As part of the project entitled Public Speaking: Success at School, Personal Development and Social Cohesion, student volunteers from the faculties of Education and Humanities at UIC Barcelona have, since October, imparted a series of sessions on education around the world, water use and our ecological footprint.
The volunteers received training in oratory techniques by Lecturer Fernando Carrera, to learn and develop their speaking tools, and classes on social and scientific matters by Mónica Fernández, lecturer in the Faculty of Education, and Laura Figueras, lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities.
Talking about her experience, Blanca de Paco, a student in the Humanities and Cultural Studies programme, explained that, "it has been very enriching. Thanks to these workshops I feel more confident using these oratory techniques, and it's also very gratifying to develop our public speaking abilities while discussing important issues such as achieving universal education worldwide", one of the millennium goals set out by the UN based on different social concerns.
Gema Mir, director of FERT Batxillerat (Barcelona), also agrees that, "these activities help improve the students' discursive and mental capacity; something, regrettably, that is often missing from today's curricula".
The project, Public Speaking: Success at School, Personal Development and Social Cohesion, was created in early September through a partnership with the 'La Caixa' Foundation. Through a series of workshops, it aims to transform students from passive subjects to active players in their own learning, helping them overcome indifference and become proactive citizens capable of resolving conflicts through dialogue.
