Introduction to Persuasive Devices (DAFOREST)

This lesson is intended for an English language class in year 7 (grade 6) or younger. It could be adapted as a revision lesson for older year groups.

It includes an introduction to purpose, audience and text type, as well as basic persuasive devices techniques. When I taught this lesson, I gave out a bag of sweets as a prize for the most persuasive speech at the end of the lesson. Depending on your school reward system, feel free to change the word ‘treat’ to something else, and possibly the image on slide 2 and 5!

I have included a print out for a classroom wide card-sort, which I had the students race to complete in small teams. I hid the terms all around the classroom and the winning team were the first to correctly lay out all the terms on their desk.

I have included clips of famous speeches so students can see how it’s done, although be aware that this may be better suited to cover in a later lesson, depending on the amount of time you have with them. Due to copyright reasons, I couldn’t include any advert pictures on the slides, but there are plenty of examples you could on Google Images use if you’d prefer visuals - Coca Cola have some great ones.

This lessons is designed as a straightforward introduction to persuasive devices but could then be used as a springboard to a unit on speech writing or advertising.