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written by
Timothy Nakayama
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Employers from
disparate industries have time and time again arrived at the same conclusion
regarding the fresh-faced, eager-eyed crops of fresh graduates who enter the
working world year after year, in search of their first jobs: many have the
smarts, the work ethics and the right attitude to make fabulous hires, but not
as many have the communication and soft people skills that are so essential to
thrive in today's increasingly competitive and globalised world. Those involved
in the hiring process often lament the fact that while these capable graduates do
have the skills and base knowledge to take on their new roles, they are not
similarly equipped when it comes to communication and leadership, skills that employers
prize just as much, if not more so.
Enter The Youth
Leadership Program.
The Youth Leadership
Program, or YLP for short, is an informal course in the vital arts of
communication and leadership. The structure of the Youth Leadership course is
set by Toastmasters International, a non-profit organization that helps people
the world over develop their communication and leadership skills. 4 million
people around the world have benefitted from Toastmasters clubs since 1924. Those
who are over 18 are eligible to join any Toastmasters club throughout the world,
whereupon they start with giving project speeches from a basic communication
manual before moving on to more advanced communication manuals. The Youth
Leadership Program, on the other hand, consists of a condensed version of the speech
principles taught in the first few project speeches of the basic Toastmasters'
communication manual with the addition of several key leadership concepts and
principles. The YLP course has been specifically designed for youths between
the ages of 11 to 18.
The Youth Leadership
Program, in short, is a 2-day course that teaches youths the key principles and
concepts of effective communication and leadership and maximises this learning
by conducting the entire course in an interactive and hands-on manner that sees
participants learning from both the course coordinators and their fellow
participants, all within a friendly, positive and supportive environment.
Friendship
Toastmasters Club is one of the most established Toastmasters Clubs in the
Klang Valley, having been founded in 1998 with the goal of helping people of
all ages and walks of life improve their communication and leadership skills.
That lofty goal remains even today and that is why Friendship Toastmasters Club
decided that it was the right time to conduct their first Youth Leadership
Program.
Friendship
Toastmasters Club's Youth Leadership Program took place on the 1st and 2nd of
June, Saturday and Sunday respectively. The 2-day weekend-long course took
place at Wiseed Meeting Center at Merchant Square in Tropicana, PJ. There were 19
participants in total.
The 2-day program
was conducted and run by both Toastmasters members from Friendship Toastmasters
Club and members from other Toastmasters clubs. The sessions were conducted by seasoned
Toastmasters, who all have extensive experience in the art of public speaking and
communication and who have also conducted Youth Leadership Program sessions
previously.
Ice-Breaking Session
Just like adults,
some youths can be shy upon first meeting new people. Therefore, the meeting
started with an Ice-Breaking session in order to put the youths at ease. The
coordinators created a relaxed environment where all participants had the
chance to introduce themselves and learn a few things about their fellow
participants. This was followed by more interactive activity sessions, in which
participants had to think on their feet as they worked together to solve
various physical puzzles and challenges. By the time they returned to their
seats, all the participants were smiling and chatting with each other, happy at
having made new friends. The ice had been well and truly broken!
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| Participants introducing themselves to the group while coordinators cheer them
on |
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| The
Ice-breaker activity "Mummy's Wrap" proved to be popular |
Leadership Roles
The structure of the
YLP favours the learning by doing approach and the participants get their first
taste of the hands-on way of learning with the Chairmanship session. In order
to impart the lessons of good and fair leadership, the youths were divided into
groups of five, whereupon the coordinators then appointed each member in the
group to one of four positions: President, Vice-President, Secretary and
Sergeant-At-Arms. The responsibilities of each of the position were then
explained to the participants and they had to carry out these responsibilities
over the 2-day course. Many of the participants were apprehensive at first,
this being their first time taking up leadership roles, but after seeking
further clarification (a trait of a good leader!), they were more than willing
to launch into their roles with gusto!
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| The
coordinators going through the responsibilities associated with each of the
four leadership roles |
The Competent Communication Sessions
For the rest of the
first day and the first half of the second day, the participants learned
various facets of public speaking. There are 6 sessions in total, with three
being presented on Day One and the other three on Day Two.
The 6 sessions were
(in order):
·
Introduction to
Public Speaking
·
Impromptu
Speaking
·
Organizing Your
Speech
·
Listening
·
Gestures in
Speaking
·
Voice and
Vocabulary
Each of these
sessions helped the participants delve into the finer points of public
speaking. The lesson plan for each session had a general structure - the
coordinator teaches the basics of that particular area, and then the hands-on
learning follows in the form of the participants utilizing what they have just
learned in front of their fellow participants, who then give them immediate
feedback. Some of the participants were a bit hesitant to give feedback to
their peers, as it was something new to them, but after seeing how giving
feedback can help both themselves and their peers improve, they took up the
task with enthusiasm and aplomb.
The sessions were
specifically designed to be very interactive in order to appeal to youths,
which experienced Toastmasters have found is the best way to get youths
interested in learning.
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| Listening
in rapt attention as the coordinator highlights the importance of speech
organization |
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| Participants learning that being loose and relaxed helps when delivering their
speeches |
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| A
participant going through an exercise focused on delivering emotions through
facial expressions and vocal variety. |
Speech Contest
After all the
lessons on effective communication and putting them into practice, the
participants were ready for the one thing that they were all looking forward to
since Day One - the speech contest.
Held at the end of
Day Two, the speech contest was the culmination of the 2-day course, a way for
the participants to gauge just how much progress they've made over the last two
days. And truth be told, a lot of the participants were excited to test out
their newly-acquired skills in a competitive environment!
To make it a
memorable event, the coordinators asked the participants to invite their
parents to the contest. As expected, most were a little shy about their parents
seeing them in action, but just before the contest started, a handful of
parents stepped in, eager to see whether enrolling their children into the
2-day course had paid off!
The improvement was,
without a doubt, significant. Whereas before the youthful participants had been
shy and hesitant to speak up in front of their peers, by the time the speech
contest got fully into gear, they were up there on the stage, brimming with
confidence, moving with grace and poise, and speaking passionately and
evocatively about their thoughts and ideas. The topics were as varied as the
speakers: some talked lovingly about their mother or father, others about their
favourite TV shows. Then there were those who decided to tackle the heavier
issues like racism, the power of positive thoughts and the price of beauty that
women often have to pay even in today's society.
Just looking at the
participants getting up on stage and delivering their very best was enough to
make the YLP coordinators proud and some even shed a tear or two. How much more
powerful the feeling must have been in all the parents who attended - all were
seen leaving with wide smiles on their faces, clasping their son or daughter on
the back with pride.
What parent wouldn't
be proud of such an achievement?
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| YLP Speech Contest Winners |
Conclusion
Perhaps no
conclusion paints a better picture of just how much having the confidence to
communicate effectively can change a young person's life than when the writer
met with one of the contestants privately to tell her that, although her
contest speech may have been disqualified due to going over the time limit, the
judges had given her high marks for her well-crafted speech. She was speechless
for a few seconds but then tears of happiness welled up in her eyes, her entire
face seemed to glow and she beamed the brightest smile this writer has seen in
a long, long time. She then said a hearty "Thank you!" and ran to her
waiting father, full of smiles, tears of joy and a radiant confidence that
shone even brighter than the hot afternoon sun.
Sincerely,
Timothy Nakayama
Vice President of Public Relations 2013-14
