Fun Public Speaking Activities

Many pupils are actually quite shy to get up in front of a class to present because they are scared of speaking in front of a bunch of people. The fear of being judged, laughed at or being corrected are just some of the reasons aplenty.

But I do believe in getting pupils to start practicing and enjoying public speaking early to build up their confidence. Indirectly, it would also help them in their Oral skills, in particularly the Stimulus-Based Conversation (SBC) segment, where pupils are required to be fluent and cohesive in their response.

So how do we learn public speaking? Through practice! Only when pupils are confident at speaking, then the techniques will start to make sense.

Here is one fun activity 4F did today. I didn’t tell them we are going to have a SBC on “Accidents at Home”; I told them we are going to make up a “Fictional story of my friend” based on a picture. What/How/Why it happened that led to my friend’s current state.

I modelled one story for them and the children are hooked. They started to ask me if it was real and so on. Next it was their turn. The class was split into halves and in their groups, pupils start to share their friend’s fictional story enthusiastically. Then, they voted for the “Most Interesting” story and I got a few of them to share with the class. It certainly took them more courage to stand up in front of a class to share than in a group setting! Kudos for their efforts though!

Some pupils were indeed creative in their responses, (person lying down to avoid being hit full-front by a truck; a girl sleepwalking and fell down the stairs etc) whilst other pupils admitted that theirs were the typical narration of a child crossing the road and got hit by a car suddenly.

 

With numerous interesting ideas shared, the next SBC topic on “Accidents” should be a breeze! Check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zRgNymCB7w for more fun activities to do with your child!

Miss Yeo Eunice

Primary 4F