Ask me anything!

And news of the next two meet ups

Hi everyone,

Last week’s poll has finished and here are the results:

In joint first place we have:

Teaching LAMDA in various settings

Vocal Health for Young Performers

So what should I do? Toss a coin? Pick a topic out of a hat? Or… do them both?

---

Our topic for the March meet up will be “Teaching LAMDA in various settings” - and I’ll put a Doodlepoll at the bottom of this post so we can choose a date that suits as many people as possible.

We will look at the various settings in which The Playing Space teaches (private schools, state schools, our own space, hired spaces, people’s homes) and discuss the joys and challenges of each of those.

And on Friday 17th April at 3pm I’ve booked the voice coach, Imogen Read, to do a session on Vocal Health for Young Performers. Imogen is a trained actor and holds an MA in Voice Studies from Central School of Speech and Drama. She has worked with students at Oxford School of Drama and is now the full time voice coach at Royal Welsh. Before her MA, Imogen taught LAMDA and Speech and Drama, so she understands the needs of our group extremely well.

She will focus on:

• how we can look after the vocal health of young performers whether they are doing school plays, community theatre or LAMDA exams.

• practical exercises that we can use in class to help with projection, vocal control and sustaining breath to the ends of sentences.

• breathing techniques to support the voice - which our students will then be able to use in their Grade 6 Acting Knowledge!

Please put this date in your diary, and join the live session if you’re free. And of course the recording will be shared with all paid subscribers the following week!

---

In third place in the poll was “A General Q&A”… and so that is what today’s post is about… basically a reminder that, as paid subscribers, you can ASK ME ANYTHING! If you are moving into a new area of the LAMDA syllabus, or have come up against an issue you haven’t encountered before, need ideas for a particular student, or suggestions for how to deal with a difficult parent or school situation… then please feel free to ask in the GSDC chat, or drop me an email: gabimaddocks@substack.com

Here’s an exchange I had last week with an experienced LAMDA teacher, who is moving into Speaking in Public for the first time, shared with her permission, as I thought it would be beneficial for everyone!

8th MARCH: I teach a Year 8 boy who is very enthusiastic about public speaking. We have been focusing on Grade 4, and he’s chosen the Environment from the list of topics. He wants to talk about Sharks, and the fact that they are endangered. Will this fit with the environment topic? His own choice speech is an argument in favour of schools being open four days a week instead of five.

There’s been a lot of back and forth with his parents as he’s not very organised, has just been diagnosed with autism, and I’m just questioning myself if I’m on the right track with him, having not taught this subject before.

For the Shark speech, he has written a first draft of his speech (attached for you). He starts with his hook (more people are killed each year by vending machines than sharks!). I’ve suggested he then mentions the three areas within his speech before diving into the first one.

The first section is about the fear around sharks. The second section is about the way media reports on sharks, and finally he will talk about why sharks are important for the environment.

Does this sound all right? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

(NB I haven’t included the draft of his speech in this post, but it was attached to the email)

My reply:

I think it all sounds fabulous! Personally I steer away from writing out speeches in full, because I think it can have an impact on spontaneity… BUT if he finds this helpful and he can move from this into bullet pointing, rather than learning “off by heart” then it’s no problem at all.

Both of his ideas are great, and I definitely think his idea about Sharks fits into the Environment theme, because they are part of the environment, affected by manmade climate change (this article might be interesting) and he specifically talks about ways that sharks are important for the environment - no problems here.

I also, love the idea about arguments in favour of reducing the school week - it’s a great contrast. One tip: try and make one more formal and one less formal, so he can show that he’s able to adapt language and style for the chosen situation.

9th MARCH: Thank you for your reply and comments. To be honest I am the same with not wanting to write the whole speech out would prefer bullet points.

Can they take note cards in with them during the exam?

I’ll discuss his second idea of speech with him and wondering if he could make it less formal about schools being 4 days.

For his speech about sharks, he is wanting to use two mood boards: one showing the negative way they are reported on in the media, and then a positive one showing how sharks are important. Would this work?

My reply:

Yes he can take notecards into the exam. My advice to students to write 3-5 words or phrases per card, to use thick Sharpie-style pen so they’re not tempted to write full sentences, and nice big clear writing so they can just glance down rather than read.

A suggestion about how to make his speech about school less formal: could his imagined audience be classmates, to get them on board so that they will sign his petition to the school governors or something? If he’s talking to peers, he won’t be using formal vocabulary or body language.

Regarding the visual aids: They sound great - as long as it’s visual! Not too much writing - any writing should be large and easily read from a distance.

---

So now my question for all of you: what has been niggling you recently? Is there anything you would like some advice on? Often, just having someone telling you that you’re doing everything right can be so valuable when self-doubt creeps in! Perhaps there could be a new regular “From My Inbox” feature. Let me know in the comments if you found today’s post helpful, and whether you would like more posts like this - perhaps you could feature in the next one!

If you are a paid subscriber, then you can drop me a line, either by email or in the group chat, and let’s get out of our Speech and Drama Bubbles and into this Speech and Drama Community!

And for all paid subscribers: below this you’ll find the DoodlePoll for our March meet up!