Video transcript
Creative Teachers – Public speaking in secondary schools – 01. Benefits of speaking competitions

[Intro music]

[Music playing]

CRAIG REUCASSEL: I got involved with debating and public speaking when I did a class at Bowral High School, and from there I went on to join the debating team and do a lot of public speaking. And, I enjoyed it a great deal and continued to do it at university and many years after that. So, it was a great experience, and I made a lot of my friends and my current contacts, and my people I work with pretty much all came from debating and public speaking.

PRESENTER 1: So, today, ladies and gentlemen, we will provide 4 reasons as to why it is not justifiable to invade other countries.

CRAIG REUCASSEL: It's really important the way The Arts Unit tries to get out to a lot of schools that don't have the resources. Living in the country, I got to come down to Sydney and meet people from different schools. It really broadened my horizons.

STUDENT 1: Public speaking, especially in this kind of competitive environment, really forces you to think on your feet, to play with ideas in a way that you wouldn't expect to do. And, creativity and intricate interplay with ideas is a skill that's developed a lot.

STUDENT 2: Children are too precious to let them waste their life on social networking sites.

STUDENT 3: Public speaking helps me with my communication skills and how to express my ideas, and I like listening to what other people have to say and putting my own ideas forth.

STUDENT 4: It's just really great to kind of challenge yourself to sit down for 3 minutes, have to come up with an idea, and present it to an audience. And, I think in general life, it just helps with confidence in job interviews and that kind of thing. You just kind of have the confidence to have to speak on the spot, and present your view strongly without kind of feeling nervous.

STUDENT 5: Students will be taught how to not talk to strangers, and they would also be taught how to block cyberbullies and use safety programs to stop the bullies.

STUDENT 1: Supposedly, the biggest fear that most of the adult population has is the fear of public speaking, and the only way that anybody can overcome a fear like this is by practising. Public speaking really gives you the confidence boost that you would need to become familiar with an art that serves people in all facets of life.

STUDENT 6: Getting up in front of an audience and talking about something that maybe is quite close to your heart is one of the most daunting things that you can do. It's definitely helped with my personal anxiety. I would feel so anxious my hands would sweat. I'd be sort of like shaking. From having done more public speaking and more debating, you get over it. It just becomes a routine thing.

You become a stronger person from having done it.

STUDENT 7: E-X-H-I-B-I-T.

STUDENT 8: B-R-U-M-B-Y, Brumby.

[Applause]

CRAIG REUCASSEL: I am a terrible speller. When I was at school there was no Spelling Bee, and I can barely spell 'bee.' Gelatinous. Jellyfish have gelatinous bodies. I'm glad that spelling is now being focused upon.

STUDENT 9: Gelatinous, G-E-L-A-T-I-N-O-U-S.

CRAIG REUCASSEL: I think debating and public speaking are fantastic skills, and I think it's fantastic that nowadays it starts in primary school, because if they start at that age, then it becomes so natural. And, once they're in high school, they start getting self-conscious, and it just doesn't stop them from doing it.

STUDENT 10: Did sanctions work in Zimbabwe or North Korea?

STUDENT 11: Obelisk, O-B-E-L-E-S- wait. Can I please start again?

[Music playing]