The annual Senior Public Speaking Competition Final  will be held on the 7th April. Every child in the class must write and prepare a speech on one of the following topics. The speeches are to be written and practiced at home.

1. Donald Trump will be a good president for America.
2. Ireland should leave the EU.
3. You can't trust the news.
4. Should Ireland be neutral?
5. Homelessness is not taken seriously in Ireland.
6. The dangers of global warming are exaggerated.
7. Social media is an important part of growing up now.
8. Parents know best.
9. Gaeilge should not be on the curriculum.
10. Junk food should be illegal.
11. Electric cars should be compulsory.
12. Children should have the right to vote.
13. Men and women are not equal.

The children have approx. two weeks to prepare their speeches. Planning is key. Below you will find the suggested steps to follow in preparing a speech.
Step 1: Choose a topic of interest to you and decide whether you will be opposing or proposing the motion.
Step 2: Brainstorm ideas using a spider graph
Step 3:  Conduct your research. Not just internet, newspapers, magazines, library, family friends etc.
Step 4: Plan out the structure of your speech- the beginning, the middle and the end.
Step 5: Write your speech.
Beginning: Brief, capture the attention of the audience and establish the subject and purpose of the speech.
Don’t just restate the topic.  Add your personality and make it unique, many others may be talking on the same topic.
Middle: Sets out your ideas, shares your research, includes examples to support your topic.
For your time limit work out how many points / paragraphs you can include.  Work on having a powerful statement to lead into each new point / paragraph.
End: Short statement relating back to the topic and sums up the subject and purpose of the speech.
Make it brief, but memorable.  Try including a memorable line that the audience can  take away with them.
Memorise your conclusion, so your last couple of sentences can be delivered with confidence and with full eye contact with the audience. 
Step 6:Practice by yourself first in front of a mirror.  Time it and edit your content so it first with the time restraints.
Step 7: Make cue cards for key points only.  Keep cards to a minimum and number them.
Step 8: Dress rehearsal in front of family and friends.

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Today we were lucky enough to have Ciara Judge visit 4th class to speak to us as part of our Science and Engineering week in school. Ciara is a young scientist from Kinsale who won the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2013. She also won a First place Award in the European Union Contest for Young Scientists 2013. In 2014, she jointly with her 2 friends won the grand prize in Google Science Fair.  Ciara was also listed as one of the 25 most influential teens in Time for the year 2014 as a result of her innovation. The class were absolutely enthralled during her inspiring talk as you can see from their faces in the video. Thanks to Cormac for capturing it all on camera.