A student's reaction to Denzel Washington's speech

In my English for Academic and Professional Purposes (EAPP) class for Grade 11, I let my students watched a video of Denzel Washington who gave Dillard University students four life goals in commencement speech.

As part of our topic lesson on Writing a Reaction Paper, my students presented their outputs after watching Denzel's video. So here, I picked two best reactions written by my students. Read below.



A Reaction Written by Carolyn Gabres

A man spoke in front of many graduating college students. He inspired them by telling that put  God first in everything you do. Every word that he stated is so meaningful. He said  “Say thank you in advance for what is already yours". In the end, all the audience gave Denzel Washington a round of applause.
   According to Denzel Washington “Have dreams, but have a goal”. He is an inspirer of the people who believes in God, a motivator to achieve everyone's goals. He also gives an advice to all the students who want to become successful someday. In 2018 he was invited by Dillard University in USA to speak in front of the graduating college students. One of his topics was all about dreaming. From the word "dream", five letters that contains a colorful meaning, it is all about the ambition you want to become in the future. One part of this is you need to plan about your goal, because he also said that "Dream without a goal is just a dream". One of the reasons why many students are studying hard because they want to help their family. We all know that putting God first in our life is the best thing we need to do before we go on our next step. God can help us to exceed our problem that we will encounter.

   "Life advices will change your future", the title of his speech. Speaking in front of many people is hard thing to do. But Denzel Washington did a great job. He spoke on the stage with a powerful confidence. He motivated all the graduating students to follow their dreams and never stop dreaming because God will help them. He made my day when I watched his speech. His expression can attract the audience to listen carefully. He wears a proper attire and that's good. I want to hear a more inspirational message from him. I heard a different speech, but the words, the voice, and the way he delivered the speech is heart touching. I felt that I'm so blessed when I heard those messages from him. I want to be like him someday, a very inspiring speaker that ever