Elementary Gets a Taste Of High School With Speech Class Demonstrations

Caption1: Arthur Lobato presenting a speech on “How To Make Pancakes” to the 2nd grade class. [Grace E. Meier]

By Grace Meier

The high school Speech Class visited first through fourth grade from Wednesday through Friday, September 24-26, to present their Demonstration speeches to elementary grades giving them experience in presenting their speeches to a larger audience.

The four speech students gave a different presentation to each of the different classes, including the A and B split classes.

Freshmen Annabelle Harper and helpers, Paula Asare Duah and Arthur Lobato, showed the fourth grade A and B classes two speeches on “How To Wrap A Present.” 

Arthur Lobato, also a freshman, along with helpers, Grace Meier as well as Paula Asare-Duah and Annabelle Harper, presented to the third grade A and B classes ‘How To Make Pancakes.”

Grace Meier, a 9th grade freshman, presented to Isabel Nascimento’s first grade class with helpers, Arthur Lobato and Annabelle Harper, with a speech showing them “How To Make An Origami Animal Bookmark.”

Isabel Nascimento, the first grade teacher, was there to observe Meier’s performance during the presentation for her first grade students.

“It was organized in a way that made the kids engaged which was really good,” Nascimento said. “They had clear examples for the kids to follow and that they could copy or do their own. So, it was very well thought out for this age group.”

Freshman Paula Asare-Duah presented a speech with helper, Grace Meier, explaining “How To Make Paper Fortune Tellers” to Mrs. Dorcas Asare-Duah’s third grade class.

Asare-Duah’s experience with preparing for her speech was generally smooth and simple.

“In terms of myself, I didn’t really do too much to prepare as it was just like pieces of paper and a slideshow.” said Asare-Duah, “The kids had their own markers and scissors to cut and draw things, so I only had to prepare the slideshow.”

Though Paula didn’t have to do much to prepare for her speech, there were still some struggles that she faced when she was preparing it.

“In terms of difficulty the hardest part would be picking a topic.” Asare-Duah said, “I was originally going to do gingerbread peanut butter sandwiches but I didn’t really like that idea, so I decided to settle for paper fortune tellers.”

Though Paula didn’t seem to have much trouble with her preparation for her speech, Isabel Nascimento had different opinions with how the demonstration speeches could have been improved as a whole.

Caption: Arthur Lobato helping a 1st grader during Grace Meier’s speech on “How To Make Origami Animal Bookmarks.” [Paula-Chloe Asare-Duah]‚

“If we could have worked in smaller groups, then maybe I could’ve known a little bit of what they were going to do with Miss Fiona and myself, we could have each had a little group.” Mrs. Nascimento said, “So, working in smaller groups or just dividing them into two groups that you guys could do the presentation might’ve improved it.”

Though Mrs. Nacimento had some improvements that could happen to change the speeches, she also thought that there were some really good things about how the demonstration speech went in her class.

“I think the best thing was keeping the kids motivated,” Nascimento said. “They weren’t distracted or wanting to do other things. They were interested in what was being shown to them.”

Paula Asare-Duah’s opinion on the most successful part of how her demonstration speech went was slightly different than that of Mrs. Nascimento’s.

“The kids really liked making the paper fortune tellers.” Paula said, “Most of them already knew how to make them, so it was pretty easy and fun for them. They got to decorate, color, and draw, so it was pretty fun for them.”

Though she had some successful parts of her Demonstration to the 3rd grade class of 2025-2026, she had a few difficulties as well.

“The kids were a bit frenzied. Some of them did not follow instructions very well,” Asare-Duah said. “For many of them, it wasn’t something new that I was showing them how to do because many of them already knew how to make it. They did not follow along and it was not a group project.”

Though some of the students didn’t have as enjoyable of an experience with their Demonstrations to elementary, there were other steps that took place to prepare for it that they might have enjoyed more.

Dr. Cristna Meier, the teacher for the speech class elective for the past three years, prepared her students by teaching them how to present a demonstration speech using practice and example.

“We talked about the basics of doing a demonstration speech and then they got the chance to practice on their classmates before they had to go do it to elementary students,” said Dr. Meier, “I think that practice was very helpful for them because they could see just how much time they needed so that they could adapt and change their topic if needed to.”

On teaching with examples Dr. Meier said, “I prepared a PowerPoint presentation, I gave them some examples of what a demonstration speech is, and helped them process the information. Then they gave me feedback so I could tell that they understood how to do it correctly.”

Although Dr. Cristina Meier taught her students how to make a demonstration speech properly, she didn’t have to bring many of the materials for them.

“It wasn’t really my responsibility to bring the materials,” Cristina said, “but I did offer to bring some things if they let me know in advance. My students were very responsible, amazing students.”

Dr. Meier enjoyed her experience with her 2025-2026 speech class students for their demonstration speeches to elementary students, but she did have a favorite part of the whole experience.

“Watching my students take an idea that they want to demonstrate and being able to successfully demonstrate that,” Cristina Meier said, “Also, getting positive feedback from the elementary teachers saying; ‘This was so great, we were so happy to have them come over.’” 

Dr. Meier’s students had slightly different favorite parts of their speeches as Paula Asare-Duah says. 

“Seeing the kids enjoy their paper fortune tellers, even though they all basically knew how to make one themselves was probably my favorite part.” Asare-Duah said, “It was just fun to see them playing with each other.”

Asare-Duah liked to see the kids playing with their finished projects in the same way that  Isabel Nascimento enjoyed seeing how her students enjoyed the visitors in her class.

“I enjoy having other students participating in my class because it helps get the kids engaged,” said Mrs. Nascimento. “They like having other people coming in and working with them.”

Asare-Duah provided an inspiring insight about how people shouldn’t be afraid to speak in public, especially with things like Demonstration speeches.

“You don’t need to be nervous about anything,” said Asare-Duah, “because once you do it you’ll feel relieved and just free from whatever you were feeling before. So, just go for whatever you want to do because you might regret it otherwise.”

When it comes to the demonstration speeches, both the students and their teachers benefited from the overall experience and said they wouldn’t be opposed to doing it again.