Public Speaking

Junior Public Speaking: Confident Communication

Finding a voice, one speech at a time.

Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6

Students in this program do more than memorize a script. They practice reading a room, defending an idea, and building on what a classmate says instead of shutting it down.
Junior Public Speaking gives them 34 weeks to practice exactly that.

What Happens in Every Class

Theory

Every class starts with theory, not shortcuts. Before students give a single speech, they learn Aristotle’s three appeals, ethos, pathos, and logos, the actual framework behind why an argument works. Understanding why something works is what lets a student build their own speech, not just copy someone else’s.

Application

Theory gets tested right away. After learning ethos, pathos, and logos, students write and deliver an instructional speech, then a storytelling speech built around a moral, choosing on purpose which appeal to lean on for each one.

Group Engagement

Students build and deliver video presentations, record voiceovers, and take part in a full debate unit that ends in a Debate Day, building a case and defending it in front of their peers.

Applied Thinking

As part of the debate unit, students argue a side of a topic, sometimes the side they do not personally agree with. Building the strongest case for a position other than your own takes real research, and it is what resolves a real disagreement instead of repeating your side louder.

Curriculum Spotlight

Week 8: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

Week 7 covers rhetoric and rhetorical devices.

Week 8 narrows that down to Aristotle’s three appeals: ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic). Students learn to name which one a speaker is using.
The same three ideas return in Week 11 and again in the final persuasive speech unit, so students get more than one chance to use them.