Extempore is an impromptu speech that is delivered with little or no preparation. As an extempore is spontaneous, it requires great effort to deliver it successfully. The most important aspect of extempore is that it helps in the enhancement of communication & cognitive skills. The core idea of the extempore speech is to gather & articulate all the thoughts that come to the mind in an innovative way and present them in a coherent and well organized manner- all within the span of a minute. Communication skills, especially oral communication, where aspects of language accompanied by the non-verbal gestures (such as eye contact, facial expressions, body language etc), audience understanding, and active listening etc. come to the fore in extempore and other such oratorical events.
Staford School witnessed an Inter House Extempore Competition on 4th October, 2013. The judges, Principal Sir and Headmistress Ma’am arrived at the venue at 11:15 am. Sarah Ma’am was anchoring the show. She informed the students about the rules of Extempore/JAM.
A draw of lots decided the topic each student would speak on, for just a minute (JAM). All the houses (Amber, Garnet, Emerald and Sapphire) had one member representing each of the classes from classes II to VI.
Sarah Ma’am started the event with class II students. The class teacher Shailja Ma’am picked up the topic for each student. After the class II, it was the turn for classes III and IV. Archana Ma’am picked up the topics from the lot, for the students of class III and IV. Thereafter Shiraz Sir announced the topics from the lot for classes V and VI.
1. Vansh Maheshwari from Sapphire House, of class II A spoke well on the topic: “Myself” and bagged the 1st position in his class.
2. Adarsh Jaiswal from Emerald House, of class III A also spoke well on the topic: “My favourite Book” and stood 1st in his class.
3. Mohd. Ali Areeb from Sapphire House, of Class IV A spoke very well on the topic:”Say No to Junk Food” and was the best speaker in his class.
4. Syed Murtaza from Sapphire House of class V A, spoke on the topic: “Importance of Trees” and secured the first position in his class.
5. Nausheen Noor Zaidi from Garnet House of Class VI A, spoke confidently on the topic: “Great Leaders of India” and stood 1st in her class.
The event was concluded with a few tips regarding Extempore/JAM from the Headmistress who emphasized on preparing and planning the focus areas of a topic before speaking. She also declared the names of the winners and announced that the Sapphire House students scored the maximum points in today’s competition.