15 November 2023
(Feature photo: Clifton’s Director of the Arts Shaun McCabe with the school’s delegation that excelled at the National Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships)
At the end of September, Clifton’s delegation at the National Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships, held at St Mary’s DSG, produced an outstanding set of results, with each of the boys achieving a place in the final, a feat unmatched by any other school.
The line-up included Jake Savage, for persuasive speaking; Imran Vally, for persuasive speaking; Wasim Mulla, for after dinner speaking and impromptu; and Jinwon Ha, for after dinner speaking, which he won.
Jake and Imran were selected to represent South Africa at the World Championships in Canberra, Australia, in 2024, while Wasim was named as an SA Team reserve speaker.
Equal status
Those results were evidence of a focus on the arts which, at Clifton, are accorded equal status to sport. In fact, shared Shaun McCabe, Clifton’s Director of the Arts, there is no favouritism shown towards any aspect of life at the school when it comes to awards: “We’ve actually got a Sports, Arts and Service Awards evening,” he explained.
“The sportsmen are acknowledged at the same time that the boys are recognised in the arts, as well as the boys that are providing community service. We do it alphabetically. We don’t do sports first, and then the arts. You’ll go, for example, canoeing, choir, cricket, debating.
“It’s such an integral part of who we are as a school. Everybody is celebrated at the same time. A lot of schools have rugby dinners and hockey dinners. We just have one evening where everybody is celebrated at the same time equally.
“The biggest trophy we hand out is the poetry trophy, which is huge. It’s an amazing evening.”
There are numerous extracurricular opportunities for the boys at the Durban school but public speaking and debating, McCabe said, are particularly important skills that will always be valuable.
The World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships
Clifton’s commitment to those skills was to the fore in March when the school hosted the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships, which drew 120 speakers from 17 countries.
Those numbers made it the biggest edition of the competition yet.
Four categories
McCabe explained the four categories in which participants compete: Impromptu involves an off-the-cuff speech. Individual debating involves being part of a team but speaking for oneself. Reading entails choosing an extract and interpreting the reading thereof.
The fourth category, called prepared, has two options: the first is persuasive, McCabe said. “You present a problem, and you come up with a solution to that problem. There’s a very basic formula for that.
“The other one is a bit more creative. It’s after-dinner. It tends to be quite light-hearted, a bit humorous. Sometimes, they will choose an existing body, like the United Nations, or they make up these bizarre international organisation villains, and they take on the villain persona.
“It’s very creative, but more difficult than persuasive. It’s the type of speech you would give after an AGM or a company dinner, but there’s a lot of leeway. Sometimes, they’re a little bit motivational, but always funny.”
Open to opportunities
Besides participating in the South African Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships, Clifton enters pretty much any public speaking event happening in and around Durban, McCabe said. The reason for that is there are fewer opportunities available in the east coast city than in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
The school also holds the Helen Joseph Oratory Challenge, which is a triangular competition, also featuring Our Lady of Fatima and Maris Stella. Each school includes a speaker for every grade, from 7 to 12. In total, there are 18 speakers, with the grade 7s talking for three minutes and the grade 12s for four minutes.
“We won that this year,” McCabe shared. Points are accrued in each grade category and then added up at the end to determine the overall winner. “We had one boy, in grade 11, win his category, but we won the overall. We were consistent. We set up the competition, which is named after [renowned anti-apartheid activist] Helen Joseph, who used to teach here at Clifton.”
Centenary celebrations
In 2024, McCabe said Clifton will host a declamation competition, as part of the school’s Centenary celebrations.
For those unfamiliar with the term, an Internet search offers the following definition: “A declamation competition is a public speaking event in which participants deliver a memorised speech with emotion, conviction, and rhetorical flair. It’s quite competitive.”
McCabe said public speaking practices at Clifton often have to be carried out around many other activities, and they’re usually one-on-one. “I’ll ask the boys to come back the next day having worked on something specific, like the introduction.”
Toastmasters
Grade 11s are also offered the Toastmasters course, which helps participants develop communication, public speaking, and leadership skills. Those boys can then also compete in Toastmasters competitions.
“It’s entirely optional and voluntary, but is a really fantastic programme,” McCabe said. “I wish all the boys could be involved in that.
“I think one of the things we try to do at Clifton is to provide the stage, the platform, the lectern, the podium, for every single boy who is involved in the arts. We want to provide a platform for the musician, we want to provide a lectern for the public speaker, a podium for the debater, a stage for the actor.
“It’s about giving boys the space, both physically and metaphorically, to be able to showcase their talent.
“We need to celebrate that. In a country like South Africa, there is a lot of focus on sports, so it is providing those boys who are not necessarily sporty with their moment to achieve and be recognised and acknowledged.
“Part of our philosophy here at Clifton is providing those literal and figurative spaces for the boys to showcase their talent.”
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