Speeches for children provide parents, listeners and of
course children themselves with great fun and a fantastic opportunity to learn
and develop the indispensable life skill of writing.
The key to developing your child’s speech writing skill is
to get them to write regularly, for example once a fortnight.
But children need variety in what they do. Therefore, in
order to keep speech writing a fun activity for your children we at Public Speaking
for Kids would like to share three ways you can take a break from the norm in
practising speech writing.
Write from the
opposite viewpoint: Challenge your child to choose the opposite standpoint than the one they agree with and write to persuade you the listener of the justification of this viewpoint. For example if your child writes a speech on school uniform
and they believe school uniform should not
be compulsory, ask them to write a speech titled School Uniform Should Be Compulsory.
The challenge of thinking about and researching the opposing
view will be fun, exciting and allow them to learn a great deal more. They may
even end up convincing themselves!
Write for a public
figure: Ask your child to imagine being a public figure and write a speech
for them in an imagined situation. For example, a speech for Barack Obama announcing
his resignation in order to spend more time with his family; or their favourite
actor, sportsman/woman or singer announcing they will be running for President!
Write from the
perspective of an animal: This will get them thinking of how others feel
and will allow them to see the world from a different perspective, essential
for successful public speaking. They could write about how it feels to be a
sheep out on the fields in the frosty cold or a horse in a barn being
constantly stroked by visitors.
Speeches for kids should have a simple structure and compelling content.
But there is a third component which many parents and children overlook when
writing speeches: crescendo.
When you and/or your child are writing their speech, one
thing you are guaranteed audiences want is to be taken on a journey. All
journeys start off slow and get faster, so make sure you build in a build up
into your child’s speech.
Here are some tips on how to create an effective climax with
your child’s speech:
·Choose a topic (if not pre-set) that can contain
an exciting build up to a climax.
·Structure the arguments so that they build upon
or lead into each other and save the most powerful for the middle or last. (Middle
if you want to wind your audience down after the climax; last if you want to
leave them on a high).
·Include a personal anecdote that drives one of
the arguments home. Here is where you really milk the crescendo. Tell a
story that brings the audience to the edge of their seats, building up layer by
layer and then hitting a climax by telling a joke, for example.
The climax is not something that has to be delivered at the
end. The topic you choose to speak about may require the audience to leave in a
relaxed rather than exhilarated frame of mind. In this case it can be just as
important to wind down your audience with the remaining part of your speech
after the climax. Some tips on how to do this include:
·Put the climax in the middle of the speech
·Summarise your key arguments (very briefly) before
ending
·Change the tone of the speech. Move from delivering
an argument or telling a story towards being more conversational. For example,
ask the audience rhetorical questions.
This element of speech writing, like all others, takes time to grasp and execute well. If you need a helping hand to get started, check out our range of speech templates.
Time and time again parents are sending us emails desperately
seeking advice on how to choose suitable topics when helping their children
write speeches.
·Think of the audience e.g. age group, interests,
demographics
·Don’t choose something difficult just to try and
impress the audience
These are all excellent tips. But something crucial is
missing. Something we parents often overlook. Something that is the most
important ingredient: your child.
In order to choose a topic that your child is interested in
researching and speaking about, you must know your child. Thus, the best piece
of advice we can give for writing
speeches for children is exactly the same as any advice anyone would give a
parent: get to know your child.
Through conversations and activities get to know what
inspires them, what their concerns, ambitions and passions are. But don’t just
sit on the surface of these things. Explore deeper. Find out why; why they are concerned for, ambitious for and passionate about these things.
Only after knowing your child will you know what they are
capable of speaking to an audience about. But be careful. Don’t dictate to
your child after you think you have figured all this out. Include them in
the process and advise and encourage them rather than commanding.
Finally: three tips to apply for choosing a topic once
you’ve delved deeper into the character of your child:
·Choose a topic where they can provide arguments
for and against (whether they have to deliver both sides or not; it will make
the research more interesting and engaging for your child, allowing them to
develop the skill of objectivity, useful as they travel through life and enter
positions of leadership).
·Brainstorm ideas through free association
(before narrowing down to what is relevant- this will get the creative juices
flowing. If you start off with a narrow focus saying: “I will only think of
topics relevant to 11 year old boys” you will shut down your mind’s capacity to
generate great topic ideas).
·Have a look at speech templates
to get an idea of how speeches for kids are formulated. If you know what the
body of a speech is like, choosing a topic will be easier.
Public speaking can be viewed as similar to a sport in at least one crucial way: it requires your children to be fit. They need to regularly exercise their speech
writing skills so they get sharper and sharper. Luckily this does not mean they
have to research and write an epic, moving speech every single day! Instead
there are small steps your children can take to keep their speech writing skills
intact and growing.
