Public Speaking – A Vital Skill

22 November 2020Baya I, Hope ‘23

School teaches us many different things that prepare us for life and work. Perhaps one of the most important skills we learn at Brentwood is public speaking. No matter what field of work you go into, there will inevitably be some form of speaking in front of others. Being able to convey a message thoughtfully and effectively through spoken words is a vital life skill for everyone.

Even if you aren’t a natural public speaker, at Brentwood you can learn! On arts afternoons, during first or second block, you will find Ms Michelle Legassicke and Ms Christina Cuk teaching students the art of speaking in front of a crowd. “I like Public Speaking because it gives me the confidence to speak in front of a large group of people in a safe environment,” commented Nicole L, Hope ‘21. Whether your goal is to be able to speak in front of the class without stage fright, or to develop advanced speaking skills, everyone can learn something in Public Speaking.

We work on multiple types of expression including impromptu, interpretive and persuasive speaking. Public Speaking is linked with Model United Nations (MUN) as well, so if students wish to participate in MUNs, they have numerous opportunities to do so. MUNs this year will most likely all be online as Brentwood participants Zoom into other schools to participate.

Every term in Public Speaking/MUN, students must complete three projects that make up their mark. This term, there have been persuasive speeches, ShawMUN (which is a MUN hosted by Shawnigan Lake School) and interpretive speaking. For the persuasive speech, all students wrote a three to five minutes speech on a topic of their choice (usually something they are passionate about) and focused on a specific public speaking skill such as tone or pauses. “This speech was a great way to kickstart my public speaking skills and I feel like I learned a lot from it” observed Nevé M, Hope ‘23. For the second project, students choose between ShawMUN and interpretive reading. For ShawMUN, participants signed up for committees they are interested in such as “No Poverty” or “Gender Equality” then Zoomed into the MUN online. For interpretive speaking, we selected a previously written speech of any sort and presented it focusing on all of the core presentation skills.

Every student should take Public Speaking as an art for at least one year while they are studying at Brentwood. It will most certainly help them in their post-secondary studies and beyond.

Baya I, Hope ‘23

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