The Greater Princeton branch of AYLUS (GPA) has been working with middle school students on important public speaking skills. We designed the class for beginners with the desire to improve their speaking skills. GPA members led by Alissa Wu and Grace Li teach these classes and creates a schedule based on past roles and student preferences, updates the class spreadsheet, designs slideshows and activities, finds informational videos, and sends students speech feedback. The class has 10 students, who spend most of the time doing speeches, but they also watch informational videos and do other class activities. We facilitate classes and guides each student as they gain experience within each of the meeting roles.
On August 20th (2 hrs), the class theme was “Condiments.” The class continued doing Project 6 Speeches; the aim is to improve message delivery by varying volume, pace, pitch, and overall by using vocal techniques. They then continued practicing impromptu speeches with questions centered on the theme, such as “What is the best condiment to put on a hot dog, and why?” Students would take a few seconds to think about the question, then give a 1-2 minute speech. After they finished, the teacher gave them feedback did, and pointers on what to improve.
On September 3rd (2 hrs), the class theme was “School.” The class continued doing Project 6 Speeches; the aim is to improve message delivery by varying volume, pace, pitch, and overall by using vocal techniques. After the speeches were over, the teacher gave them advice on their speeches, such as ways to make slides more readable, or guidelines about how many words should go on a slide. They then continued practicing impromptu speeches with questions centered on the theme, such as “What is your favorite subject in school?” Students would take a few seconds to think about the question, then give a 1-2 minute speech. After they finished, the teacher gave them feedback did, and pointers on what to improve.