Here are our suggestions:
Reading (ongoing)
If your children are to be able to write well they must read
regularly. They do not have to read newspapers, journals and other speeches.
They can read fiction that sparks their imagination or even sport and music
magazines/blogs, so long as they are reading and getting subconsciously used to
the way language, ideas and arguments are presented.
Reading engages the mind
and keeps it in a fit state. Also, the more your children read the more they will
want to express themselves; just as information goes in so it will have to be
processed out.
Keep up to date with what your children are reading, ask
them what they are enjoying and discuss the themes
in what they are reading.
Use speech templates
(fortnightly)
Download a speech template
suitable for your children’s interests and age group once a fortnight and ask
them to expand on the subject or write a new speech making the opposite
argument but using the same structure. (Ask them to then read the speech to you).
Keep a journal (weekly/fortnightly)
Provide your children with a notepad in which they can
regularly write down their thoughts, feelings and experiences. Ask them to
share one entry with you a fortnight. This will have two benefits. Firstly it
will get them into a routine of writing; secondly, it will open them up to the idea
of sharing their feelings and thoughts, essential for public speaking.
With these simple steps practiced regularly your children
will keep sharp the skills they need for writing successful
and effective speeches.
Moving an audience should be the objective of a good speech. But there are many ways in which your child’s speech (and his or her delivery of it) can move an audience.
· Humour
If you can make people laugh you can make them feel comfortable and at ease, from whence it is easier to move them. But good use of humour takes time to master.
Humour is a word of significant resonance. It is a Latin word which originally meant moisture. Historically in Western physiology humour had a very different meaning- it meant one had an unbalanced mental condition, being highly impulsive and frivolous. Today we can informally say the same about someone who uses humour in the wrong place or too often!
Whilst you may want your child to make a speech which moves an audience with humour, children can sometimes go too far in an bid to try and impress and unintentionally come across as facetious. The best way to avoid this is to make sure you have a good grasp of speechwriting for kids and you get your child to practise the speech several times so you can take out well intended but inappropriate humour.
· Sentimentality
Making people acutely aware of tenderness, nostalgia or sadness in a speech can be a very moving thing, but only if it is genuine. Do not set out to write a speech with/for your child simply to make people cry. What benefit will that have? Are your really getting your child involved in public speaking just so the audience can say "Oh, how cute"!?.
Remember, the whole point is to connect with an audience and help them to see things from your child's point of view. Use sentimentality, if the subject matter calls for it, to enhance the argument, not just to gain sympathy. Be genuine.
Finally the two points above do not have to be exclusive of each other. It is possible to be sentimental with the use of humour. For now, just remember these tips to drive your argument home and move your audience. If you are struggling to understand how to do this, check out our kids’ speeches shop for speech templates.
Writing a speech for kids is not all
that different from writing one for adults.
The key components are:
· A
relevant, appealing and engagingtopic;
something that the audience can relate to.
· Knowing
your audience. You will need to know certain things about your audience,
primarily age group. If you are writing for teenage children your content
will be very different from what you present to 7 year olds. The language
you use will be simpler for example.
· Researching your topic. Your
research will not be as detailed for a kids speech because you will only
need to make a couple of arguments with just one piece of evidence to back
each one up. As children cannot absorb as much as adults you want to keep
the arguments to a minimum (though still strong, of course)!
How do the kids that you are writing
for, and the people to whom the speech will be delivered to, relate to the
topic? For example if you are writing a speech about football, are the kids you
are speaking to fans of this sport or not? The more you know about your
audience the more you can tailor the speech to their understanding. If they are
football fans you may not need to elaborate on certain things that non-football
fans may need explanations for such as game rules.
What is the purpose of the speech? Do
you have to convince your audience of a certain point of view or are you really
just giving a presentation?
Usehumour, analogies
andstorytellingto
colour your speech. These keep children’s attention spans engaged.
If you need some help check out ourspeeches shopand
download templates/examples to get started.
You may find it odd that you have to search the
internet to discover something to get your kids talking. Most of the time the
problem is kids talk far too much!
If your child has been asked to deliver a speech in class,
at Scouts or a local public speaking club, you may find their ideas and desire
to talk suddenly dry up.
Worry not, for we at Public Speaking for Kids can help.
Below we have a list of topics for speeches for kids that may inspire them to
open their mouths again. If you need more help you can download some of our speech templates to get the creative ball rolling for your kid's speech.
For age group 15-18, male or female:
1.Why recycling is so important
2.All children should be given a chance to explore
nature
3.Being an artist is just as respectable as being
a doctor
For age group 11-14, male or female:
1.Who is the real King of Pop: Michael Jackson or
Justin Bieber?
2.Winning is not what matters; it is all about
trying.
3.Is technology moving too fast for us humans to
keep up?
4.What would happen if children taught teachers
for a day?
