The word “Assembly” means “a group of people gathered in one place for a common purpose.” Therefore ‘assembly’ is not just a gathering it is a gathering for a ‘common purpose’ and the common purpose is to “educate” the young minds.
The school assembly is conducted every day with a view to commence the process of educating the students with few ‘learning inputs’ that would act as catalyst for day long learning. This often comes in the form for small stories that convey lessons of life, ‘thought for the day’ important news item or any such matters that are worthy of mentioning in the assembly.
Often a student is selected every day to ‘drive’ the assembly. This is primarily done to introduce the student selected to address a congregation with a view to train him to overcome the fear of public speaking in the first place, help him to select a worthy subject and to prepare him to structure his speech even if he may not be aware of these.
School Assembly, therefore is a formal affaire and hence looks for a ‘formal’ self-introduction of the student concerned. You may try the following:
Good mooring respected Principal Ma’am / Sir, revered teachers and my friends. My name is <say your name>. I am a student of class <mention your class/standard>…
[Many a time the chosen student is introduced to the assembly by the designated Teacher, Principal or the Head boy/girl. If it is so, do not repeat your name and start your speech with a “Thank you <Ma’am/Sir/<name of the student /Head boy/girl who has introduced you> for your kind introduction. Repeating your name amounts to superfluous expression and therefore should be avoided.]
If the introducer has just mentioned your name only, then you may start your speech with a “Thank you for the kind introduction. I am a student of Standard <mention your standard/division/etc.>. Then you may start your speech straight away.
For example, “Friends, today, I would tell you a story by name, “The most Disliked one.”
A class teacher asked her students to write on a piece of paper the name of the friend whom they disliked most. As the students got busy, the teacher observed that one student, Raju sitting idle without writing and she decided to ask why he is not writing the name of the person he disliked most. Raju replied:
“Ma’am when I don’t dislike anybody, whose name would I write?”
By the time the other students finished writing and the teacher started checking the names. She checked all the names and to her surprise could not find the name of the student, Raju, who abstained from writing; in any of the chits she checked!
Once the story is finished, say, “My dear friends, “Life gives back to us what we put in to it…if you do good, you would get good in return, if you say good words, you would get good words in return…if you do bad things to others, you would face bad consequences from life. Let us take pledge today to put only good things into our as well as others life. Thank you.
Remember Voice inflections and Body language plays a mighty important role in your speech. When you say “Good Morning,” it should sound “good” and should be uttered in a friendly in tone. When you tell the story, you should use the emotions properly. For example when you say, “The Teacher was surprised,” your face should light up with the emotion of surprise, when you say; “Ma’am when I don’t dislike anybody, whose name would I write?” your face should have the feelings of compassion and kindness.
Remember, good communication makes the world go round. Best of luck.
