May
29
Young people speaking up for themselves
Filed Under Leadership, Active listening, young people, speaking
I have spent the past few days in Lerwick in the Shetland Islands training young people aged 12 - 15 in speaking skills. They responded wonderfully -as young people we work with on the Speakersbank programme usually do.
Working in an island community has its own challenges though. Some of our participants had to take a ferry to be able to join us and others had to stay overnight for the second day as going home was impractical. The topics in the final speeches ranged from local Shetland issues relating to how the Council was to spend money on public buildings, brideges and tunnels, to eating disorders , to renuable energy , to personal family stories. It is great for the audience to listen to those. The added benefit is that the audience also consists of the other competitors and they hear each other talk about issues that matter to them!
Our welcome in Shetland was fantastic. The Speak Up challenge was even reported on the local radio news giving our winners the chance to use what they learned immediately !
I am writing this in a library in Lerwick where I am catching up on other business while I wait to go to the airport.
Tired but happy.
Awesome. It would be lovely to see you at the SpeakOut Challenge final.
The young people from Shetland already believe that they should be there!