We are inherently wired to be impressed by people who can express themselves better. These are the people who have the upper hand. Those who cannot express themselves are unfortunately left behind in several instances. That's life. You may think of it as unfair, but it is what it is.
Good communication and public speaking skills are essential for success in various aspects of life. The earlier your start, the easier it is.
While the thought of public speaking can make many adults nervous, children might easily overcome this fear by getting exposed to it early in their lives. With a little help, children might think of public speaking as a joy rather than fear and achieve enviously high levels of self-confidence and leadership skills.
The Importance Of Public Speaking For Kids
Communication skills in a public setting are as critical as any other life skill. Developing these skills at a young age proves to be beneficial in the long run. Children's pre-teen years are particularly eventful because as they start budding into active members of society, they begin to have personal takes and opinions about everything. When this happens, most children have the desire to voice their views, too. Public speaking forms the platform on which they can stand and proudly voice their opinions and thoughts.
There are various situations in which children will need to speak in public throughout their development. Although a crucial life skill, some kids naturally take to it while others tend to be more fearful of standing and talking in front of a crowd.
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Do you see any of these signs in your child?
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- Reticent and introverted behaviour
- Shy to converse with new people
- Ready to learn new ways of communicating but apprehensive from within
- Anxious to face stage performances or public talks
- Uncomfortable of how people will judge their speaking abilities
If you see any of these signs in your child, your child might have a fear of public speaking . The good news is that you can teach public speaking to your child and the best time to start is now.
Why Should You Encourage Your Child To Develop Public Speaking Skills?
As a parent, you need to encourage your child to develop the ability of public speaking for the following reasons:
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Crucial Life Skill
Almost every person needs to speak in public at some point in their lives. And every public speaking opportunity to grow and develop various other skills. A confident and capable public speaker immediately gets an edge over many other people who are afraid to speak publicly.
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Improves the Power of Persuasion
The main goal of communication is to convey a message clearly and effectively. Public speaking teaches children persuasive skills that are imperative to convince people. When children develop this skill, they can persuade and have a beneficial influence on people.
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Improves Communication Skills
Public speaking helps fine-tune verbal as well as non-verbal communication skills. These skills are essential in personal relationships, social interactions and work situations to communicate your ideas effectively to others. Public speaking teaches your child to present their ideas in a coherent and organized manner, defend their views and calmly oppose others' views.
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Boosts Confidence
Public speaking significantly boosts the feelings of self-worth in a child. Every time your child speaks publicly, it increases his/her Confidence. And as your child becomes more comfortable speaking in public, he/she becomes more comfortable around people.
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Boosts Academic Performance
There is a significant, positive and directly proportionate impact of public speaking on academic performance. Research shows that kids who speak confidently perform better in class. Through public speaking, children learn various skills like presentation skills, communication skills, critical thinking skills, listening skills, etc. that enable them to present ideas with much clarity and conviction.
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Develops Leadership Skills
One of the most important skills leaders need to develop is their public speaking skills. Many executives spend a lot of money attending workshops, buying public speaking books, and hiring public speaking coaches. When this essential skill is developed early, it can help shape your child to become a future leader.
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Sheds Inhibitions
Children usually have fear and self-doubt when exposed to unfamiliar situations. Public speaking can help them overcome this fear and lose such inhibitions at an early age.
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Prepares for the Future
Two crucial areas – critical thinking and self-confidence – ensure the successful transition of a child into adulthood. Whatever career path your child takes in the future, public speaking will help them develop critical skills integral to career success.
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How You Can Empower Your Kid To Become A Good Public Speaker
Children are great learners. You can be a teacher at home and inculcate skills for public speaking in your child. You can also take help from Planet Spark public speaking courses to make your child an effective communicator.
What you need to do
- Introduce the concept of public speaking early in their life.
- Provide constructive feedback once they are done with speaking.
- Record their practice sessions.
- Instill Confidence and nurture it throughout life.
- Enroll them in an online public speaking class
How you can do it
- Read stories and poems to them.
- Encourage them to make them up on their own. Gradually, get them to share their stories or poems in front of family and friends you know will support and encourage them.
- Encourage and help them to play with voice modulations by reading from their favourite books. Make your child read in a happy, loud, excited, sad, and funny voice.
- Put up a fun challenge of speaking in front of you and talking about things they care about in as much detail as they can.
- Show them how to experiment with their voice by teaching them how to speak slower, faster or when to pause between or after each sentence.
- Show them how to experiment with their voice by teaching them how to speak slower, faster or when to pause between or after each sentence.
- Pick up any objects in and around the house and ask them to talk about them for 2 mins.
- Teach them how to breathe correctly while speaking.
- Prepare a list of exciting and fun topics. Ask them to prepare a two-minute speech and present it to you. Give feedback after the speech.
- Explain the importance of making eye contact. While talking or discussing, show your interest in what your child has to say by maintaining eye contact.
- Ask them to make a list of things that worry them, make them anxious about speaking in groups, and then encourage them to reframe their thinking.
How Planet Spark's Public Speaking Course Can Help Your Child?
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Fun and Engaging Projects
PlanetSpark introduces the concepts of public speaking in a fun way. "Learning to give a TED Talk," Master Debaters ," and "Creating your own podcast channels" are some of the cool projects your child will get to do while being entertained.
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Comprehensive Course Module
The module aims to help children overcome their fear of public speaking, build confidence, improve their presence of mind, enhance their interpersonal skills and their overall personality to be 21st century ready.
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Programs Created by Experts
The certification programs are unique and are created by experts from Harvard & XLRI with public speaking and creative writing concepts that have helped them in their personal and professional journey.
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Expert Trainers
Our teachers are qualified trained language mastery professionals who have aced our own PSAT (PlanetSpark Aptitude Test), an exam taken by more than 1 Lakh teachers worldwide.
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Help Your Child Become A Powerful Public Speaker!
When you help your child with public speaking, there will be times when they feel nervous, anxious, or fearful about speaking. Don't let them suppress these feelings. Remind them of the times when they have been successful – this will encourage them. You can't make their fears go away, but you can definitely equip them to overcome their fears on their own.
By helping your child develop public speaking skills, you'll not only be helping your child become more confident and have higher self-esteem, but you'll also be assisting in ensuring that we usher in a generation that is not scared of speaking in public. This is one of the most valuable gifts you can give to your child.
In this journey, you must be a voice of encouragement and support to them. And we hope that with us sharing this guide today, we have been able to help you pave the best path for your child!
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Make today's kids future-ready for tomorrow's success! Equip them with public speaking skills needed to succeed.
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