Speaking & Debate
A speech the learner wrote, delivered the way it deserves.
Online coaching for ATKV Redenaars, English public-speaking leagues, school debating and prepared speeches — built on structure and argument, not a bought manuscript.
The honest position
You can buy a speech online. You should not.
There is a whole industry selling ready-written speeches to South African learners. It is quick, it is cheap, and it is a poor deal. Most competition rules require the learner's own work, adjudicators can usually tell, and a student who did not write the words cannot defend them under questioning or recover when they lose their place.
I teach the learner to write it. They keep the skill, they own the argument, and they can stand behind every line. That is a harder product to sell and a far better one to buy.
The package
What R1,350 actually buys.
- Topic analysis and angleWe unpack the set theme together on Teams and find an angle the learner can genuinely defend — one that is theirs, not the obvious one forty other entrants will also use.
- Argument mappingClaim, evidence, and the link between them. This is the part most speeches get wrong: they assert rather than argue, and the marks reflect it.
- Structure and rhetoricOpening, escalation, turn and close. I teach the specific devices that work in competition — antithesis, tricolon, the deliberate pause — and when to leave them alone.
- The learner draftsThey write it. I give written feedback on each draft, marking where the argument thins, the rhythm stalls, or the language reaches beyond the learner's own voice.
- Two live coaching sessionsDelivery: pace, projection, eye contact, gesture, and what to do with your hands. Recorded so the learner can see what the audience sees.
- Competition-day preparationHandling nerves, the walk to the lectern, unprepared-speech technique, and answering the questions that follow.
Circuits covered
Where this applies.
| Circuit | Language | Typical grades | What we focus on |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATKV Redenaars | Afrikaans | 1–12 | Set-theme interpretation, structure, memorised delivery |
| English school leagues | English | 4–12 | Prepared and unprepared speaking, argument quality |
| School debating | English / Afrikaans | 8–12 | Case construction, rebuttal, points of information |
| Eisteddfod speech items | English / Afrikaans | R–12 | Prepared readings, own composition, oral interpretation |
| Head-student & leadership speeches | Either | 10–12 | Authenticity, brevity, holding a hall |
Also available
Adult and professional speaking.
The same technique applies to a wedding speech, a conference keynote, a eulogy or a pitch. Coaching is billed at the standard private rate of R420 an hour online, and most people need two sessions.
Enquire about adult coachingSpeaking season