Success in Public Speaking is all about Developing Tenacity and Self-Confidence

The co-curricular Oratory classes we run on Thursdays for Year 5 to Year 11 are all about spending time every week focusing on improving skills in researching, writing and presenting a speech.  The purpose is to help students develop a tenacious and enquiring mindset with the self-confidence to speak in public.

The next step up is to participate in an official competition alongside speakers from other schools. On Monday two of our students Sophia Cao (Year 7) and Mariella Tsolis (Year 7) bravely agreed to speak in the local heat of the Junior Secondary Speaking Award at Homebush Boys High School.

There were 17 speakers, boys and girls from Year 7–Year 9, the speaking time for the prepared speech is five minutes. There are no restrictions on the subject matter for the prepared speech, so speakers can choose any issue that they care about. The impromptu speech is on a subject chosen by the adjudicator. Contestants receive five minutes of preparation time to write their impromptu speech. The speaking time for the impromptu speech is two minutes.

Both Sophia and Mariella put in solid performances in both their prepared and impromptu speeches considering it was their first time in a competition, and they were understandably nervous. Even though they didn’t win through to the regional finals this year, the purpose of going was to experience a competition and build up confidence for future endeavours. Their coach Brendan and I were proud of our student’s resilience and willingness to try a new activity.

– Dr Andrea Rowe
Oratory Co-ordinator