1. ESU SCHOOLS’ MACE GAME: Running Out Of Ink Group size: 5-30 Classroom set up: no specific set up required Time: 30 mins. (dependent on group size) Tell speakers they are going to have to speak for one minute about a topic you give them, and they may only write down ten words in total for notes. Ask speakers to present to each other in small groups. TOP TIP Vary the number of words relative to the length of the speech to make it easier or harder according to the level of the group. ESU – CHURCHILL PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION GAME: Chairing Skills Group size: 5-30 Classroom set up: no specific set up required Time: 15-30mins. (dependent on group size) Choose a selection of famous and historical figures across the literary, arts, sciences, celebrity and sports worlds. Your pupils can then choose one person from the chosen category. They have between 2 and 5 minutes (depending on ability/confidence levels) to develop a short introductory speech about their chosen personality. The speech should include: Who the person is What the topic of their speech will be One thing they have done in the past that is relevant to why they are here One fact to show why this person is the best person for this speech/why we should listen to them Invite us to applaud/welcome the speaker Give the pupils time to now deliver their speech within small groups. TOP TIP Pupils do not need to research the personality they have chosen. The facts they use in the speech can be entirely fictional!

2. ESU PERFORMING SHAKESPEARE COMPETITION GAME: As If…. Group size: 5-30 Classroom set up: no specific set up required Time: 10-15 mins. Explain to the group that many directors like their cast to experiment with different interpretations of the scene. This is one reason why over 400 years later Shakespeare’s plays remain popular – no production is the same as another! This also means that when delivering our own speeches, in competitions like the ESU Schools’ Mace and the ESU Public Speaking Competition, we can choose how we want the audience to feel by using expression and delivery to persuade them to agree with us. Using one or two lines from one of Shakespeare’s plays, ask the class to recite the lines however they wish. For example, ‘O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse they name;’ ‘All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players;’ Now ask them to read the same lines with different emotions: As if they are angry As if they are amused As if they are lost in a jungle As if they are in a very cold place As if they are pleading with the audience to believe them As if they have spiders crawling all over them And so on! You could even take suggestions from the class. Ask your pupils what they noticed about the way they differed their delivery for several of the prompts and the effect they think that might have. TOP TIP The prompts could be more challenging using different emotions and scenarios for older children, or more playful for younger children. Pupils could work in pairs for a more in depth analysis of why their approaches were effective.