Speeches and poems delivered
Have you ever wondered what the best way is to grow pumpkins?
What about the innerworkings of fast cars, how clown fish survive or how people manage to find courage and bravery?
Or perhaps you’d always dreamed of living in the Australian outback but wanted to hear from someone who had first-hand experience.
Well, all of the above topics, and more, were covered off at the annual Morrinsville district schools speech competition hosted by Kiwitahi School.
Principal Jordan Palfrey initiated the event about three years ago as a way to help youngsters develop their oral skills and build confidence speaking in front of an audience.
‘‘We’ve got seven schools here this year which is most schools in Morrinsville.
‘‘I used to do something similar at a previous area I worked at. There wasn’t a speech competition for Morrinsville schools so I thought it would be a cool idea.
‘‘And since then more schools have come on board.’’
About 80 pupils took part in this year’s competition. Each school held their own competition and the top two speakers went forward to the event at Kiwitahi.
The format allowed for each age group to develop their speeches in their own time.
For the Years 1 and 2 children, the competition involved a poem recital, something they would have learned over four or five weeks leading into the event.
The Year 3 pupils presented a ‘‘mini speech’’ on something that was special to them.
‘‘What we do is give them a chance to do a speech without it being a huge deal.
‘‘And the Years 4, 5 and 6s, they have an open speech topic between two and three minutes. They can choose whether the speeches are persuasive or informative.’’
Palfrey said the feedback from parents showed the youngsters were enjoying the competition.
‘‘It’s just a great experience for them to be able to speak in front of an audience.
‘‘Year after year, they are getting better at that.’’
Palfrey said the district’s schools took turns at hosting various events throughout the year.
He was happy for Kiwitahi School to continue hosting the speech competition for the district.
‘‘We go out to all of the other events so we’d like to keep this one here, it’s our special event.’’