Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yesanman]

I'm prepping a student for a local speech contest where he will be judged by three teachers; one Korean, 2 westerners.
He will be given a topic and just a few seconds to think before he has to talk for 2-3 minutes.
I'm trying to give him advice on what he should do.

I said:
1) make and maintain eye contact
2) speak loudly and clearly
3) be original- try to do something memorable so the judges will be able to say after 'oh yeah, Dong-han, he was the kid who said/did ...'

Any other advice I can give him?
I'm sure lots of you out there have judged these things before.

[polonius]

I have coached students many times in speech contests. I trust that you will be giving the student practice runs. Focus on his intonation. Often we hear Korean students speak in a very monotonous voice. If the student is able to vary his levels, this will set him apart from the others. I would also prep him on the various topics possible. Think what topics might come up, and give him a chance to work on these. The topic might be about the Korean soccer team, or the political instability in the region. The topic will obviously depend on what level and age he is.

Also, have him focus on emotions. Let them come out. If the topic makes him hapy, make sure that he is cracking a smile, if the topic makes him angry, let that come out as well.

Hope this helps.

[Milwaukiedave]

Having the student practice gestures would be helpful as well. I judged a speaking contest recently and almost every student was stiff as a board as they stood there talking. I swear you could have bounced a ball off them and they still would have stood there like a tree.

[Yesanman]

Gestures? Actually my student mentioned gestures today too.
Sorry but only crude gestures come to mind. Maybe I need a holiday.
What are some gestures you had in mind?

[ttompatz]

[jay-shi]

Hi Yesanman,

We did a speech contest at my school recently and these are the criteria we tood the students we would be judging them on. Hope that helps.

Enthusiasm

* Enjoyment

Does the student seem to be happy to be presenting his speech? Is the student in a good mood? Is the student conveying his happiness?

* Confidence

Is the student confident about his performance? Does the student seem nervous? Is the student managing stage fright well?

* Physical presentation

Is the student standing up straight? Is the student using body language to enhance the speech? Is the student looking ahead at the audience?

Content

* Interesting speech and originality

Is the speech interesting? Are there interesting, original, anecdotal or even humorous aspects to the speech? Does the speech feel heartfelt by the student?

* Correct grammar

Is the speech grammatically correct?

* Memorization

Did the student memorize the speech well enough? Are there gaps in the speech due to memorization failure? Is the student ever at a loss for words?

Delivery

* Loudness

Is the speech being performed loud enough for the audience to fully comprehend it? Is the student screaming when he should only be talking loudly?

* Pronunciation

Is the student properly pronunciating the words to the speech. Is there any Konglish in the student's pronunciation?

* Flow of speech

is the speech said to fast or too slow? Are the pauses in accordance to the punctuation of the speech. Are any pauses used for dramatic effect when need be?

[denverdeath]

I think it depends on what kind of speech contest it is. I've been to a few in this country. I've listened to both kids and adults doing this stuff. You say one Korean and two foreigners will be the judges. Hmm. Most that I've been to had about the same, but the Korean mentality seemed to prevail. Like the "Nice to meet you" and "Let me introduce myself" were seen as wonderful intros. And, different people doing multiple parts in a story(basically, a group of four students and there would be two, three, or six characters, and each student would do one line at a time no matter how ridiculous it seemed to the native listeners. Then, some would stumble...BADLY...there'd be coaching when there should've been a hook...guess they tried though). Anyway, the gestures thing and the memorable thing will be fine if the contest is a little less formal. Most of the kids' contests were honestly pathetic. They had me or other foreigners helping beforehand, but the kids always listened to the Korean teachers. They continued to do incorrect pronunciation, and focused their attention on pronunciation only. The set-up you mentioned seems a little better as the kids will have to ad-lib it a bit. I guess the best way to approach it is kind of like a short essay. The kid will have to make a short introductory statement regurgitating the topic, and then provide some evidence in support of/against whatever the topic may be. Providing a few good examples would be good. Finishing with a nice closing would also be good. I would say that the thing should be thrown together as logically as possible. Hopefully, the judges will be looking for things already mentioned: eye contact, pronunciation, rate and fluency of speech, etc. Help the kid on those things. Try to help him not sound like a drone. Also, don't have him jumping across the stage like a madman if he's supposed to be standing in front of a podium.