Our kids are growing up in a world where it is important to be able to impress. Whether you are working in an organization or as an entrepreneur, being able to sell your idea is a very important skill. This is a mixture of many skills and we are working on building those.
Right from Nursery, we have a speaking class once a week. We have a variety of activities there which make the students think fast and then express themselves fluently in English.
They may have to present a 10 to 30 second speech on a topic, where they are given just two minutes to prepare. They may have to start off on an improvised scene where the teacher then introduces a random mood or a sentence from time to time which has to be incorporated smoothly in the story. They play mad ads, do marketing pitches, build up a story from totally random images etc.
Different ways of thinking and different skills are required in each activity so different kids shine in different situations. But that keeps each student engaged and they all participate and improve greatly. It’s indeed an important life skill to develop and our students get a good head start!
Getting them to speak on a regular basis has made more benefits.
- To speak, you have to process the language in real time. That improves English fluency
- You get over stage fright, develop poise and better body language
- You develop confidence and when needed can even bluff your way through!
- You make social connections better and develop a stronger network.
And the biggest advantage of them all. English is not the native language of our country, state, or city. But it is the medium of instruction. This weekly class goes a great way in making them comfortable with English which greatly helps them handle core subjects better. Do you see how this helps students grasp things better, become independent learners and not really need tuitions?
Our students from Std. 3 to 10 also have a Debate Competition on Electric Saturdays to get a chance to use the skills they have picked up in this class!