A New Zealand High School student’s speech went viral when he used a satirical spoken word format to question the stereotypes associated with being Maori, Polynesian, the ‘other’, or non-white in a New Zealand’s social and education systems. He questions whether his identity should be limited to those racially motivated aspects which society associates with it, such as, rugby and dance, but not English, Math, or Science. He uses a number of creative language features in his speech such as gestures, repetition, alliteration, simile, euphemism, listing, irony, metaphor, allusion, contrast, rhyme, rhythm, and slang. These deliver a powerful wide-ranging message which tells us not to judge a culture by its jokes, statistics, or assumptions of drug use, mental health issues, domestic violence, poverty, or lack of academic interest. He is a fantastic role model for his age group, community, and peers and superiors.
Speech:
Speech Delivered as a TED Talk in Christchurch:
This interview give amazing context to the Dawn Raids discussed in his TED Talk. You may need to ‘Log in’ to Facebook to view. https://www.facebook.com/renewsnz/videos/406637116536458/
Two songs which were inspired by Joshua’s Speech – contains some drug references.
A TED Talk by long-time Maori political activist Tame Iti on mana and the importance identity formation and community connection.
Below is a lesson plan which uses the speech to examine the effect language features have on an audience.
Lesson Plan
- How does Joshua engage (make the audience interested) the audience in his introduction?
- Identify language features Joshua has used in his speech. Write them down in the first column and what effect they had on the audience in the second column
| Oral language feature | Effect on the audience |
- Joshua Iosefo demonstrates a variety of oral language techniques throughout his presentation.
| Language feature | Effect on the audience |
Oral language features are stance, voice (tone, pause and volume), gestures, facial expressions, eye contact. Choose four which you think he did well and describe what effect this created on the audience
- How does he conclude (provide a conclusion) his speech? What effect does this have?
- Write a response to “Brown brother”, describing what you liked and/or disliked (using examples from the text) and what you learnt as an audience from the text (minimum 100 words).
Humanity4HipHop 