting.

The book has a direct focus on writing speeches by furthering word choice through the strengthening of vocabulary. The workbook is well-organized so that students won’t become overwhelmed when writing a speech. For the visual learner, rubrics, organizers, and outlines are included. This will better help teachers and parents take their students through each step by guiding them through the purpose, opening, body, and conclusion of a speech. By the time your student completes this workbook, they’ll have more confidence in public speaking, stronger vocabulary skills, and better writing abilities. Mastering the Lost Art of Oratory is the ideal resource for students that will make learning speeches easier with useful exercises, worksheets, and outlines.