Every year, I’m excited to see the poems, prose extracts and drama pieces which are chosen for the Hong Kong Speech Festival. The texts are always full of interesting feelings, which are a lot of fun for students to experience as they read.

I have been training students for the Speech Festival for many years now, and I’m always so happy to see my students receive top prizes and impressive marks. But even more than that, I love the opportunity to share my enthusiasm for literature with my students. Reading poems and stories aloud is a fantastic way to do this!

If you’re taking part in the Speech Festival this year, here are my top tips for success:

• Don’t use gestures; use your voice and facial expressions to convey your interpretation of the poem
• Speak from your tummy, not your throat
• Understand the different feelings as they change through the poem
• Feel the rhythm in your body as you read
• Practise in a large, open space so you can learn to project your voice
• Be careful of these pronunciation problem areas: final consonants and stressed/unstressed syllables

Most importantly, make sure you love the piece. As you perform, your feelings will shine through and both the audience and judges will love it too. That’s the key to earning top marks and having fun while you do it!

We love having students come to i-Learner to prepare their Hong Kong Speech Festival performances. It gives us a great chance to see students express themselves in new and exciting ways. Our Gavel Club and Public Speaking Classes also give us a fantastic opportunity to help students communicate their ideas to the world.

Keep an eye out for the rest of the articles in this Public Speaking Series! We’ve got insights from our expert teaching team into how you can improve your child’s speaking in a whole host of interesting ways.