Presentation Skills Tabby Cats

Our Presentation Skills Tabby Cats workshop is an introductory level program and is designed to be completed once.

In recognition of the importance of learning presentation skills from a young age, it has (since 2012) formed an essential part of the Stage #1 (Year 1 – 2) syllabus for NSW schools.  Given this, even younger students are no longer able to escape the obligation to speak in public.

Presentation Skills Tabby Cats is designed as a program for students – confident and shy alike – who do not have formal public speaking training.  We all have to speak to audiences at multiple points throughout our lives, but we’re of the firm belief that not only is everyone capable of doing this, but that everyone is capable of enjoying it too.

If your child already has public speaking experience (including through one of our term programs, such as Presentation Skills Leopards or Presentation Skills Lions), they may be better off in our Presentation Skills Tigers group – get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss which workshop would be better for you, or check out our video below to see how our holiday workshops function!

After completing the Presentation Skills Tabby Cats workshop, students should:

• have participated in several activities and games in a nurturing class environment that help break down the stigma that public speaking is scary;
• understand the basic elements of a speech, including the three M’s and simple speech structure; and
• have been given multiple opportunities to present to their class each day.

Connecting with Audiences

The beginning of the first day is designed to help students get to know one another and feel comfortable in the online classroom setting.  Amongst various speaking activities, students will be exposed to the concept of an audience, and come to understand that speeches are about finding a connection between their own interests and those of their audience.

Structuring Speeches

As students progress, they will look more closely at speech structure as a whole, focusing on the unique roles of an introduction, body and conclusion in crafting a persuasive speech, and how each can help persuade their audience.  They will also spend time looking at their own personal speaking manner, and have plenty of opportunities to present speeches to the rest of the class, allowing them to receive personalised feedback and improve their speaking skills.

Forming Persuasive Speeches

As the workshop proceeds, students will start crafting complete speeches, with a particular focus on speech bodies and elaborating on their points.  Students will also learn handy scaffolds for introductions and conclusions, which give them all the elements they need to put together a complete speech.

Students will also continue to be exposed to various manner and other speaking activities, including a number that masquerade as games to help them have fun while presenting!

Our classes vary in size every holiday depending on how many bookings we receive – however, the maximum size of our Presentation Skills Tabby Cats class is 8 students with one coach, and 16 students with two coaches.

If there aren’t any spots left, it’s usually because we’ve hit capacity – please get in touch with us and we’ll see what we can do about either opening an extra class, fitting your child into the existing class, or putting you on a waitlist in case any students pull out!

After each program, students will get to keep:

• a personal feedback sheet prepared by their coach (which will be emailed to parents), which goes through what they’ve improved on, and what still needs some work;
• a certificate recognising their achievements at the workshop;
• a booklet that they’ve completed, which contains the essential concepts covered during the workshop; and
• hopefully a more positive perspective on public speaking!

We have great Kindy programs available for all students who aren’t yet in Year 1 – check out our Speaking Skills Bumblebees holiday workshop and Speaking Skills Butterflies weekly term program to learn more!

We strongly recommend waiting until Year 1 before enrolling in our Tabby Cats or Tigers holiday workshops, or our Leopards and Lions term programs.

All our Year 1 – 2 programs require students to be able to write at least simple sentences, as well as read their own handwriting and instructions on the board, which most Kindergarten students are unfortunately not able to do.  This may lead to those students feeling inferior to the rest of the class, creating new fears around public speaking – the exact opposite of what we hope to achieve.

If you think that your child has sufficient reading and writing skills, we would be more than happy to talk it through with you – alternatively, we would also be more than happy to add you to our email list (see below) so we can let you know when bookings open when your child is old enough to join!

As an introductory program, our Presentation Skills Tabby Cats class is designed to be completed once, and it remains the same every holiday.

Once completed, it’s recommended that students:

• give our Presentation Skills Tigers workshop a try – the program changes every holiday, so students will always have something new they can take away; or
• give one of our term programs a try, such as Presentation Skills Leopards or Presentation Skill Lions, which will build on the skills learned here.

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions, or get in touch using our contact form to learn more!