Stand and deliver – How to turn your students into great public speakers
Public speaking doesn't come naturally to everyone, says Alison Davies – but these fun activities can help students develop the skills they need to succeed…
We’ve all been there. That moment when you can hear a pin drop. All eyes are on you. Your mouth feels suddenly dry. You look at the sea of faces and experience brain freeze. You take a deep breath but nothing comes out. You wish the ground would swallow you up, but it doesn’t. It never does.
Sound like the beginning of a horror novel, right? It might as well be. For those in the teaching profession, it can seem natural talking to an audience, expressing views and theories and bringing salient facts to life. After all, when we teach we’re giving a performance of sorts.
For those with little or no experience of addressing an audience – like most of our students – it can be the complete opposite; a terrifying ordeal with the potential to affect their communication skills well into adulthood. So how can we make the transition from desk to centre stage an easy one for learners?
As part of the learning process, we need to encourage students to take a stand and present their work because it arms them with skills that they can use in higher education and the workplace.
The key is to make the experience fun. Be creative and give your students the tools they need to speak with confidence and imaginative flair. Show them not only how to plan what they want to say, but also how to say it in an engaging way – then let them take the floor and shine!
The Road Show Game
As a starter activity to encourage spontaneity, confidence and creative thought, get your students to sit in a large circle. Explain that they’re going to discuss the origins of an object that you’ll pass around the circle. Choose an everyday object, like a stapler, paperclip, wallet or doorstop. The onus is on them to use their imagination!
They must pretend that they’re antiques experts and come up with a story about the object’s background and what it’s used for – but this must be something original that hasn’t been said before. The object can be an artefact from the past, or a future antique. They can be as creative as they like, but they must say something when it comes to their turn.
This activity promotes ‘on the spot’ thinking and active listening, since they have to take note of each other’s opinions. It will also help them express their ideas in a creative and engaging manner.
Go around the circle at least twice. This will encourage everyone to be inventive and boost their confidence, once they realise that they can improvise and come up with new ideas when under pressure.
Keeping it real
Often students are challenged to present ideas and facts which aren’t necessarily their own, thus making the delivery even more of a trial. Help them take ownership of information and improve their general presentation techniques with this fun activity.
Start by asking them to write down the brief outline of a memory. Encourage them to pick something positive, like a fantastic holiday, event or an achievement, or even something amusing that makes them laugh.
In pairs they should swap and read each other’s tales. When they’ve finished, they must take their partner’s memory and make it their own by delivering it as a story ‘from personal experience’ to the rest of the class. To help them prepare, work through the following checklist of tasks
- Ask them to split the tale into easy sections, so that it follows a narrative pattern. Sticking to this structure means that if they go off tangent they can find their way back by picturing the segments of the story in their mind.
This activity can be adapted to fit with almost any subject.
For example, if you’re looking at a period in history and focusing on important characters and events, make it real by choosing a character and telling their version of the story. A scientific discovery in biology, chemistry or physics can be presented in the same way.
In preparing a personal tale, the students will not only grow in confidence and develop their communication skills, but also gain a valuable insight into the relevant topic.
Know your audience
Before any talk or presentation it’s important to consider your audience. Who are they and what do they expect from you? The most accomplished speaker in the world will fail to connect with his audience if he doesn’t fulfil their expectations.
Split the students into small groups and give them a piece of information to present in the form of a paragraph about a particular subject or a short newspaper report. Once they’ve read it, they must identify five key questions that any audience would want to know. This will help them pick out the crucial points they need to deliver and place them in order of importance.
Take this a step further by asking each member of the group to deliver one point. They must organise the presentation as a team and focus on how they’re going to get their particular message across, using the skills they’ve practised previously.
Taking a stand
‘The Old Man, His Son and the Ass‘ is a fable that tells the story of a man and his son taking their ass to market.
During the journey they meet different people, each of whom has their own personal view on who should or should not be sitting on the ass.
The man attempts to please everyone to the point of carrying the ass on his shoulders. This ends in disaster, as the ass falls into the river and is never seen again.
The moral of the tale being, you can’t please all of the people all of the time.
Tell the story, and then ask the students to pick a character. They must take a stand and deliver that character’s version of events to the rest of the class, which means they have to tell the tale from their perspective, explaining why they said or did what they did.
To help, give your students the following list of tips:
- Believe in what you’re saying
- Picture what you want to deliver
- Engage your emotions and senses wherever possible
- Consider how language sounds
- Use your voice to get the message across
- Plan using the narrative structure
- Enjoy – and remember you are in control.
Alison Davies is an author of several fiction and non-fiction books, a professional storyteller and creative practitioner, running workshops at universities throughout the UK and delivering sessions on creative communication and memory building techniques; for more information, visit alisonlrdavies.blogspot.co.uk. Browse more of our oracy resources.
