Preparation notes from the adjudicator's side of the table.
These are the things I most often wish an entrant had been told before they walked on. Free, no sign-up required.
Taught by a national eisteddfod adjudicator
Competing since age eight
Live online, anywhere in South Africa
In English & Afrikaans
Guide 01
How to prepare a monologue
Read the full piece twice before making any acting choices.
Mark where the thought changes, not only where the sentence ends.
Choose who you are speaking to and what you want from them.
Rehearse standing up so your body learns the piece too.
Polish the first ten seconds until the opening feels calm and controlled.
Guide 02
Eisteddfod performance checklist
Know the title, author and time limit — and check them against this year's syllabus, not last year's.
Practise your entrance, stillness, introduction and exit as carefully as the piece itself.
Keep costume choices neat, readable and performance-friendly.
Project to the back wall without shouting.
Finish strongly, hold the final moment, then leave with confidence.
Guide 03
Audition confidence
Arrive knowing your piece, your character and your first line.
Use your breathing to slow down before you begin.
Make bold choices, but keep them truthful.
If you make a mistake, stay in character and continue.
Thank the panel and leave the room professionally.
Guide 04
Writing a speech that scores
Take the angle you can defend, not the one forty other entrants will also take.
Argue, do not assert — every claim needs evidence and a stated link between them.
Structure it as opening, escalation, turn and close.
Write in your own voice. Language borrowed from an adult is audible from the back of the hall.
Time it out loud at performance pace, not reading pace. They are not the same.
Guide 05
Managing nerves on the day
Nerves are readiness, not a warning. The physical feeling is the same either way.
Breathe out longer than you breathe in — four counts in, six out, four times.
Do not rehearse the whole piece in the waiting room. Rehearse only the first line.
Walk on slower than feels natural. Rushing on reads as fear before you have said a word.
Find one point on the back wall and take a beat before you start.
Guide 06
For parents: what actually helps
Ask them to perform it for you once a week, not once a night. Over-rehearsal flattens a piece.
Praise a specific choice rather than the whole performance.
Do not comment on the result of other entrants in front of your child.
Read the adjudication sheet with them a day later, not in the car park.
The comment that stings is usually the one worth working on.
Free download
The Eisteddfod Preparation Checklist
The full printable version of the checklist above, plus the timing and presentation notes I use with private students, and the mistakes that most often cost marks.
Prefer to skip the form? The full printable checklist is
available here as a PDF
— three pages, free, and you are welcome to print it and pass it on to other parents.