On Tuesday 4th May, the entirety of Lower Sixth took their ESB (English Speaking Board) examination. This consisted of four sections – a speech, debate over a newspaper article and reading either a book or memorising a poem and our overall contribution to other classmates, such as asking questions. For months we have been preparing ourselves for the presentations, so it was a great relief when the day finally came!
Our presentations were done in groups consisting of roughly six pupils and the examination took about three hours per group. Our group had a slot in the morning, so we had an early start. As examples, Sarah gave a presentation on Women in Islam and Mary spoke about Racism. Although the nerves got to us when initially starting, gradually our confidence grew, and we thought of ESB as less of an examination but more of an enjoyable learning experience. We particularly enjoyed the speeches because unlike other sections of the examination, in this section pupils had a personal approach to their deliverance and the structure of their pieces, allowing the speaker to engage with the audience at a deeper level.
The ESB gave us the opportunity to not only improve our public speaking skills, but to have a fun learning opportunity and discover some of our wide-ranging interests!
Sarah & Mary, Lower Sixth