Brandon Learning Centre: British Education - process, preparation and practicalities

We have had a few requests for lessons at Brandon this week which have reminded me that the HK Schools' Speech Festival is on the horizon again! I did my first speech festival a LONG time ago but the general concept hasn't changed. Here are a few things to be thinking about: Classes - there are so many options to consider. I particularly like teaching Bible Speaking as I feel that, to excel in this area, the speaker really needs to understand the verses in question. The HKSMSA website has the syllabus up already:  Have a look here for the different classes Get the right piece! It sounds obvious but last year at Brandon Learning Centre, we had five students who came in with incorrect versions of their poems. The source of the poem is specified in the HKSMSA syllabus. If you choose prose reading classes, you will also need to get hold of a copy of the book. Memorisation - once you have your piece, the first step is to understand the texts. The second step is to memorise i

If your child is one of the entrants in the Brandon Learning Centre poetry reading at Harbour City, here are some last minute tips for you! For anyone contemplating a speech festival or making a presentation, these ideas may be useful in the future. Before presenting: Firstly, make sure that your body is relaxed by shaking out your limbs. The voice needs to be warmed up before you present. Try to take four or five deep breaths and then start to move through the vowels to engage your vocal chords. Scan your poem/notes for the last time. Take a deep breath, throw your shoulders back, stride onto the stage as though you own it. Tomorrow, our aim is to give the children a positive experience on stage. If you are around Tsim Sha Tsui, drop by!

The nights are drawing in, Christmas decorations have been up in Hong Kong for a month now, families are gearing up for the trilogy of Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year. This year, why now kill the television and entertain your family with good old fashioned poetry recitals? What makes a poem suitable for a performance? Use the following criteria and you won't go far wrong! 1: Does the poem have a strong story or message? 2: Is there scope for your dramatic range? 3: Do you like it? Is it suitable for your audience? 4: Does it end on a strong note? Casabianca by Felicia Hemans is a stirring ballad which has been enthralling audiences since it was published in the 1820's. The poem is instantly recognisable from the first stanza: The boy stood on the burning deck Whence all but he had fled; The flame that lit the battle's wreck Shone round him o'er the dead. The poem continues for for another ten stirring verses and inspired generations. Less st

The Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival is an event in which many children compete and only a few win. Or do they all win? I believe so! Why? 1: Experience speaking in front of an audience is never wasted; the more opportunities you have, the more confident you become. 2: Poetry enhances vocabulary. I can still remember GK Chesterton's The Donkey which I recited a hundred years ago in a speech festival! It taught me about alliteration, parody and made me look at animals in a completely different way. 3: Festivals are so called because they celebrate the power and beauty of the human voice. Listen to the myriad of ways people read and you may pick up some new skills We compete, some get placed but all are winners and the prizes last for a lifetime. To read "The Donkey" by GK Chesterton an outstanding poem for reading aloud To find out more about Brandon and our philosophy we are opening in Jordan shortly, very exciting !

Today, I had the most inspiring and delightful morning. I adjudicated a Speech Festival; one hundred and forty five year olds all reading short poems! For some people, this scenario may be their idea of hell. For me, it is a vision of the potential of our Hong Kong students. To stand on a stage at the age of four requires both courage on the part of the child and support on the part of their parents. The children this morning had both in abundance. The Festival (第四屆全港學生公開朗誦比賽)I am involved in is organised by the Speech and Music Recital Foundation who believe in encouraging and nurturing students. Of course, there are winners but every participant gets a medal and a certificate of encourgement (including the little girl who recited the title and name of the author five times, bowed and fled the stage!) So how do you prepare your children to take this first brave step? The Brandon Learning Centre way is simple: 1: Learn and understand the poem 2: Practice makes perfect; ensure

When I was at school, one nun specialised in throwing board rubbers at girls who weren't listening. Reprehensible? Yes. Effective? Again, yes. As presenters, the chances are that we will lose part of our audience during at least one of our presentations. This is when the presenter's toolbox comes in to play. Tools at your disposal are: 1: Movement (use your space) 2: Pace 3: Pitch 4: Volume 5: Innovation 6: Persuasive techniues What is happening? Is your audience dozing off? Move around, raise your voice, add energy? Is your audience rejecting your ideas? Refer to your persuasive tools. Is your audience detached? Ask questions, get them to participate. Presentations are interactive; read your audience and react to their reactions and, without resorting to the boardrubber, you will keep their attention.

In any one day, we make a thousand observations about other people. Listen to a review of your mental tapes at the end of the day and you'll be amazed..."That was great the way he let the old lady get on the bus first...terrible shoes she is wearing... Interesting idea he just had..." All of these observations lead to snap judgements about character, moral choices or the urban tribe we think someone belongs to. The question is; once we have made the judgement, can it change? Imagine if the man who let the old lady get on the bus first pushes you out of the way to get to a seat? Feeling differently about him now? It is a well worn piece of received wisdom that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Maybe so but we do get the chance to make subsequent impressions. How does this apply to public speaking? One of the main fears I have heard from students is that they somehow mess up their presentation and lose the audience. It is possible that you forget you

Plain bread is good but finding a hidden goodie is always a treat and you want to pause and savour it. So it is with your presentations. You need to give your audience time to think about and ponder on your pearls of wisdom. How do you do this? p...a...u...s...e! Make your point. Stop speaking. Look around the audience. Measure their reactions. Carry on with your speech. The benefits are multifold. Your audience has had time to process your point and is more likely to retain the information. You, the speaker, have had time to digest the reactions you are getting and you may want to make a swift re-adjustment to your approach based on them. You also have time to catch your breath. Words are wonderful, pauses perfect them!

Think about it; if you are playing a violin, or a flute, or even the kettle drums, you warm up your instrument before a concert. Maybe you'll play a couple of practice notes or run through a couple of scales? And yet, when speaking in public, the majority of people walk on to the platform and expect their voice to be in full working order. Wrong.. wrong.. wrong. So what do you do to warm up? 1: Go somewhere quiet and (if you are self conscious as most of us are) somewhere private. 2: Shake out your legs, your arms, your shoulders and finally your head. Don't hold back! Get rid of all the tension. 3: Take a few deep breaths making sure that you are breathing from the diaphragm (hold your hand on your tummy to ensure that this is happening) 4: Release your breath slowly whilst running through the vowels. Open your mouth as widely as possibly and really stretch out your face. Repeat this a few times. 5: Read the first few lines of your speech or poem. Over exagerate. You are all s

It's that time of year again! All over Hong Kong, thousands of students are trying to make sense of poetry, prose and bible readings in preparation for the HKSMSA Speech Festival. At Brandon, we have worked with hundreds of students who have been preparing for the competition. Our message is this: prepare, relax and do your best! Only one person may win but everyone who takes part should be proud of their achievements. So, short of coming to Brandon Learning Centre, how can you prepare? Over the next few weeks, I will be giving advice to help you get ready to impress. Part one: preparation 1: Read the poem through. Read it to yourself first and then read it outloud. 2: Think about the meaning. What is the poet trying to say? If you aren't sure what certain words mean, look them up. 3: Do you like the poem? If it doesn't grab you straight away, try to find something in the language, rhythm or the theme that speaks to you. A poem you are in sympathy with is a poem you will pe