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March 16, 2007
Kids show off their talents
Youngsters build communication skills in public speaking.
RON FRIEDMAN
Ten-year-old Marc Levin stood before a podium last Thursday night
and gave a speech about the nature of anti-Semitism, drawing parallels
with the characters from the Harry Potter series.
Levin was one of the 140 students who competed in the annual public
speaking contest at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver
March 6. The youngsters, aged nine to 12, each gave a three-minute
speech on topics related to Jewish identity, heritage and values
in front of parents, teachers, classmates and members of the community.
The children were divided into nine different groups, according
to grade. There was also a group in which students gave speeches
in Hebrew. The winner from each group received a trophy at the closing
ceremony and all the children received certificates and frisbees
as a prize for participating.
"The contest encourages students to develop their thought process,
to learn how to speak in front of a group, to do some research into
Jewish topics and stimulate their learning abilities," said
Larry Barzelai, who chaired the competition.
Barzelai's father left money in his will for the purpose of enriching
children's education. Both Larry and his brother have been organizing
competitions in Vancouver and in Hamilton for the last two decades.
This year's contest included such topics as Do Jews Have a Special
Responsibility to Prevent Genocide in Darfur?, What Can Israel Do
to Achieve Peace With its Neighbors? and Do You Think Christmas
Trees Should Be Allowed in Public Buildings?
The speeches are judged based on both content and presentation.
The judges give points for knowledge, originality and organization,
as well as for voice, fluency, body language and eloquence.
"The judges are people from various walks of life. What I try
to do is get somebody with expertise in speaking - either in their
activities in the community or in their professional lives,"
said Barzelai.
This year, there was an actual judge taking part in the scoring.
Madame Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein, a judge on the Supreme Court
of British Columbia, took the place of her husband, who passed away
last year and in whose name she presented an award.
When asked how competitive the contest is, Barzelai replied: "Sometimes
it gets quite competitive and, I fear, too competitive. There is
always a discussion on whether this should even be a contest. Lots
of people think that if we just get people to come and give their
speeches without awarding prizes, it would be OK, but I've always
rallied against it. I believe that a certain amount of competition
is healthy, as long as it doesn't become the primary focus of the
evening."
The students didn't appear to be too anxious by the settings, and
while some did better than others, the supportive audience encouraged
them all.
"It was fun – I love talking in front of an audience,"
said Madeline Bell, whose speech on the relative values of feasting
versus fasting won her first place among the Grade 7s. "I was
more excited than nervous. I use my energy for the good."
"I was very impressed with the content. The students came up
with the most diverse topics," said parent Devorah Brody. "I
enjoyed listening to them because they were interesting to listen
to, and not just because my daughter was in it."
"It makes children sit down and think about things that they
might never have thought of before. I learned new things just from
listening to the speeches," said Tammy Kalvari, whose son also
participated in the competition.
"Public speaking is the number one fear in the world, if you
can teach children to overcome it, when they get older, they will
be able to accomplish a lot more without having that fear stand
in their way," said Brody.
Ron Friedman is a student in the journalism master's program
at the University of British Columbia.
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