Unleashing the Power of Student Voices

When it comes to our goal of nurturing students' holistic education, the ability to do presentations is often regarded as an important skill. At DHSZ, public speaking is seen as a powerful tool for breaking boundaries, self-expression, and shaping the future. To further inspire students' confidence and communication abilities, we organise an annual speech competition called the Soapbox. Soapbox gives our students an informal opportunity to compete to provide the most compelling and persuasive argument, as they stand on stage and passionately orate their carefully considered and highly articulate arguments. The prize is the much sought after, prestigious, and highly desirable soapbox badge!

In this year's competition, Felix T from the senior group and Jacky C from the junior group emerged as standouts! One is a two-time champion, while the other is a Y10 student participating for the first time. Their success was not only due to their exceptional on-stage speeches but also from their genuine emotions and profound reflections.

Recently, we are delighted to interview these two winners, and their sharing truly exemplifies the power and charm behind public speaking.

Can you tell us a bit about your Soapbox speech and how did you prepare for the competition?

@Felix

"My soapbox speech this year is mainly focusing on social inequality, it was inspired by a sociology project I did, and a young factory worker I interviewed during the fieldwork. It mainly questions about the just and fairness in certain events or situations in our society where it is clearly wrong and unjust. 

"One technique for me would be write out the entire speech and practice while polishing it. This has always been helpful for me as writing out it entirely helps you to get familiarize with the points you are going to say, and during editing and polishing you will get familiar with your speech itself. 

"I had similar topics last year, it was about 'poverty', I didn’t want to be too 'condescending' this year, instead of telling the audience what we should do (which was sort of what I did last year), I tend to ask more question in this speech, to question with everyone about the unfair and unjust in our society. "

@Jacky

"My speech is about how mobile phones will affect human communication in the future. The reason why I selected this topic theme was because I can see that nowadays mobile phones are affecting the interaction between people. When I walk pass the street, I can see people often spending time on their phones instead of communicating with their friend who’s seating right next time them. In my perspective phones are negatively affecting the interaction between human beings.

"The way I prepared for the competition was quite similarly to what others did. It took me about 2 months to prepared, I spend about 3 weeks writing the first version of my script, for the rest of the time I was making changes to my script according to advices my friends and teachers gave me. In my perspective I don’t think there’s any thing such as a “strategy”, the key point is to keep calm. To be honest I was very nervous at the moment that I step on the stage, but as time pass that feelings start going away and I was able to have a performance that reaches my expectation."

What was it like to deliver your speech in front of audience and a panel of judges? And how did it feel to be named the winner of the competition?

@Felix

"It’s not the first time for me to delivering a speech in front of an audience and judges, yet I think public speaking always has a feeling of excitement or nervousness, yet that is the beauty of it, that slight stage fright gives you the excitement to perform it well, and once it’s done you feel the true happiness.

"It’s very honored to be named as winner, as I truly felt that all my fellow competitors performed well, it’s already respectable for anyone to stand on the stage and speak out their unique points and value."

@Jacky

"It was enjoyable for me for me to deliver my speech in front of all audience and judges. To be honest, I was very nervous at the start, but as time pass that nervous has changed to excitement because I thought it may be the only chance for me to share my ideas with such a large amount of person.

"I really appreciate this award, and.I was surprised that I won this competition. In my opinion other participants also did a fantastic job and there are lots of things that I can learn from."

Do you think participating in Soapbox has helped you develop any skills or strengths? What advice would you give to students who are considering participating in Soapbox next year?

@Felix

"Presentation and public speaking skills, of course, but also it allows the young people to speak out for problems that they care about, allows the students to express their passion, we need this voice in our community.

"Be brave, don’t overthink about whether yourself, your speech, or your opinions, we all have something deep-down in our heart that we felt is “wrong” and we are not happy about it, speak out! But do it with lots of practice, practice helps with nervousness." 

@Jacky

"In my perspective participating Soapbox does helped me to develop my strengths. Soapbox taught me to stay calm when ever you’re feeling nervous, soapbox taught me how to speak correctly and generously in front of so may person.

"The key of soapbox is to stay calm on the stage, in my opinion every participants has the ability to win this competition, it doesn’t depend on your English level or your communication skills."

Felix, the reigning Soapbox winner, believes that 'public speaking' is a crucial skill for anyone, "The ability to stand up and express our opinions is a valuable skill for ourselves and for the world. Soapbox has definitely trained our public speaking skills and helped us to develop our own unique and interesting ideas."

In Jacky's opinion, the Soapbox has given him the opportunity to speak his mind and enrich his experience at school. As a member of the Dulwich English Ambassadors CCA, which organises this competition, Jacky also took us through the DEA to find out more about how it supports and helps students' English language skills.

Co-Curricular Activities - Dulwich English Ambassador

The Dulwich English Ambassador (DEA) supports students in improving their English proficiency around the school. The DEA CCA is organised into three groups: Displays and advertising, Events and Competitions, and Assemblies and public announcements. It creates opportunities for practicing English speaking, listening, reading, and writing through debates, discussions, speeches, and creative writing activities. Examples of such events include the Soapbox Speech Competition, Holiday Reading Challenge, and Spelling Bee; as well as Conversation Corners and designated reading time. Students will play an important role in creating materials, short videos, posters, and in leading House events.

Jacky informed us that many members of DEA have not only excelled in speech competitions and essay contests but have also achieved incredible grades in their English tests like the IELTS examination.