Effective Public Speaking | Public Speaking for Kids

Posted on April 4, 2012 by nafees ?

Effective public speaking for kids entails a variety of different elements which we have been touching on recently. These include: vocal projection, confidence and content. Today we are looking at body language.

Your child?s body language relates directly to his or her?confidence.??Like all skills and attributes it takes time to develop unless your child has a natural gift. So, before you start telling them how and when to use their hands on stage, make sure they have enough self-belief in themselves and enough passion for the subject they have written the speech about to have sufficient levels of confidence. Chances are however, if your child is motivated enough to write a speech and enter a competition, they will have the drive to develop the confidence to deliver it effectively.

Body language itself encompasses many different factors. These include: hand gestures, posture and eye contact.

Hand Gestures: Encourage your child to use these naturally. An excessive use will be highly off-putting or inappropriately humorous for the audience. Your child should not put them in their pockets. Nor should they cross them when speaking. The former suggests laziness and nervousness, the latter, arrogance.

Posture: ?Help your child develop a natural stance. This will take time and practice. Get them used to standing straight by putting their backs up against a wall along with their heels and shoulders. The more they practice this at home, the more natural it will become.

Eye Contact: Your child should look around the room and glance at different members of the audience. There are two possible extremes here which many child speakers fall foul of. One is not making any eye contact. The other is staring at one person throughout the whole speech.

For more information check out our previous posts on effective public speaking.

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