Public Speaking
Alan Devine
On Thursday the 5th of October, TY group 4b assembled in room C to practice our public speaking skills. We were all surprised by the way our guest speaker was dealing with the situation. He was dragging his feet along the ground and looked as if he didn’t want to be there!
When suddenly, he stood up and got this burst of energy. It was like he had this switch he would switch on when he wanted to preform. We all got a big fright and learned a lesson that “never judge anyone on their first impressions”
After that he began talking to us about what we would be doing for the day. Next, he gave us all a joke written on a piece of paper. We had to read it out to the class. Before we went up, Alan gave us a few useful tips like, to “stand powerful”, “use your hands” and “smile”. I found these tips helpful when it was my turn. When we were finished that task he said we would be playing a few games after break.
We all arrived back to room C after break. We then had to stack all or chairs and move them to the side of the room. We all got into one big circle. Alan then told us the game we wold play. One at a time each person had to step into the circle and shout a number, but if two people stepped in at the same time we would have to start again. We found it hard at the start but we got the hang of it after a few goes and completed the task. We then played another game called “Old King Cole”. Alan gave us the actions to the song. There were around 10 actions to think of. We again went around in a circle and if you didn’t know the action you were knocked out. We then went for lunch.
After lunch, we all put the chairs back and Alan assigned us with more tasks. We had to stand in front of the class and make eye contact with people for 3 seconds and then they would put up their hand. Another tasks was he would tell you a word and you had to describe it to the class without using the word. After we finished the activities Alan then told us that’s would be back Friday week and we would have to prepare a speech to give to the class.
When suddenly, he stood up and got this burst of energy. It was like he had this switch he would switch on when he wanted to preform. We all got a big fright and learned a lesson that “never judge anyone on their first impressions”
After that he began talking to us about what we would be doing for the day. Next, he gave us all a joke written on a piece of paper. We had to read it out to the class. Before we went up, Alan gave us a few useful tips like, to “stand powerful”, “use your hands” and “smile”. I found these tips helpful when it was my turn. When we were finished that task he said we would be playing a few games after break.
We all arrived back to room C after break. We then had to stack all or chairs and move them to the side of the room. We all got into one big circle. Alan then told us the game we wold play. One at a time each person had to step into the circle and shout a number, but if two people stepped in at the same time we would have to start again. We found it hard at the start but we got the hang of it after a few goes and completed the task. We then played another game called “Old King Cole”. Alan gave us the actions to the song. There were around 10 actions to think of. We again went around in a circle and if you didn’t know the action you were knocked out. We then went for lunch.
After lunch, we all put the chairs back and Alan assigned us with more tasks. We had to stand in front of the class and make eye contact with people for 3 seconds and then they would put up their hand. Another tasks was he would tell you a word and you had to describe it to the class without using the word. After we finished the activities Alan then told us that’s would be back Friday week and we would have to prepare a speech to give to the class.
On Friday the 13th of October, Alan arrived back in the school. We assembled in room V. Everyone had their speech ready so it was all about delivery it to the class. I did my speech on Joe Canning. I chose to do my speech on Joe because of his determination and love for the game of hurling he has. My speech went okay, I had to look at my notes once or twice but I felt it went good when I finished.
Overall, I really enjoyed the public speaking and I really liked our speaker Alan. I think he gave me some very useful tips and this will help me in the future when I have to stand up in front of a crowd and preform a speech.