CONTRIBUTORS
“ Public Speaking teaches valuable skills which are not just useful in the classroom ”
WORDS ANTHONY HARRIS PICTURES FOTEINI CHRISTOFILOPOULOU
The youth of today are a bunch of lazy layabouts and our society is surely doomed …. the average teenager can only manage a few incoherent grunts and cries of “ it ’ s not fair ”… or so much of the mainstream media would have you believe ! Those who have attended the ESU ’ s Public Speaking Competition for Schools will know better .
The national competition is open to pupils aged 15 and 16 , competing in teams of three . The format represents an invited speaker meeting where a Chair introduces the Speaker from another school and a Questioner interviews them afterwards . It may sound simple , but the detailed format has been carefully honed over the years to cover far more key skills than just speaking in public : for example all three roles have to listen attentively in order to ask or answer questions , and for the Chair to summarise the session .
I was lucky to go to a school that realised the value of these skills and we participated enthusiastically . Now my professional life is in IT – this time the stereotypes are more accurate and it ’ s not the usual place to find great oratory ! Yet I would say I use my ESUlearned skills on an almost daily basis : day-to-day team meetings need someone to chair them ; when listening to a supplier tout their wares someone has to take the role of “ questioner ” and ask all the awkward questions the salesman wants to avoid ! Even to get a project started someone has to pitch it to the directors who hold the purse strings , and at the end someone has to run the training for the users .
24 | dialogue