For many years now the whole Hebron community has had a common vocabulary around public speaking techniques. We’ve made great use of the work of Erik Palmer, the author of Well Spoken and his PVLEGS system. PVLEGS is a vocabulary of public speaking attributes that we introduce to students as early as middle school and continue to emphasize in classes throughout a Hebron student’s career.

         P –composure and confidence

         V –volume and varied tone

         L –Life (bringing emotion into what you say)

         E –Eye contact

         G –body and face to illustrate points

         S –Speed (don’t rush through interesting thoughts)

Hebron classes are very much discussion-based, so students are constantly asked to speak up in discussion, to bring up their observations and ask questions that keep the conversation going. Students get a lot of exposure to more informal public speaking in this way. But to help reinforce PVLEGS at all levels, we also build in a formal speaking event for each year in the upper school.

FIRST WORD: Built into 9th grade humanities as a supportive environment; short presentation based on a topic they’ve researched.

Next Word— Pecha Kucha-style presentation, with image-based slides; done in groups to teach collaboration skills

Words with Others—Some public speaking in RL is not in a big group but in a one-on-one conversation, like a job interview; juniors have a chance to do mock college interviews with a faculty member who takes them through typical Q&A and then gives them honest feedback on the way they present themselves.

The Last Word—Speech given by all seniors and PGs in front of an all-school meeting during the year. Some topics: person who influenced/trips that were adventures or disasters/an experience that changed their perspective on the world.