Great speeches in Spanish?

June 29, 2013 12:01 AM

I am looking for short videos with examples of good public speaking in Spanish. I'd like to avoid English with Spanish subtitles, and I realized that I don't have many (any) examples from the Spanish-speaking world, so I've come to you for help. I don't necessarily mean grand political speeches - story-telling (Moth-like?), spoken word (would love to see this), monologues from plays, even rousing sports speeches from movies - all would work.

If you can point me in the direction of any of these, or give suggestions about where to find them, or even ideas as to what else could be a good & fun example, I would be very grateful!

As context, I am considering trying to start a public speaking/improv club for my high school students (in a Spanish-speaking country) as a Peace Corps side project, and I need to get more inspired, as well as start putting together materials (I'll have the capability to show videos). I'm an intermediate Spanish speaker, and totally intimidated by the prospect of trying to do this, but I also think it would be a lot of fun for the kids, and not something that is really available to them right now.

posted by citizenface to Education (5 answers total)

It's definitely a grand political speech - Salvador Allende's farewell speech during the 1973 coup. It is very sad but truly great and definitely a classic:

"Trabajadores de mi Patria, tengo fe en Chile y su destino. Superarán otros hombres este momento gris y amargo en el que la traición pretende imponerse. Sigan ustedes sabiendo que, mucho más temprano que tarde, de nuevo se abrirán las grandes alamedas por donde pase el hombre libre, para construir una sociedad mejor."

Here's the full text of the speech.

I'll come back here whenever I find something good. Have fun and good luck, that sounds like a wonderful project for your students!
posted by ipsative at 3:52 AM on June 29, 2013

Here is a list of speeches in Spanish, sorted by author. Most, if not all, are political. Chávez, Morales, and interesting figures in the Spanish Civil War are represented so if you're going in that direction, it's a good source.
posted by ipsative at 3:55 AM on June 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

From Calderón de la Barca's La vida es sueño, you could do one of Segismundo's speeches (text). Also a classic.
posted by ipsative at 4:12 AM on June 29, 2013

El discurso de la agrado out of Almodovar's film Todo sobre mi madre.

Should I send you anything else via MeMail?
posted by ipsative at 4:15 AM on June 29, 2013

Radioteca has a huge list of audio files in Spanish categorized by topic. They're mostly good public speaking, not great public speaking but the topics are varied enough there should be something interesting/appealing for all types of high school students.
posted by limagringo at 7:43 AM on June 29, 2013 [1 favorite]