Writing & Giving Speeches

It's an oft-heard complaint that our education system emphasises too much on written tests and tends to neglect the oratorical skills of our children.


Many a times I've heard ex-colleagues and old friends from school who are still in the corporate world talk about how the eloquent get ahead in the rat race because, let's face it, out there in the real world form is as important as substance. If you look and sound impressive, you've got a head start.


Hence the latest MOE syllabus for secondary school English includes speech-writing and public speaking as core skills that pupils should pick up.


In the same spirit, I've got our Secondary 2 and Secondary 3 pupils to prepare and give a 3-minute speech. Some took it earnestly and prepared a polished speech whilst others were more light-hearted and injected some impromptu humour into their presentations. I am fine with either approach as long as the pupils learn something and have a chance to practise their public-speaking skills.


The theme for the speeches: The Singaporean Identity. The pupils were free to pick any topic that touches on Singaporean culture, psyche, way of life, etc.


Their efforts have been captured on film for the reader's pleasure and the students' viewing so that they could observe themselves on camera and see how they could improve their presentations.


So lights out, curtain up and drum rolls please...




Mr Wayang



Learning point: The confidence to stand in front of a class and give a speech without prepared script.

Areas for improvement: Spend more time to prepare the speech!



Mr Obsessed-About-Cats



Learning point: The use of humour

Areas for improvement: Certain points in the speech could be made more clearly; for example, what have pests in other countries got to do with pests in Singapore?



Mr Professional



Learning point: A well-written and rehearsed speech. Bravo!

Areas for improvement: Try to rely less on the notes and make more eye contact with the audience.



Miss Earnest



Learning point: Attempt to make eye contact with audience.

Areas for improvement: Need to slow down rate of speech to enable audience to process what is being said.



Mr Hand-Gesture

The preceding videos were taken with a DSLR camera whereas this one is taken with a handphone camera, hence the difference in the video quality and sound quality.


Learning point: Weave in current affair issues - Amy Cheong and curry-cooking - to support his argument.

Areas for improvement: Need to speak more clearly (but that could be due to the use of a different camera) and might want to tone down on the hand gestures.