Designed for use in middle school and high school classrooms, as well as at home, books in Barron’s "Painless" series transform subjects that are normally dreaded by many students into challenging fun activities. "Painless" books take light-hearted approaches to their subjects, while addressing topics that classroom texts never get to. "Painless Speaking" explores the uniquely human act of oral communication, including elements in our culture that shape the way we speak. It explores finding one’s voice, understanding the basic unit of speech communication — an utterance — learning the art of conversation, reading aloud from fiction and nonfiction texts, and instruction in public speaking, which entails composing, practicing, and delivering a speech. Students will find guidelines for self-evaluation of a public speech.