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Analyze persuasive messages, strengthen your delivery, and present a ten-minute capstone speech in this 3-week program for middle school students at UCLA.
Course Description
A speech can change a mind, tell a story, or mark a moment. Start with something worth saying and decide how you want an audience to respond.
In this course your student will compare informative, persuasive, entertaining, and ceremonial speeches. Hooks, evidence, stories, tone, pacing, body language, and visuals show how a speaker earns attention and credibility. Professional speeches and advertisements give them choices to examine.
Short speaking activities offer room to practice, including an impromptu two-minute story. Workshops, discussions, outlines, and peer critique help your student shape both the message and the delivery.
For a ten-minute final speech, they’ll research a topic they care about, submit a written outline, rehearse, and revise using feedback. The format may be a demonstration, dramatic reading, persuasive or special-occasion speech, debate, or congressional-style argument. Choosing the words and delivery becomes a way to make the idea their own.
This three-week course for middle school students is part of Summer Discovery’s Institute for the Gifted program on UCLA’s campus in Los Angeles, California. Residential and commuter options are available.
What You Will Do
• Compare informative, persuasive, entertaining, and ceremonial speeches
• Analyze hooks, evidence, stories, tone, pacing, body language, and visuals
• Practice impromptu speaking and audience-focused delivery
• Organize research and ideas in a written speech outline
• Give and apply specific peer feedback during workshops
• Rehearse and deliver a ten-minute capstone speech
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Explain how language, evidence, and delivery affect an audience’s response
• Organize and improve a speech using research and feedback
• Use voice and language to communicate a sustained, clear message
You’ll leave with your speech outline, ten-minute capstone presentation, rehearsal feedback, and a certificate of completion.
Why Public Speaking Skills Matter
Public speaking develops the ability to turn an idea into a message another person can follow and remember. Rhetorical analysis helps students notice how language, evidence, stories, tone, and visuals shape credibility. Delivery practice shows how pacing, posture, and vocal variation can either reinforce or distract from meaning.
Rehearsal builds confidence through preparation, not performance tricks. Giving and receiving specific feedback strengthens listening, empathy, and revision. These habits support classroom presentations, leadership, debate, interviews, advocacy, and any setting where students need to explain an idea clearly.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed 6th, 7th, or 8th grade.
Your student may enjoy telling stories or debating a point, or simply want to feel more prepared for class presentations. This course gives them low-pressure ways to practice before building a longer speech. They don’t need polished delivery at the start.
The work includes a written outline, rehearsal, peer feedback, and a ten-minute presentation to the group. Institute for the Gifted eligibility requirements apply; see the program FAQ.
Your Summer at UCLA
UCLA gives middle-school students an energetic place to learn, have fun, and experience campus life in Los Angeles. The setting brings together science, technology, creativity, entertainment, and culture, helping new subjects feel connected to a wider world of ideas.
The program combines hands-on academics with friendships, campus activities, clear routines, and support as students become comfortable in a large university environment. Students can try new challenges, share interests with peers, and build confidence through participation without needing to decide where those interests will lead. For families, UCLA offers a structured middle-school experience that balances substantive learning with fun, community, and age-appropriate independence. Students leave with new memories and a clearer sense of what they may want to explore next.
Summer Discovery Certificate of Completion
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification of completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive