27 April 2023
Lower Sixth students spent the first day back after the Easter break in a workshop designed to teach them skills to be an effective public speaker.
In a highly participative day, students learnt how to prepare and deliver a sophisticated, well-constructed speech, as well as how to think quickly through impromptu speaking. In the afternoon, within each group, everyone took part in a speaking competition, receiving immediate, constructive feedback from both their peers and trained coaches.
To conclude the day, twelve students (pictured below) were chosen to take part in Woldingham’s now annual ‘Speak Up Speak Out’ public speaking competition to an audience of their peers and competition judges Dr Whitehead, Head, Mr Abbott, Head of Sixth Form, and Miss Williams, Director of Drama. In a high quality competition, Imogen PW came third, Ava D was runner-up and this year’s winner was Alya T (main picture).
Alya, who gave one of last term’s excellent ‘Thinking Big’ talks, found the workshop very valuable and also recommends other learning resources, which she has found useful:
“I am very grateful to the experts who worked with us last week. Their constructive criticism was extremely helpful in improving my performance. My topic, "the effects of isolation", was based on my personal experience, and that of my friends and family, during lockdown. Knowing the damaging impacts of lockdown on the economy is one thing, but it's also crucial to understand the social impact of it and how people are still struggling today.
I have found acting very useful in promoting confidence, communication, and the capacity to hold an audience's attention. I’ve also learnt from social media videos, which taught me how to use gestures and my body while speaking, to hold an audience's attention.”
