Public Speaking Workshop

Reported by ELC

       The English Language Centre of Hin Hua High School has always emphasised on student development all these years. For this year we have organised a series of workshops for our students to enhance the learning of English outside the classroom. We were honoured to have successfully invited Dr K. K. Sim to conduct the first workshop - public speaking, at the Convergence Access in the Science and Technology Tower on 14 March 2016. Dr Sim has been teaching public speaking and presentation skills in various educational institutions for the past 15 years. The objectives of this workshop were to enable participants to speak clearly and fluently, as well as to build confidence in presenting ideas. The response from the students was so overwhelming that we had to arrange one more session in the afternoon to    accommodate more participants.

   

   Dr Sim began by introducing the ‘C’ elements that a speaker needs, which  are Courage and Confidence. Then, she explained the 5 Wives (what, where, why, who, when) and 1 Husband (how) that a speaker needs to take into consideration when speaking takes place. For example, a speaker has to be aware of what the content he plans to speak about and who the audience will  be   during a presentation. Later on, Dr Sim also pointed out the different ways of pronouncing certain words in British and American English before the  group and individual practices of pronouncing vowels and consonants were carried out. She also highlighted the importance of syllable stress as well as word stress. Stressing on different words will convey different meanings, and it might cause a misunderstanding if the wrong syllable or wrong word is stressed. In the midst of the   various activities and practices, Dr Sim  demonstrated a great sense of humour, which brought peals of laughter from the participants.

       During the second half of the session, Dr Sim wanted the participants to practice  impromptu public speaking by acting as an emcee announcing a winner as well as a winner receiving a prize. Before the presentation, Dr Sim

discussed the information needed for the announcement and the thank-you speech. She also demonstrated to the participants how an occasional  public speaking could be done.  Later, individual participants took turns to be the emcee and the prize winner, experiencing how to speak fluently and confidently in front of the others. At the end of the day, most participants were able to pick up some basic skills for public speaking and were aware of the importance of English pronunciation.

Lew Khai Xiang (J3 Canberra)

       In my opinion, this workshop was indeed very useful because it helped us to prepare for the “real world”. I have learned many things through my participation in this workshop. I hope that more students will be given the chance to participate in similar activities in the near future.

Au Yong Hui Hui ( S1 Ottawa)

       Through this workshop, I learned not only how to speak in public but also how to pronounce words with proper syllable stress and word stress. Just like what Dr Sim had said: everyone makes mistakes. Therefore, we don’t have to be shy but be confident when speaking in public.

Amanda Elizabeth Theseira  (J1 Ottawa)

     

Dr Sim is an experienced trainer who encouraged us to be confident and courageous when speaking in public. She also   humorously reminded us about the importance of ‘Husband and Wives’ in order to deliver a speech successfully. I was lucky to have hands-on experience by delivering an impromptu speech in front of the other participants.