Preparation Exercises
Speech Writing (easy)
In the lead-up to the training, participants should be asked to write speeches that will then be used as content to be interpreted. The trainer can choose between two approaches – assign specific topics and languages to individual participants or create a collaborative approach, where people volunteer the topic/language of their speech themselves. The latter is usually more effective as it lays the foundation for the collaborative spirit underlying the training, and also allows participants to choose what they are comfortable doing.
Remind participants:
Choose a topic that you know well and has some pedagogical value for your audience. There should be a point to your speech; avoid a talk that doesn’t really lead anywhere.
Give your speech a well-defined structure. There should be a beginning, middle and end, and try to make the logical flow of your speech clear to your audience.
Your speech can be of different types: a personal story, an organisational update, an issue-based discussion of pros and cons, a formal political statement, policy analysis – to just name a few. It is useful to think about what kind of speech you are going to give, as this will influence the register (formal/casual/intimate) and vocabulary that you will use.
Try to include specialised vocabulary or topic-specific jargon to add to the educational value of your speech. Provide a list of the same to the interpreters beforehand, so they can activate the vocabulary they will need.
Speak slowly and even if you are reading, try to make your rhythm as natural as possible.
The length of your speech should be 1-2 minutes for memory exercises, 5-6 minutes for consecutive and 10-12 minutes for simultaneous. Practice once and time it to make sure that you can fit your content within the time limit.
Being able to write and deliver a speech is part of the training, and it is not to be underestimated as an exercise. Preparing these speeches in advance, and possibly asking participants to write another speech after Day 1 or Day 2, are key components of capacity-building.