CIE organises The Power of Speaking - English Public Speaking Training for secondary school students

The Division of Arts and Languages held an English Public Speaking Workshop titled ‘The Power of Speaking – English Public Speaking Training’ via Zoom in May which was well-attended by around 140 students and teachers from 23 local secondary schools.

The workshop was divided into two parts: a short seminar and an individual presentation practice. Departing from a focus on information delivery, the seminar highlighted the importance of ‘transformation’ in presentations and introduced a 4-step formula to tailor-make content for specific audience and contexts. Students were taught in the seminar that an effective presentation was more than describing the world, reporting facts and providing statistics. To make public speaking resonate with the audience, students should demonstrate ability of formulating transformational content of an impressive and effective presentation.

The second part of the workshop was a chance for students to prepare a 2-minute individual presentation on the topic ‘The Halo Effect’. With the guidance and assistance from lecturers, students tried to apply the 4-step formula to construct a short individual presentation. The breakout room discussion was interactive and had a lively vibe as students were very engaged.

Through the workshop, we hoped to transform the students’ view towards presentations and public speaking, and invited them to constantly equip themselves to be good orators. Honing public speaking skills is also part of the programme objectives of the Concentration Studies of Professional Communication and English Studies.