Public-speaking helps kids stand up to bullies

Photo by Mikhail Nilov: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-group-of-children-laughing-at-a-boy-in-a-library-7929423/

Advantages of public-speaking for children include articulating their ideas more effectively, communicating with different audiences, and standing up for themselves.

How can public-speaking skills help a child deal with bullies. What’s the child supposed to do? Give a speech to the bully on why he or she should stop picking on others?

The biggest reason that developing public-speaking skills can help in this area actually doesn’t have to do with giving a speech.

Public-speaking is consistently ranked as the top fear for most people. Learning these skills at a young age before the fear has had a chance to become deeply ingrained is not only going to help the child perform better in the academic environment but is also going to help with social interaction. As children practice and improve their public-speaking skills, their confidence is also going to grow. They are going to find it easier to use their voices.

In this article, Can learning public-speaking help kids avoid ending up at the back of the line? — SHEILA NAZARI), I wrote that instead of first developing the confidence to learn public speaking, public-speaking should be viewed as a tool to help children develop confidence as they grow. School is basically a group setting, so an introvert, may view themselves as always doing some form of “public-speaking.” I wrote about how learning public-speaking skills at a young age would have made it easier for me to speak up to my peers in school settings where I wanted to say something but was afraid to use my voice.  

Public-speaking can help children develop confidence in themselves and their communication skills so that they can use their voice when needed.

When I was in the third grade, there was a girl who would ask to borrow my markers and then she would keep one for herself. This continued until I was down to half of the markers I had started with. I didn’t want to make a scene and tell her to give them back to me because I didn’t have the confidence to confront her and I was afraid of being overheard by others in the class. If I had developed my public-speaking skills by that age, I would’ve been more likely to speak up. I also wish that I had been able to use my voice to defend others who were being picked on.

For this reason, I felt called upon to write the book, Super Speaker, which teaches public-speaking via an entertaining fiction story through the eyes of Gia, a girl struggling to deal with the changes that come with starting middle school. In addition to the themes of public-speaking and friendship, there is also an anti-bullying theme. Gia, the main character, develops her speaking skills and uses her voice to stand up for kids who are being bullied. She is a multi-faceted character who turns into a bit of a bully herself in order to fit in and has to learn how to become herself and use her voice to help others. Practical public-speaking tips are intertwined into the story using my exclusive 5 P’s of Presentation model.

Read and review for free for a limited time: https://booksirens.com/book/RWUFPGK/MC2KOKF

Print version will be available soon!

Amazon.com: Super Speaker eBook : Nazari, Sheila, DKC, Adrian: Kindle Store

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Super Speaker makes public-speaking fun

In the fifth grade, I won the class spelling bee but didn’t want to represent my grade in the school spelling bee because I was afraid of public-speaking. Then in high school, I slowly and painfully made it through a speech on astrology (we had to choose a topic on the supernatural). Although I had always received good grades for my writing, I knew that my speaking was subpar. It was a surprise that later in life I became a corporate trainer, speaking in front of hundreds of people in a variety of companies.

However, the road was rocky and I wished I’d learned public speaking earlier. And I’ve heard many people say the same thing. It’s one of the most important skills, but many people will reach adulthood without having had much practice with it. Just as kids can learn foreign languages easier when they’re younger, it may also benefit them to learn presentation skills at a younger age.

There are many benefits to learning and improving speaking skills when you’re young.

1)       Builds confidence and helps you stand up for yourself

2)      Makes it more likely that you’ll be able to explain an idea in a way that will get people to listen

3)      Be able to create good arguments for your views when someone disagrees with you

4)      Builds empathy. In order to connect with people in your audience, you have to consider their needs and what interests them

5)      Allows you to use your creativity to come up with the best way to get your point across

6)      Provides practice researching the details of a topic

7)      Helps you be prepared for interviews with potential employers in the future

8)      In the age of technology and social media, it can help you connect with people and get more comfortable communicating in-person instead of from behind a computer or phone screen  

9)      Gives you the confidence to ask questions

Although more schools are requiring kids to start giving presentations at a younger age, it’s rare that a kid will want to work on these skills for fun. I know that I wasn’t up for it at that age. It was always more fun for me to learn by reading a story rather than getting information from a textbook, so I created an entertaining fiction story that also provides kids with a guide to the basic principles of being a successful speaker using the 5 P’s of Presentations.

5 P's of Presentations

1) Point

2) Prepare

3) Practice

4) Play

5) Present

About Super Speaker

Gia Dorsey is an outspoken, funny, and clumsy sixth-grader, otherwise known as Super She, a TV show superhero alias she gave herself to feel more confident – confidence she needs to save kids from bullies, give a speech, and do the scariest thing of all – start middle school.

It’s not me, it’s Super She, Gia thinks to herself after doing outlandish things such as speaking at a school assembly, pulling a prank in History class, and doing an impromptu cheer at a soccer game. After all, she’s willing to do anything to stop perfectly perfect Cora Dressler from stealing her best friend, Lance Garrett.

But Lance thinks that Cora can do no wrong and is even sure she’ll win the Speech Masters Contest. When Gia’s new friend, Annabelle Hale, enters this public-speaking contest, Gia is determined to help her win. She volunteers to coach Annabelle on the 5 P’s of Presentations and also starts a “little rumor” about Cora.

However, when the rumor spreads like wildfire and risks burning her friendships, Gia can’t rely on Super She’s superpowers. Instead, plain old Gia Dorsey must use her own powers.

This story captures middle school angst in a humorous way and shows that a superhero lives inside each person, but can only be discovered if she’s able to overcome fears and be her true self.