The School of Eloquence created this concept to increase public speaking among youths as a tool for educational empowerment. The Eloquence Cup competition has produced numerous accolades and awardees for best speaking practices among various secondary schools across Nigeria.
The Eloquence Cup emanated from The Catching Them Young program. This initiative was aimed at promoting the improvement of public speaking among secondary schools. The program began with the School of Eloquence Alumni network adopting various secondary schools for public speaking classes and mentoring which was derived from the Catching Them Young Program. Some of the schools visited include: Queens College Yaba, Kings College Lagos Queen Mary School Ogudu, Comprehensive secondary school Ebaka-Okrika, Rivers State and many others. The Ultimate Speaking Face-off enables students to perform tasks in public speaking among competitors from various schools. The winner takes it all.
Students are bound to face public speaking situations as they will be called upon by their teachers to lead the assembly, answer questions, make representations or do some reading in front of their class mates.
Some of these students will be very brilliant with mastery of key subjects but will often find it uncomfortable when put on the spot. Others will be extremely shy types doing everything possible to remain at the back of the classroom for fear of being noticed and called upon. Our students must therefore be encouraged to embrace this challenge very early in their life’s development. The Eloquence Cup provides these opportunities for public speaking improvement against all odds.
We must consider this initiative as a positive output for learning development. Many brimmed with envy as the young lads took turns to speak with power with the attendant applause from an adoring mature audience. Most of who openly wished they had such opportunity growing up back in their school days; lamenting how better off they might have fared in their current career roles if only they had been caught and taught public speaking while so young.
The students as well as their teachers,were delighted to interact with the School of Eloquence team. No doubt at The Eloquence Cup,students received qualitative learning in public speaking, thus keeping in line with our mandate”…teaching the world to speak.”
