Contributor:
Kelsey
Public Speaking is a critical part of our children’s education. So why not make it fun and a little interesting, too?
This game, called “Speaking Nonsense,” is a great way to get kids’ bad speaking habits out of the way and good ones in!
Here is what you do:
1) Choose a student.
2) Give them a topic: It can be anything from Spam to the Holocaust. Things that you are learning about work great as topics.
3) They must talk for 2 minutes straight about their topic. They cannot say “Um”, etc. or use the word “and” more than twice. They must also keep eye contact with the audience at all times and use all public speaking skills.
4) The winner or winners are those who can complete this task using all the rules.
Fizz W has suggested this variation:
This is a really good idea for more confident children, but how about the same game along the lines of the BBC radio programme ‘Just a Minute’? The winner is still the one who talks for the longest ‘without hesitation, deviation’ or saying ‘umm’, but if they are with several classmates at the front, then the less confident are not so on the spot. The rest of the class has to listen carefully for any mistakes. Perhaps there could be a scoring system for correct challenges?