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71st Speech Festival

Preparation Programme

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Primary 3
Solo verse Speaking SAmple

Seasons of trees

by Julie Holder 

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In spring
The trees
Are a beautiful sight
Dressed in blossom
Pink and white.

In summer
The trees
Are full of treats
Apples and pears
And cherries to eat.

In autumn
The trees
Are red and gold
And the leaves full down
As the days grow cold.

In winter
The trees
Are bare and plain
waiting for spring
To dress them again.

Primary 4
Solo verse Speaking SAmple

The Cupboard

by Walter de la Mare

​

I know a little cupboard,

With a teeny tiny key,

And there's a jar of Lollipops

For me, me, me.

 

It has a little shelf, my dear,

As dark as dark can be,

And there's a dish of Banbury Cakes

For me, me, me.

 

I have a small fat grandmamma,

With a very slippery knee,

And she's Keeper of the Cupboard,

With the key, key, key.

 

And when I'm very good, my dear,

As good as good can be,

There's Banbury Cakes, and Lollipops

For me, me, me.

Primary 5
Solo verse Speaking SAmple

Granny Granny Please Comb My Hair

by Grace Nichols

​

Granny Granny

Please comb my hair

You always take your time

You always take such care
 

You take me sit on a cushion

Between your knees

You rub a little coconut oli

Parting my hair as gentle as a breeze
 

Mummy mummy

She’s always in a hurry-hurry

She pulls my hair

Sometimes she tugs
 

But granny

You have all the time in the world

And when you’ve finished

You always turn my head and say

“Now who’s a nice girl?"

maggie and milly and molly and may

by E. E. Cummings - 1894-1962​

​

              10

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)

​

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

​

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

​

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

​

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

​

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

Primary 6
Solo verse Speaking SAmple

Secondary 1
Solo verse Speaking SAmple

The Paint Box

by E. V. Rieu 

 

"Cobalt and umber and ultramarine,

Ivory black and emerald green --

What shall I paint to give pleasure to you?"

"Paint for me somebody utterly new."

 

"I have painted you tigers in crimson and white."

"The colors were good and you painted aright."

"I have painted the cook and the camel in blue

And a panther in purple."  "You painted them true.

 

"Now mix me a color that nobody knows,

And paint me a country where nobody goes.

And put in it people a little like you,

Watching a unicorn drinking the dew."

 

​

Secondary 2
Solo verse Speaking SAmple

The Moon

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) 

 

The moon has a face like the clock in the hall;
She shines on thieves on the garden wall,
On streets and fields and harbour quays,
And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.

​

The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,
The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.

​

But all of the things that belong to the day
Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;
And flowers and children close their eyes
Till up in the morning the sun shall arise.

 

​

Secondary 3
Solo verse Speaking SAmple

Overheard on a Saltmarsh

by Harold Monro (1879-1932) 

 

Nymph, nymph, what are your beads?

Green glass, goblin. Why do you stare at them?

Give them me.

No.

Give them me. Give them me.

No.

Then I will howl all night in the reeds,

Lie in the mud and howl for them.

Goblin, why do you love them so?

They are better than stars or water,

Better than voices of winds that sing,

Better than any man's fair daughter,

Your green glass beads on a silver ring.

Hush, I stole them out of the moon.

Give me your beads, I want them.

No.

I will howl in the deep lagoon

For your green glass beads, I love them so.

Give them me. Give them.

No.

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