Bringing TED and public speaking in the classroom. The opportunities for schools uncovered by an event

TED is returning to Varese Province’s schools and is teaching how to speak well in public thanks to the art of public speaking. On Saturday, 17 November, at the Teatrino Santuccio in Varese (via Sacco 10), from 10.00 am to 1.30 pm, is taking place a free event, which is organised by TEDxVarese team and is aimed at headmasters, teachers and students from all the middle and high schools of the province, in order to analyse the opportunities and the educational tools that are made available by TED and the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, and the potentialities resulting from the introduction of such resources in their own schools, for the purpose of the development of public speaking skills among students.

It is possible to take part in the event by signing up by 15 November via this dedicated form: https://www.tedxvarese.com/scuole/

The famous media organisation, which was born in the United States and then spread all over the world, in fact, in accordance with a protocol that was signed with the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, makes a series of tools and free or entirely financed opportunities available to all schools, with the aim of developing and increasing the argumentative abilities in public of the students. Speaking in an efficient way is one of the soft skills that have recently been added by the World Economic Forum among the necessary abilities that are asked by the job market of the future.

Some of the resources that are made available by TED are free and easy to use, such as the TED-Ed clubs, which allows bringing the TED method in the classroom. The others are financed by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research and require the provision of curricular or extracurricular advanced classes for public speaking, which are available by means of an application process.

The event of 17 November is organised with the aim of explaining in detail all the educational opportunities that are made available by TED in order to enhance the public speaking’s skills in class and encourage the opening of free TED-Ed clubs in the territory’s schools. During the initiative, David Mammano, organiser and licensee of TEDxVarese; Michele Tovaglieri, public speaking instructor and speaker coach of TEDxVarese; and the headmasters and teachers of the province’s schools that have already started a TED-Ed club, are going to take the floor.

TEDxVarese, the TEDx event of Varese, which has had success on the provincial territory and not only as a reference point for innovative ideas and a meeting and exchange platform between people, points of view and projects, is involved, since its birth, in the development of support activities and education for schools in the public speaking, also thanks to the partnership with Fondazione Giuseppe Merlini.

This path has led, for now, to the birth of four TED-Ed clubs in Varese Province, starting from 2017 (with the ITE Tosi in Busto Arsizio as the pioneer school; the Liceo Classico Crespi in Busto Arsizio; the Liceo Scientifico Ferraris in Varese and the Liceo Classico Cairoli in Varese), and to the realisation of an appreciation initiative for the students’ activities, as part of the conference’s second edition, which took place in the convention centre Ville Ponti, in June 2018.