{"id":276,"date":"2026-02-07T13:54:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T18:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/?page_id=276"},"modified":"2026-02-07T13:54:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T18:54:04","slug":"esl-speech-stems","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/esl-general-resources\/esl-speech-stems\/","title":{"rendered":"ESL Speech Stems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The following exercise can help students work up to speaking on topics in English. It is best to have a teacher help you through this process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Instructions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Follow the patterns below to create sentences that\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ask the questions that your speech needs to answer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Answer the questions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Summarize the information or argument.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Perform the sentences in front of class or native speaking friends. Try to do this without reading from notes. Be ready to talk more about your topic and answer questions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Remember: If you talk about something that is an opinion or not common knowledge, you need to say where the information comes from.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Informative: talking about a person, a place, a time in history, a product.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Welcome, everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, I would like to tell you about _________________.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I will describe<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Who _________________.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>__________________________________.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What _________________.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>__________________________________.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Where_________________.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>__________________________________.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When _________________.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>__________________________________.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How _________________.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>__________________________________.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why _________________.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>__________________________________.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you for listening. Any questions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Welcome, everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, I would like to tell you about <em>Zhuge Liang<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I will describe<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Who <em>Zhuge Liang was<\/em>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Zhuge Liang was one of the smartest people in Chinese history<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What <em>Zhuge Liang did<\/em>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>He helped Liu Bei fight for the Shu-Han kingdom<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Where <em>Zhuge Liang lived<\/em>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Zhuge lived in Shu-Han, which was around present day HuBei province in central China<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When <em>Zhuge Liang lived<\/em>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>He lived between 181 and 234 C.E<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How <em>Zhuge Liang became famous<\/em>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Zhuge was a genius and a general who helped Liu Bei achieve military success.<\/em> <em>He also invented steamed meat buns and carts that carried food for soldiers.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why <em>Zhuge Liang fought for Liu Bei<\/em>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Zhuge Liang was loyal to Liu Bei because he saw that Liu was kind to his people and wanted to restore the emperor<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you for listening. Any questions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Persuasive: Telling your audience to believe something is true or false, believe something is good or bad, or do or stop something.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The same information as would be collected for an informative speech should be present in a persuasive speech, but with the following pieces added:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today I would like to persuade you to think that _________________.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How do we know that this is (true\/false; a good\/bad idea)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What examples show _________________?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>__________________________________.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In summary: _________________ because _________________.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today I would like to persuade you to think that&nbsp;<em>Zhuge Liang should be learned about in American schools.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How do we know that this is a good idea?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What examples show <em>that\u00a0Zhuge Liang is a good person to teach about?<\/em>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Zhuge is one of the great geniuses of world history. He helped build the Shu-Han kingdom in the third century. He was a master of war and invented things that kept soldiers safe and healthy. He was loyal to his king because he saw him as a good man.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In summary:\u00a0<em>Zhuge Liang should be learned about in American schools\u00a0<\/em>because\u00a0<em>he is a good example of a loyal general and one of the great geniuses in world history.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following exercise can help students work up to speaking on topics in English. It is best to have a teacher help you through this process. Instructions: Informative: talking about a person, a place, a time in history, a product. Welcome, everyone! Today, I would like to tell you about _________________. I will describe Thank [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":304,"featured_media":0,"parent":270,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-276","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ESL Speech Stems - Tennessee Online Public Speaking Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/esl-general-resources\/esl-speech-stems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ESL Speech Stems - Tennessee Online Public Speaking Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The following exercise can help students work up to speaking on topics in English. It is best to have a teacher help you through this process. Instructions: Informative: talking about a person, a place, a time in history, a product. Welcome, everyone! Today, I would like to tell you about _________________. I will describe Thank [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/esl-general-resources\/esl-speech-stems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tennessee Online Public Speaking Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-07T18:54:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/additional-resources\\\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\\\/esl-general-resources\\\/esl-speech-stems\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/additional-resources\\\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\\\/esl-general-resources\\\/esl-speech-stems\\\/\",\"name\":\"ESL Speech Stems - Tennessee Online Public Speaking Center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-07T18:54:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-07T18:54:04+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/additional-resources\\\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\\\/esl-general-resources\\\/esl-speech-stems\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/additional-resources\\\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\\\/esl-general-resources\\\/esl-speech-stems\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/additional-resources\\\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\\\/esl-general-resources\\\/esl-speech-stems\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Additional Resources\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/additional-resources\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"ESL and Multilingual Speakers\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/additional-resources\\\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"ESL General Resources\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/additional-resources\\\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\\\/esl-general-resources\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"ESL Speech Stems\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tennessee Online Public Speaking Center\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/tops\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ESL Speech Stems - Tennessee Online Public Speaking Center","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/esl-general-resources\/esl-speech-stems\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ESL Speech Stems - Tennessee Online Public Speaking Center","og_description":"The following exercise can help students work up to speaking on topics in English. It is best to have a teacher help you through this process. Instructions: Informative: talking about a person, a place, a time in history, a product. Welcome, everyone! Today, I would like to tell you about _________________. I will describe Thank [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/esl-general-resources\/esl-speech-stems\/","og_site_name":"Tennessee Online Public Speaking Center","article_modified_time":"2026-02-07T18:54:04+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/esl-general-resources\/esl-speech-stems\/","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/esl-general-resources\/esl-speech-stems\/","name":"ESL Speech Stems - Tennessee Online Public Speaking Center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-02-07T18:54:03+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-07T18:54:04+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/esl-general-resources\/esl-speech-stems\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/esl-general-resources\/esl-speech-stems\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/esl-general-resources\/esl-speech-stems\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Additional Resources","item":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"ESL and Multilingual Speakers","item":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"ESL General Resources","item":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/additional-resources\/esl-and-multilingual-speakers\/esl-general-resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"ESL Speech Stems"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/","name":"Tennessee Online Public Speaking Center","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/304"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/276\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/tops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}