THE PET PEEVE SPEECH
Guidelines
Time limit: 2 minutes
Due: Monday, January 31 & Tuesday, February 1
Note cards: 10 word maximum (10 points)
Outline of speech: None is required
Source of information: Yourself
Audience: Your 9th & 12th grade peers
Total points: 35
Purpose: The pet peeve speech is designed to give you the feeling of real, live speaking
in which you put aside all your fears, inhibitions, and thoughts of yourself.
Topic: Your speech should be about your pet peeve - something that really annoys and
irritates you. It should make your blood boil just thinking about it. It may be about
something that happened recently or in the past. It must, however, be about an incident
that is vivid in your memory.
Possible Topics
Bad drivers/slow drivers
Snoring
Chewing loudly/mouth open
Curfew
School regulations
Cracking knuckles
Waiting in lines
Cell phones
Grades/homework
Remote control
HOW TO PREPARE A PET PEEVE SPEECH
All that you need to do is to decide what your most annoying and irritating pet peeve is.
Once you make your choice, think about your irritating topic and “blow off some steam”
to your audience. You need to convey just how annoying your pet peeve is to you.
HOW TO PRESENT A PET PEEVE SPEECH
Put your whole body and soul into it. Mean every word. Use strong, dynamic and colorful
language choices. Let your body naturally make face and hand gestures to emphasize
your irritation. Go all out! You must convince the audience you really mean what you
say. The audience will comment on your effectiveness in doing so.