PUBLIC SPEAKING

Junior Public Speaking Contest

The Junior Public Speaking Contest was held at school on the 7th May. This contest was open

to students in years 7, 8, and 9. We delivered a four to five minute speech on a topic relating to either social justice, voluntary service, caring, mateship, personal effort or personal sacrifice. The first four place-getter's were able to proceed to the Legacy Junior Public Speaking Award.

The entrants who delivered speeches at the contest were Ananya Goswami (Year 9), Max Thomson (Year 9), Robert Garner (Year 9) and James Pringle (Year 7), all of whom progressed to the Legacy contest. The speeches were all of a good quality. Ananya Goswami came first place in the Junior Public Speaking Contest and received a JB Hi-Fi voucher. Ananya talked about animal cruelty, Max talked about US gun laws, James talked about persistence and I talked about taking opportunities.

The regional finals for the Legacy Junior Public Speaking Award were held in the Renaissance

Theatre on the 7th August, and featured the four entrants in the Junior Public Speaking Contest as well as students from Balwyn High School and Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School.

The contest consisted of two sections; a prepared speech section and an impromptu section. All topics had to relate to the Legacy values. The Kew High School students delivered the same prepared speeches that they gave in the Junior Public Speaking Contest. In the impromptu section, we had five minutes to prepare for a two-minute speech on the topic of ‘Choices’, which we could interpret however we liked.

All the prepared and impromptu speeches were of an exceptional standard. Ananya Goswami and Max Thomson tied as winners, enabling both of them to progress to the preliminary finals.

We had preparation sessions for both the Junior Public Speaking Contest and the Legacy

Junior Public Speaking Award. In these sessions, we wrote and practiced our speeches, looked at ways to structure both prepared and impromptu speeches, and received feedback about what we did well and what we could do to improve our speeches.

My favourite part of the process was presenting my speech. I would highly recommend the

pathway to other students who are interested. It is a great way to build up your confidence in speaking and it was fun.

Robert Garner

Year 9 Student