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

The best advice I ever received about competitions was from a racing driver! "Don't focus on winning, focus on developing your talent; treat every race like another practice session. If you win, great! If you don't, you learn from your mistakes." Brilliant advice and something that parents can keep in mind when helping their student prepare for the speech festivals. Remember: there is only one winner but every participant can learn from the experience. When you first get the poem, read it through together and work out what the story of your piece is. Have your child retell the story to you, using their own words, so you can help them to really understand what tone the poem needs. The most important step in your preparation is helping your child to memorise their poem. Once they know it upside down and back to front, now you can start to add colour. Think of adding variation in volume, pitch, pace and don't forget facial expressions. If the latter are elusive

The HKSMSA festival dates have just been announced. Students will have had their poems for a few weeks now. A common question from parents is 'how can we help?' Brandon has a few suggestions: 1: Come to one of our Speech Festival Prep classes (of course!) 2: Read the poem through with your child and get them to retell the story to you. Do they understand all the language? If not, look up the words together. 3: Mark up the poem with the relevant emotions. Play with the voices and add in facial expressions. 4: Practice whenever you can in front of family members. Most importantly.... The Speech Festival is a brilliant way to build confidence, encourage your child irrespective of their final result!

I watched one of our Brandon students practising for the HKSMSA Speech Festival today. She has a terrific voice and the interpretation of her poem is sensitive and engaging. In short, a terrific performance. If you are preparing for a speech festival, try to focus your efforts on your voice and face. Your facial expressions should follow and complement your voice. Try the following: Practice by reading in front of a mirror. Does your face show the emotion you are trying to put into your voice? If not, is it working against you? After a few readings, you will be able to understand the connection between your two main tools and will start to create a perfect performance!