Workshop on Speaking in Public and Enhancing Communication Skills
A workshop was conducted at Shri Chitrapur Math, Pune on Saturday, April 29, 2017
by Kalpana Chandavarkar and Deepa Sirur with invaluable assistance from Aparna Pandit.
Workshop on Speaking in Public and Enhancing Communication Skills
Report by Deepa Sirur
A workshop was conducted at Shri Chitrapur Math, Pune on Saturday, April 29, 2017 by Kalpana Chandavarkar and Deepa Sirur with invaluable assistance from Aparna Pandit.
Objectives of the Workshop :
- To remove apprehension of speaking in front of an audience
- To give them an opportunity to speak on mike in front of people, in a fun and interactive manner
To begin with, an activity involving ample movement was conducted to remove any physical inhibition. That was followed by a very brief discussion about the objectives of the workshop.
Thereafter we all introduced ourselves, but, with movement. Next, everybody was given paper and pencil and was asked to write down their apprehension(s) when speaking in front of people. The teachers also followed suit. Then all of us read out our apprehensions and tore the sheets with deliberation to symbolise our getting rid of our fear. All but one child expressed apprehension of speaking in public.
In the next activity, a few simple topics like 'how to make a salad', 'how to plant a sapling', etc were given and each child had to come forward and speak on any one of these topics over the mike.
This was followed by a child-friendly pav bhaji lunch which the children absolutely enjoyed. Half an hour was given to the children for free play.
The post-lunch session began with a short energising game of musical chairs. That was followed by a session of crazy poetry. The children were divided into 4 groups and themes were given to them on which they had to make a rhyme or a story and all of the team members had to collectively present it, making sure each participant had at least a couple of lines to say.
Next, we had a game of props where the children stood in a circle and some props were placed in the centre. Each child had to come forward and, without delay, use any one prop for a purpose other than what it is actually meant for.
This was followed by a game 'what is the good word' where a word was given to each child and he/she had to describe the word without using either or whole or a part of the given word and get the others to guess the word. The children were so engrossed in the game that they forgot their awkwardness or fear. On popular demand another round of the game was played. We ended the day with a feedback session from all the children. Children came up to the mike once again and gave their feedback.
All in all, a very fruitful and enjoyable day for children as well as us teachers.
Our deepest gratitude to Parama Pujya Swamiji for creating an environment to conduct such workshops for our children.
We are grateful to Pune Local Sabha for letting us use Shri Chitrapur Math, Pune as the venue for the workshop and also for letting us use the mike system and also for sponsoring the lunch for the workshop.
Altogether 16 children between the ages 9 and 14 years participated in the workshop. Children who participated were - Abhiram Kumta, Avantika Bailur, Avni Mavinkurve, Chitra Divgi, Devanshi Gokarn, Disha Sirur, Ishaan Mavinkurve, Nandan Divgi, Nishita Ujre, Om Sirur, Omkar Kumble, Parijnan Kumta, Sahil Gatne, Samiksha Hattangady, Samvita Hattangady, Tanmay Gokarn.
