A speech is written for people who will hear the message as it unfolds. They cannot easily reread a complicated sentence while you continue speaking. Effective speech writing therefore combines a clear purpose, suitable language, a logical sequence and an ending the audience can remember.
This KCSE speech writing example uses an original school situation, a complete model and two revision tasks. The aim is to make deliberate choices for a real audience, rather than memorise a speech that may not fit the next question. These are practice models, not an official examination script or marking scheme.
Identify the speaker, audience, occasion and purpose
Read the prompt as a communication problem. Who are you speaking as? Who will listen? Why have they gathered? What should they understand, feel or do afterwards? Write brief answers before drafting.
The topic alone is not enough. A speech about welcoming new learners could encourage current learners to offer help, explain school routines to newcomers or ask parents to support the transition. Each purpose needs different examples and a different final request.
- Speaker: use the role the task gives you, with realistic authority.
- Audience: acknowledge the people present and speak to their concerns.
- Occasion: establish why this message belongs at this event.
- Purpose: choose one central message and develop the required supporting points.
Use a descriptive heading when appropriate to identify the speech, speaker and occasion. The spoken opening should greet and acknowledge the audience. Follow any more specific directions supplied by your task or teacher rather than assuming one exact heading is compulsory everywhere.
Practice 1: build a complete speech from a clear brief
Original fictional brief
You are Maryam Biko, the peer-support coordinator at Riverside Secondary School. At the opening assembly, the principal, teachers, continuing learners and newly admitted learners are present. Write a speech encouraging continuing learners to help newcomers settle in. Address finding places, understanding routines and joining activities. End with a practical invitation.
Model speech: Helping new learners find their place
Principal, teachers and fellow learners, good morning.
To everyone joining Riverside this term, welcome. I am Maryam Biko, the peer-support coordinator. Today, I want to ask those of us who already know the school to make that welcome something people can experience after this assembly ends.
Think of a simple moment: the bell rings, people move quickly in different directions, and you do not know which room you need. Being new can turn an ordinary journey across the school into a difficult question. A friendly face and clear directions can make that moment easier.
First, let us help newcomers find their way. If someone asks where the library is, do more than point vaguely across the compound. Explain the route using a place they can recognise. When time allows, offer to walk with them. Ask whether they would like help rather than assuming that they need it.
Second, let us explain the routines we now take for granted. Knowing how to borrow a book or where to find a club notice should not depend on guessing. Give accurate information. If you are unsure, help the learner ask the teacher or student leader responsible. A confident wrong answer can be more confusing than an honest admission that you do not know.
Third, make room for new people in our activities. Invite someone to a practice, a reading group or a club meeting. Explain what happens there and let them choose. An invitation is a welcome, not an instruction to become exactly like the rest of us.
We can notice without staring, offer without pushing and include without deciding for someone else. Those are small actions, but they make our welcome practical.
During today’s break, greet a learner you have not met and ask whether there is anything they would like to know about the school. New learners, you are also welcome to ask the peer-support team for guidance. Let us make Riverside a place where asking a question feels ordinary. Thank you.
Why these choices fit the brief
The greeting includes the groups named in the question without inventing an absent guest. The speaker introduces her relevant role and gives a clear purpose. The opening situation illustrates uncertainty without claiming that every newcomer feels the same way.
The body covers all three requested areas in a sequence listeners can follow. “First”, “Second” and “Third” are simple spoken signposts. Each section contains an action and an example, so “be helpful” becomes something the audience can actually do.
The repeated structure “notice … offer … include” gathers the message into a memorable sentence. Its purpose is emphasis, not decoration. The final paragraph returns to the assembly audience with one realistic action for that day’s break.
Notice the speaker’s limits. She invites help and refers uncertain questions to appropriate people. She does not announce a new school policy, promise that nobody will ever feel lonely or require learners to join a particular club.
Write for the ear as well as the eye
Read your draft aloud at a comfortable pace. Mark places where you lose the sentence’s meaning or need to restart. Long sentences are not automatically wrong, but a speech full of nested clauses makes listeners work unnecessarily hard.
Prefer concrete actions to abstract language. “Show a new learner how to find the timetable” is easier to picture than “facilitate successful institutional integration”. Use formal, courteous English without making the speaker sound unnatural.
Rhetorical questions, repetition and short anecdotes can help, but each should serve the message. A question is useful when it makes the audience consider an idea; five unrelated questions at the opening may delay the purpose. Avoid invented quotations or statistics presented as real evidence.
Practice 2: revise a paragraph for spoken clarity
Weak paragraph
It is of considerable importance that all the various members of the student population should endeavour to operationalise a comprehensive arrangement through which the newcomers can be rendered knowledgeable concerning the relevant geographical locations and organisational procedures of the institution.
Task: rewrite the paragraph for the same assembly audience. Keep the idea, but make it specific enough to act on.
Possible revision
Let us help new learners understand the school. Show them where important rooms are, explain the daily routines and tell them whom to ask when they are unsure. What feels obvious to us may be unfamiliar to someone arriving today.
The revision replaces several abstract nouns with verbs: “show”, “explain” and “tell”. Its final sentence gives the audience a reason to care. It also keeps the address inclusive through “us”, rather than scolding the audience from a distance.
Another valid revision could use a short example instead of the three actions. The test is whether the listener can understand the point immediately and whether it still serves the brief. Shortening alone is not enough if all useful detail disappears.
Practice 3: adapt the message for parents
New fictional brief
You are the same coordinator, speaking at a welcome meeting attended by the principal, teachers and parents of newly admitted learners. Give a short speech explaining how parents can support settling in. Cover listening, helping learners ask for guidance and respecting growing independence.
