Sowing the Seeds of Public Speaking in our Preschoolers

“All the great speakers were bad speakers first.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

As this famous quote from Waldo suggests, confident public speakers can be groomed. The courage to take on a platform to speak is in itself the first step to success.

Public speaking is a powerful skill, yet young children are often fearful of it. In fact, for some, it remains a common fear well into adulthood!

The art of effective public speaking is the stepping stone to excelling in life. It is also the foundation for every child’s inner growth and confidence.

Effective public speaking is packed with numerous benefits – it improves children’s overall communication skills, increases self-esteem, plans and organizes their thoughts, expresses their ideas in front of the class and develops leadership skills.

Public speaking is an essential skill to learn and master. It is one of those skills that will help children in their educational journey and well into their professional career.

Therefore, it is essential that every child needs to be equipped with at least the basics of effective communication and public speaking, to be understood and be able to grow in his environment.

If a child is able to overcome his initial fears and hesitations of conveying his thoughts and feelings into words, he would have already broken all barriers to a realm full of possibilities.

As with many things, learning starts with practice – practice in an environment conducive enough to mould the child into a confident and articulate public speaker.

What can we as parents do?

The Art of Listening

We need to teach children to maintain eye contact and train their ears. This will help them listen and decipher information.

On hindsight, we are actually training them to respect and give importance to those who are trying to express their thoughts without judgement.

Breaking the Fear Barrier

It is vital that children are equipped with strategies to overcome their fear of public speaking. Relevant platforms to nurture their oratorical skills and to boost their confidence is crucial.

Teachers can also play the role to train and give support to the children who are burdened with speech anxiety and fear of communication.

The lack of practice and tangible content contributes to children being in an awkward situation and getting tongue tied. To counter this, we have to train them to break out of their shells. This will help them boost their confidence and have faith in themselves. It also inadvertently allows a journey of self-discovery.

Encouragement

To get a child motivated, the first step is acknowledging the child’s effort and applauding his willingness to embrace the ‘stage’ or ‘platform’ for him to shine.

The child’s thinking and questioning skills can be developed by exposing the child to current affairs and to the world around him. They can also be groomed by classes at LoveKids where Public Speaking is part of the core programme and the main objective of the classes are to create opportunities to boost the child’s confidence and to encourage participation.

Children at LoveKids are trained to practise topics in a fun manner, for example, by participating in debates or reporting ‘live’. The activities in LoveKids help them challenge specific worries, increase public speaking skills and gain the most important thing of all – confidence! By visualizing their success, kids can think on their feet and lose any inhibitions to vocalise their thoughts.

It is, therefore, imminent that we should plant the seeds of public speaking in our young children. This would help children be an advocate for themselves by honing critical thinking skills, developing the courage to use their own voice with confidence and finally, making a mark in this world.