Pitch, pace and pause: teachers pick up public speaking skills

What links the study of German in schools, an attack on reality tv and a campaign to fund Sure Start centres?

They were all the topics of speeches given by teachers participating in a course at Wellington College this week.

All the participants had to prepare two short speeches as part of the course, which was aimed at boosting their public speaking skills.

Delivered by Katie Hamilton, head of LAMDA at Wellington College, the two half-day sessions discussed posture, delivery, facial expressions, gestures and the three Ps – pitch, pace and pause.

Participants said it had boosted their confidence and given them strategies to speak in front of groups.

Michelle Bird, from The Piggott School, said it was good having the course split into two sessions as it gave the participants time to think about the feedback they were given at the first session before delivering their second speech.

She said: “I could take on board what Katie said and use it at the next session.

She added: “I really liked the personal feedback and I’m thinking about how I can incorporate some of the ideas into my speaking in the future.”

Katie also taught the participants how to structure a ‘vote of thanks’ after a speech.

Simon Kirkham, head of German at Wellington College, who took part, said: “It was aspirational. I got some really useful pointers.”