Model short speech
Principal, teachers and parents, good afternoon. I am Maryam Biko, the peer-support coordinator. Thank you for joining this welcome meeting.
Settling into a school involves more than learning a timetable. Your child may have questions that seem small but matter greatly to them. Ask what has been easy and what has been confusing, then give them time to answer.
When a difficulty arises, help them identify the person who can guide them. That might be a class teacher, a club patron or the peer-support team. Encourage them to ask the question themselves when they feel ready, while remaining available when they need your help.
Please also allow room for their own interests. A new activity may be worth trying even if it would not have been your first choice. Support can offer confidence without making every decision.
At your next conversation, ask one open question about their experience and listen before offering a solution. Together, we can help new learners become more confident in finding their way. Thank you.
What changed, and why?
The message still concerns settling in, but parents cannot carry out the same break-time actions as continuing learners. The examples therefore shift to conversations, guidance and decision-making. The final request is something parents can do at their next conversation.
This is audience transfer, not merely replacing “fellow learners” with “parents”. When a question changes the audience, reconsider the evidence, examples, tone and requested action throughout the speech.
Frequently asked questions
How should I begin a school speech?
Acknowledge the people present, greet them and establish the purpose. If the task gives your role, make it clear where useful. Avoid an opening that could belong to any occasion.
Does a speech need a title?
A descriptive heading can identify the topic, speaker and occasion. Follow the particular task’s format instructions. The heading does not replace a spoken greeting and purposeful opening.
Should I write the speech in bullet points?
Use bullets to plan if helpful. When asked to write the speech itself, develop connected paragraphs that can be spoken aloud, unless the task explicitly requests notes.
Must I use a quotation or proverb?
No. A relevant original example can be more effective. Use a quotation only when you know it accurately and it genuinely supports the message; do not invent an attribution.
How do I end without repeating everything?
Return to the central message, give an appropriate final request or thought, and close courteously. A persuasive speech benefits from an action the audience can realistically take.
Are gestures part of the written answer?
They matter for delivery, but a request to write a speech primarily needs the spoken text. Discuss gestures or delivery choices when the question asks for them, rather than replacing the speech with stage directions.
How long should my practice speech be?
Follow a supplied word or time limit. Without one, develop the required content fully and remove repetition. Read aloud to check that the speech’s length and pace suit its occasion.
Continue your functional writing revision
The existing KCSE English topical resource page requires login to view its content. You can also check the English past-paper resource page for available tasks. The original speeches, revision exercise and explanations above provide the complete lesson.
Develop the welcome speech into a reasoned debate
The speech above asks continuing learners to offer practical help. A debate also needs a clear motion and a reply to an opposing reason. Respond to the position actually advanced; calling the other speaker uncaring does not answer a question about resources.
Fictional motion: “This house would run an optional peer-guidance desk during the first week’s lunch breaks.” The audience is the school council. The proposal covers directions and routine questions only. Existing peer-support volunteers have offered to staff a desk near the library on Monday and Wednesday; nobody has offered for the other days. No full-week rota has been approved.
Worked exchange: claim, objection and qualified rebuttal
Chair: We will hear a proposition, an opposition and a reply. Address the optional first-week desk and its feasibility.
Proposer: Council members, newcomers should have a clear place to ask for directions or learn where to find a timetable. An optional desk would make existing peer support easier to locate. Volunteers could direct questions they cannot answer to the appropriate teacher. We support the motion because a visible contact point gives our welcome a practical form.
Opponent: A desk announced for the whole week would promise more than the present rota provides. Volunteers are available only on Monday and Wednesday. A learner arriving on Tuesday could find nobody there. We should not advertise a daily service until coverage is confirmed.
Proposer’s reply: That is a fair objection to a full-week promise. The existing offers cover two days, so I cannot claim that all five lunch breaks are staffed. I propose amending the motion to a two-day trial on Monday and Wednesday, with the opening times clearly displayed. We can then review demand and seek volunteers for additional days. This preserves a dependable contact point while addressing the actual gap.
Chair: The reply proposes an amendment. It does not mean that the council has approved it; a decision remains to be taken.
The reply concedes the evidenced limitation, changes a specific condition and explains what remains useful. It is not a complete defence of the original full-week plan. If the debate’s rules do not permit amendments, the proposer must instead acknowledge that the current evidence does not establish feasibility for the whole motion. Do not silently redefine a motion and announce victory.
Error contrast: “You oppose the desk because you dislike new learners. Everyone will volunteer anyway.” Neither the motive nor future staffing is in the brief. A reasoned rebuttal answers the uncovered days, not an invented character flaw.
Independent response
New facts: the two-day trial has permission, but a speaker proposes posting answers to every possible question. An opponent notes that volunteers cannot verify every answer. Write a courteous response that preserves access to help without claiming unlimited expertise. Use no invented survey or promise.
One supported rebuttal
“You are right that volunteers cannot guarantee an answer to every question. We should post only the directions and routine information checked by the responsible staff, then show where to refer other questions. Learners would still have a visible starting point, and uncertainty would be admitted rather than disguised.”
The response addresses verification and gives a bounded alternative. “Volunteers know the school” alone does not establish expertise on every subject. Other replies are acceptable if they respond to this objection and retain the given two-day limit.
Delivery check: pause after stating the objection accurately, then make the response audible and concise. A confident performance does not turn an unsupported prediction into evidence. The debate is an original companion to the existing welcome speech, not a translation of a different-language lesson.
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