BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THIRTY-FOUR children can now verbally express themselves better, thanks to the Charles A. Halbert Public Library’s ‘Express Yourself Workshop’.

Held from April 6 to 9, the workshop was aimed at enhancing the public speaking and oral presentation skills of children aged eight to 11. Sessions included drama presentations by Sylvester Dore and Loughlin Tatem, as well as an activity entitled “Do We Need Advertisement” by a TDC representative.

Additionally, retired educator Dorothy Martin guided the children through activities including Anansi storytelling, drama, puppetry and stimulated lectures that exposed them to the different facets of public speaking.

Speaking to SKNVibes, Library Assistant Carmen Blanchard called the workshop “a success” and noted that the children were active and enthusiastic in their participation. She gave insight as to why this year’s workshop focused on the honing of public speaking skills in addition to the requisite reading and writing seminars.

“The staff realised that many children have difficulty with oral expression. By including public speaking as a component of our annual programme, we are hoping to assist them in improving those skills.

“Being good at reading and writing are important, yes. But the ability to confidently express oneself in speech is also critical to the development of effective citizens. At the end of the workshop, the children said they could now express themselves better and felt more confident in speaking,” she informed.

Blanchard further outlined some of the exercises the children undertook in the quest to express themselves more clearly, which included persuasive speeches, drama pieces and the creation of original advertisements.

The initiative was sponsored by several of the library’s private sector partners - Harpers Office Depot, the St. Kitts Cooperative Credit Union, TDC, the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank, Frank B. Armstrong and Sun Island Clothes. Blanchard thanked them for their “generous contributions”  and their sustained involvement in the programme.

The Annual Easter Programme is the successor to the Easter Read-A-Thon Programme in which the nation’s best and brightest young readers competed against one another to determine who could read the most books within a two-week period.