public speaking

today i was helping my new grade 5 tutor student prepare her public speaking speech for next Monday when I was suddenly reminded of how I had to write speeches too when I was in elementary school.

I remembered that in grade four, my topic was "overpopulation" (how overpopulation is bad for the Earth and why that is so). In grade five, my topic was "the goods and bads of public speaking". I remembered that my speech won first place in my class and hence I was able to go to the school-wide public speaking competition and compete in front of the whole school with other classes. For some reason, there were two winners - myself and this other kid called Nathan MacDonald. The winner of the school competition was supposed to go to the district-wide competition but unfortunately, only one winner was allowed to go. The principal decided to toss a coin and Nathan ended up being able to go. I remember feeling really disappointed but I tried to be really tough and not cry. I didn't cry until I saw my dad after school. Now that I think about it, I shouldn't have allowed the principal to make a decision like that by tossing a coin. Additionally, Nathan was also the school-wide champion in grade 4 hence he went to the districts before whereas I've never been to them.

In the end, I was allowed to go watch the districts. Nathan lost. And maybe because his mom felt sorry for me, he gave me a pot of flowers at the end of the school year.

In grade 8, I wrote another speech on "Snoring". I managed to win in class but didn't win against other classes in my school.

Most people find public speaking scary, but I think I thrive on it.