|
“Tell me”, the father of Anna who had chaired the evening graduation meeting of the Youth Leadership Course, “were they given the impromptu topics beforehand?”
“They must have been”, interjected his wife, “they all couldn’t be that good”.
I must confess I had the sneaking suspicion myself. I had been dumbfounded by how good they were. Student after student, on being given a one word topic strode confidently to the front of the school hall and spoke without ‘ums, ‘ahs, or ‘ers, and kept the audience enthralled with their presentations.
“No, Mum, Dad,” replied Anna “ none of us knew what the topics were beforehand”.
It was the culmination of ten sessions of Youth Leadership for the Year 7 and 8 class of Wadestown School, Wellington, New Zealand. My son Nick, who is Assistant Principal had done a Youth Leadership course I had run in his final year at High School where I was Deputy Principal. I must confess I was somewhat ambivalent. The High School Course was for 16 – 17 year old students. Year 7 and 8 are from 10 – 12 years old. Were they mature enough to appreciate the course?
I was even more ambivalent when I asked him how many students he wanted to do the course.
“The whole class – thirty of them”.
Thirty? How were we at Ohariu Toastmasters to manage thirty students in a Youth Leadership course?
 In the event, we arranged the programme for 1.5 hours each Tuesday afternoon so that we had the whole group for a 10 minute educational covering topics ranging from Chairing a meeting, and speech preparation to Evaluation and voice projection. Then followed 12 impromptu speeches, eventually evaluated by the students themselves, following which we split into two groups for 6 prepared speeches per group, again evaluated by students. Toastmasters gave an overall ‘general evaluation’. Our main problem was in persuading the students not to rely on the internet for speech topics. Initially speech after speech was on topics like ‘Antarctic Penguins’, “The history of the Olympic Games”, and “Breeds of Dogs”. All very worthy but difficult to make stimulating. Eventually we managed to persuade them to give speeches on topics they themselves were interested in. “Tell a story – make a point, tell another story – make another point, tell a third story and make a point. Then summarize”.
And did the students take to the programme? Did they ever. It was fascinating to see that, when we arrived each Tuesday afternoon, we would find them in the class room giving themselves ‘Impromptu’ topics. At the end of the course, they told Nick that it was the most exciting part of their academic programme.
And the parents? They couldn’t believe that their children could stand in front of an audience of close on 100 and handle themselves so confidently.
Wadestown School Year 7/8 Youth Leadership with
Ohariu Toastmasters Club President Bex Ansell and Rob Julian DTM
They were so impressed they spontaneously got together and purchased a very handsome book token to the club.
Our only problem is – what book to get?
Rob Julian DTM
Ohariu Toastmasters
Wellington NZ
On 2nd March 2009, 13 students, 5 local toastmasters and 2 staff members met in Tuhonohono for the first meeting. The Sergeant-at-Arms Darren Hulton, greeted everyone at the door, handing out name badges and then he opened the meeting at 5.30pm using the gavel.
The girls practised introducing others using guided questions. Key leaders in the world were discussed along with the phrases that they are remembered for. Speakers were encouraged to stand to command respect and applaud other speakers to boost their morale.
Educationals on Timekeeping, Chairing meetings and Icebreaker speeches were presented by Barry Williamson, Arun Chaudhari and Irene Crossan.
Irene's "P" represented preparation, practice, presentation and polish. Ruth Proffit presented the evaluators report commending the girls’ clarity and pace when speaking, recommending that students use pauses instead of fillers like um and arhs and commending all for giving it a go, some with humour. The girls were impressed with the timing on the agenda, demonstrating efficient organisation and planning and the timing during the night managed very well with a 10 minute break, speeches timed to the second and the evening finishing 5 minutes early. For many students the evening exceeded expectations and they are looking forward to the next evening, with each having assigned roles or speeches to present.
Students involved are Eirylie Hayes, Judith Boeren, Sabrina Ismail, Veronica Adams, Penny Lynne Siebert, Kohe Ruwhiu, Tiana Mathews, Bridget Bell, Hannah Lee, Holly Otene, Miaana Walden, Wilna Strydom and Bernadine Gladding.
Thanks to STAR funding these girls can experience communication and leadership training in one valuable package.
Download and print these reports in pdf format of each meeting with photos:
About Us | Benefits of Toastmasters | Join Toastmasters | Club Finder | Contact Us | Enquiry Form | Ask a Toastmaster | News
Events | Speaking Resources | Programmes | Clubs | Club Celebrations | Contests | Online Forms | Promotions
Leadership | Mailing Lists | District Supplies Catalogue | Photo Gallery | The Toast Rack | Crumbs | Executive Members Only | Policies
Search Site
|
