Training for the Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival (English)

 

      I have a keen interest in speech training. It began in my new school in Hong Kong, when I trained a class of students in choral speaking.  My interest gained momentum over the years, and one year I was invited to be a member of the Hong Kong Schools Music and Speech Association English Sub-Committee.  I performed my duties with this association for five years, serving as a Speech Festival adjudicator on many occasions.   

 

      Over the years, I have trained hundreds of students, guiding them to successful performances in the annual Hong Kong Speech Festival. From many years of training students for this prestigious speech competition, I have found that the same problems with pronunciation keep cropping up time and time again. My approach is to ensure students understand the poet’s attitude throughout the poem, and then to equip students with basic rules of English pronunciation to handle the vocabulary that is unique to each poem.  I take especially great delight when youngsters are able to deliver a performance with skill and confidence, impressing the judge and entire audience alike!