The multiculturalism public speaking competition

A while back I reported on the upcoming state-wide multiculturalism public speaking competition.

Well the beast is rolling and my daughter couldn’t give much of a stuff.

The only thing that motivates her to do anything is the potential embarrassment of a complete stuff up.

Run by the NSW department of education the competition is outlined at http://bit.ly/1Pc1VgZ

“The Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition was introduced in 1996 … Last year, 2,055 students took up the opportunity to practice their public speaking skills, heighten their awareness of multicultural issues, and improve their confidence.”

It’s an opt-in competition for the school and it costs $20 per student.

An adjudicator comes out to the primary school and …

“The adjudicators will make their decision based on the manner, matter and method the contestants employ in presenting their speeches. They will expect contestants to be confident and engaging speakers. The prepared speeches need to show an understanding of multiculturalism, and be well developed and interesting. Contestants are also expected to demonstrate a balance of personal opinion and information in their speeches, as well as a balance of humour and sincerity. Finally, adjudicators are required to give equal consideration to the prepared and impromptu speeches in making their decision.”

Then I suspect the winners get concentrated into inter-school pools of diminishing numbers until we are left with just our future politicians.

When Lola asked me to help with the prepared speech I was reluctant. She sometimes doesn’t mind showing her complete lack of interest in the process.

In this case it occurs to me that they would be well placed to separate the subject matter from the skill of interest.

That is, let them learn their public speaking skills by rabbiting on about something they actually care about such as Instagram, Nike shoes or Taylor Swift (Dad, that’s so yesterday…).

And then let them appreciate the complexities of multiculturalism by some written essay process, after some classroom immersion in the subject.

One thing I did learn in the process though. Her attention span for absorption of new and boring information is much better through the video process, compared to the reading process.

She’s good at reading stuff she likes, but for the other stuff, show her videos.