Lights, Camera, Action!

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Diller Teen Fellows has been one of the most impressive programs I have ever participated in. It has opened many doors to wonderful opportunities and experiences, such as the meeting held on Sunday the 6th of March. Our lovely leader, Ellie, organised an Israeli guest speaker, Ayelet, to teach the Melbourne cohort the importance of speech, eye contact and posture, when speaking publicly as well as when faced with the difficulties of speaking in front of a camera for television.  

This session has been the most interesting yet, when I say interesting I mean unique, slightly strange, and memorable and most importantly fun. Ayelet had organised speaking exercises, in which we stretched our legs and had our hands strategically placed on a wall in line with our shoulders. We each had a pre prepared speech about an inspirational person that impacted our lives greatly, and repeated the paragraph to the wall. The wall had become our “new best friend”, it was a great listener, it never replied back rudely, to be honest though, it never replied back at all. Although this probably sounds extremely obscure to anyone who has not yet experienced this event, it helped us improve our speaking techniques. We also studied the former United States president, Bill Clinton's’ televised interview skills, learning how to improve our own.

My favorite part of all, consisted of all the Teen Fellows lying on our backs yelling odd sentences and sounds to the ceiling with a changing vocal range. Not only was it hilarious to hear a group of “mature” teenagers yell ‘splosh, splash’ and ‘ooooooo’ at a concrete ceiling, it is something I will never forget, with all the voice cracking and our ability to reach pitches that have never been required by any human.   

Our session started with a reading from our all time favorite story books, ‘The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘We Are Going On A Bear Hunt’, learning the impact and importance of picture books on childhood. By the end of the session, using all we had learnt from Ayelet, each of us stood in front of a camera as we recited our speeches. The most memorable speech was delivered by a male Fellow, who had spoken about Justin Biebers’ struggles and the ‘man’ he has become today. That will be forever imprinted in my mind as one of the humorous and eloquent speeches I have yet heard.

Watch out world, you are looking at a whole new set of leaders, with the best speech capabilities, even Bill Clinton doesn’t stand a chance! 

- Maya Schwalb






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