Speaking orally in front of a jury is an exercise often dreaded by students. So, to put all the chances on your side, Samira Les Mots Emoi, professional public speaking coach, reveals her valuable advice.
As the baccalaureate approaches, thousands of students are preparing for the perilous and yet inevitable Grand Oral test, which will take place this year from Monday June 24, 2024 to July 3. An exercise that tends to intimidate many high school students, who are not always comfortable speaking. Stress, lack of self-confidence, memory lapses… Some even completely lose their means. So, how to do it? The key to successful speaking lies above all in preparation. It is essential that the candidate masters his subject and the message he wants to convey.
For Samira Les Mots Emoi, professional coach, who works in particular with JOA extracurricular workshops for children and adolescents aged 6 and over, this begins at the stage of preparing the oral forms. “I advise not to write your entire oral presentation on your cards, because the risk is to stay stuck to your written text and that speaking will not be very natural. This also depends on each student, but in general what matters is that each idea is noted down and clearly distinct visually to be anchored in the brain”, she explains to us. The idea is also that the high school student remains as authentic as possible in order to be effective. To do this, he can speak in his own terms, avoiding the parasitic words of everyday language (the “uh”, “sudden”, “genre”, “brief”, etc.), and using the vocabulary of the subject in question.
When speaking, students often neglect an essential element, namely… breathing. “When you learn to breathe and control your breathing, you can somewhat control your stress and the emotions that go with it,” underlines Samira Les Mots Emoi. Another super important point: a smile. When entering the examination room, the candidate must arrive in front of the examiners wearing a smile, or even a pleasant face. “A student who arrives with a closed face sends back an image of someone who is stressed, and the brain interprets this very quickly. indicates the specialist.
When speaking, if the student stammers his words or has a memory lapse for example, the coach advises to “take a moment of silence, to stop for a short moment, to put yourself in a bubble and to catch your breath”. No need to hide the problem, the candidate can very well explain to the jury that he was wrong and that he will start his sentence again. “The jurors are human and can understand when we make a mistake. By saying it, it also reduces the stress a little and we come to our senses little by little,” she comments.
Furthermore, if the candidate has the habit of not speaking loudly enough or, on the contrary, of speaking too quickly, he must practice well in advance of the exam. “The rate of speech and the volume of the voice are very important. I therefore recommend preparing your oral presentation with a person, standing at the other end of the room and making your presentation. You will then be forced to speak a little louder to be heard”, explains the expert. He can also practice speaking in front of a mirror and record himself several times. This way he will see what needs to be improved. As for the student who speaks quickly, “he can practice every day, for 1 minute, speaking in slow motion as much as possible, even if it means exaggerating so that his brain gets used to slowing down the rate of speech.”advises coach Samira Les Mots Emoi.