5.Should volunteering for a charity be a
compulsory part of children’s education?
6.How to be a great team member
7.Mother’s Day and Father’s Day should be every day
8.Packed lunches are healthier than school dinners
9.Parents do not understand how tough it is to be
a child these days
10.What makes a good teacher?
For age group 7-10, male or female:
1.My favourite fruit is…
2.My favourite book/film is…
3.How I taught Grandma and Grandpa to use the
internet
4.My future ambitions
5.What I like doing in the summer holidays
6.My favourite hobbies
7.What would happen if children ruled the world?
8.Home cooked food is so delicious
9.We can’t stop time so make the most of every day
Do you find it difficult to choose a brand of bread when you go shopping?
Do you find it difficult to choose what colour of socks to wear in the morning?
Do you find it difficult to decide which tweet in your Twitter feed is most worthy of re-tweeting to your followers?
Life is continuously throwing us more and more options; yet as each second passes we are finding less time to pursue such options.
When it comes to helping your child choose a topic for their speech, you will be faced with the same overwhelming multitude of choices. Kids speeches, or indeed anything to do with kids, are no less complicated than adults'.
Here are our tips to keep the choice of topics for kids speeches simple:
1. Be aware of the rules of the competition: They might obviously want speeches on a specific topic or they may prohibit speeches on certain topics.
2. Explore your child's interests: Encourage your child to speak about something they are already passionate and knowledgeable about such as a recent topic they have covered at school, or a hobby. (Some "wonder-kids" love to challenge themselves and choose topics they have to research extremely hard as an excuse to learn about something new. We at Public Speaking for Kids do not advise this in the early stages of your child's public speaking journey: keep it simple to begin with)!
3. Think of the audience: Is your child presenting to adults or classmates? They will need to tailor their speech so it can be appreciated and understood by their audience. Children have very different views and interests than adults and thus topics of interest to them will differ hugely.
4. Check out our speeches shop: We have plenty of speech templates to inspire you with ideas.
Make the world an oyster for your kids. Get them involved in Public Speaking for Kids!
We posted an article last week on creative thinking and its importance in kid's speeches.
Today we will look at ways you can boost your child’s creativity, allowing them to experiment with new skills.
We believe it is important to regularly flex your child’s creative muscles because, as we touched upon in last week’s article, the world needs creative solutions to its impending problems.
As a public speaker your child will be one of tomorrow’s leaders and will need to be ready to think laterally to contribute to the sustainability and development of the world we live in.
Sounds daunting? We accept it may be a little overwhelming for the time being.
But we want to help you focus on your child’s development one step at a time. Hence, we have laid out some solutions to the problem of keeping them engaged with practising and creating speeches.
Whether you are working on speeches for kids to use in a competition, a non-assessed presentation or just practising at home, try these methods to widen the horizon of your child’s imagination.
Write a speech in rhyme form: Download a speech template for your child from our speeches for kids shop and re-word or elaborate on it entirely in rhyme form. See how far you and your child can stretch your brains with this exercise in mental yoga.If you come up with something you are particularly proud of why not post it up on Youtube and share the link with our community in the comments box below?
Create your own graphics/take your own photos: Instead of using Google Images, get your child some graphic design software and allow them to take a short course (many tutorial videos are available for free on Youtube) on how to design their own images. Or you can take them out to take photos of things relevant to their speech which they can use as slides. This will encourage them to use their observation skills- very important for creative problem solving when they grow older.
Film and compile footage: Go further than stills and fully embrace multimedia.Compile some clips of things relevant to your speech and create a montage of images which can play in the backgroud during the presentation of the speech. The speech will be like a live voice-over; so long as it is not robotic it will, with the film, engage the audience and give them a new experience.
Do you have any other creative ways to boost the presentation of a speech in a way that requires creative input from your child? Share them with us below please.
Educational theorists and policymakers need to learn from children.
Marketing teams learn what children like and dislike so they know how to gear their messaging for maximum results.
Parents would also benefit a great deal if they learnt from some of the behavioural signals of their children.
Some adults hear about Public Speaking for Kids and draw a puzzled look.
"We hear enough of children’s ranting as it is, why on earth would we want to give them another platform to express themselves"? they say.
Many parents give or expect this stereotypical reaction and thus think there is no capacity for public speaking for kids to grow as a serious activity. For this reason they do not encourage their children to participate.
They preach how children should listen to adults, but they do not have the patience to listen to the complex needs of children. Then they will go on to complain about their inability to understand the complexity of children and their strange views of the world. This in itself is proof that children need to be listened to more carefully by adults around the globe and public speaking is an effective, educational and highly fun way of doing this.
If you are a parent put off by the scepticism of others and thus reluctant to enrol your child in public speaking, consider the above carefully then come to your own conclusion.
