Soon I will have to start practicing speeches for the regional contest again. One thing that I always worry about is the gestures.
On the points sheet, it says to use natural gestures, but I'm always lost on what this means. For me, natural gestures are like moving your hands a bit, maybe showing first and second with your fingers but that's about it.
But then, when I see students from other schools doing their speech, some of them are very theatrical. For example, during the recitation last year, there was a part where a fox got shot, and a lot of students were acting out, holding a shotgun and shooting, which, for me, made it feel more like a play than a recitation.
So yeah, I'm curious to see how you deal with the natural gestures part.
Especially for anyone who has been a judge in a speech contest, do you feel there were any differences in how you and the Japanese judges valued gestures? Or maybe even differences between English speakers from different regions, for example, Americans versus Brits?
by BakutoNoWess