ENGL 120 Cuyamaca College Growing Food on Ted Talk Questions

OVERVIEW

As you know, for Essay 1 you will select a Ted Talk and write a rhetorical analysis of the Ted Talk. To prepare you to write Essay 1, we will practice analyzing the rhetoric in the Ted Talk called “A Guerrilla Gardner in South Central LA” presented by the speaker Ron Finley.

According to the Ted Talk website, “Ron Finley plants vegetable gardens in South Central LA — in abandoned lots, traffic medians, along the curbs. Why? For fun, for defiance, for beauty and to offer some alternative to fast food in a community where ‘the drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys.'”

This is a great example of the type of Ted Talk that will work for Essay 1: its purpose is to persuade, and it uses a variety of rhetorical strategies to try and persuade the audience.

INSTRUCTIONS

• Listen to the Ted Talk below and read the transcript as you listen.
• As you listen, write down some notes on paper to answer the following quiz questions. Save your notes because you will need them during Zoom class.
• Link to the Ted Talk and transcript: https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerrilla_gardener_in_south_central_la/transcript#t-4789 (Links to an external site.)

QUIZ QUESTIONS

1. Who do you think the audience is? (Who do you think Ron Finley hopes to persuade?)
2. What do you think is the purpose of his Ted Talk? (What is it trying to accomplish?)
3. What is Finley’s thesis? (In other words, what is the main point he makes about about the gardens?)
4. What is a convincing example from his Ted Talk?
5. Which rhetorical strategy is used in this example?
6. What is a second convincing example from his Ted Talk?
7. Which rhetorical strategy is used in this second example?
8. What is a third convincing example from his Ted Talk?
9. Which rhetorical strategy is used in this third example?