CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – OCTOBER 24, 2021
Ways to Teach Public Speaking to Kids
Public speaking is a powerful skills, yet young students (and even older ones) are often rather fearful of it. In fact, it remains a common fear well into adulthood for many people.
Some kids are naturally good speakers and take to public speaking, while others fear standing in front of an audience and talking to them. Public speaking improves young people’s overall communication skills, increases self-esteem and confidence, plans and organize their thoughts, expresses their ideas in front of the class and develops leadership skills. It is an essential skill to learn and master. It is one of those skills that will help them in their educational journey and professional career.
Here are a few ways for kids to learn and practice their public speaking.
1. Games and Activities
There are a lot of engaging games and activities for kids to develop their public speaking skills.
- Story Time with Cards: Write names of people, places, and objects on separate cards. Place all the cards in a bowl, invite your kids to pick out any two cards, and tell a story connecting the two words in the cards. This will help children with the practice of speaking with prompts and preparing speeches.
- Word Spin: Write random words on an individual piece of paper. Some example words – birthday, cheesecake, chair, slide, fairy, unicorn, good morning, etc. Once you have many cards, place them in a box and invite your child to pick a card and share the word or object’s history. This game aims to enhance their imagination and encourage them to speak fluently impromptu.
- Q&A With the Expert: Write as many fun and inspiring topics on separate pieces of paper and then let them conduct an interview session.
- Let’s Debate:Older children will enjoy this game as they develop an ability to think on their feet and learn to argue from both sides. Prepare a list of controversial topics and challenge your children to speak confidently for 30 seconds for the motion and 30 seconds against the motion.
- The Road Game: Ask your children to describe what they see in one minute in terms of shapes, colors and what is happening around them. This game can be played while driving, walking in the park, or using public transport. This game encourages kids to hone their observation skills which are vital to speaking well.
- The Woot Game: Choose a common connecting word used in everyday speech such as; like, it, or be. Give a topic to your child to speak on for thirty seconds. Every time the chosen words appear in the speech, they should be replaced with the word ‘woot.’ Example: Woot is a bright and sunny morning!
- The Imaginary Game: This game can be played in a group with family or neighbors. Ask each member to think of an animal or bird, or plant for one minute and talk about it. The other group members will ask questions on the size, color, where it is found,etc.