Help Your Child Step on Stage with Confidence
Specialist coaching for the Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival. Verse, Prose Reading and Public Speaking for Primary and Secondary students. Built around the seven judging criteria that decide every result.
Closed for Now. Reopens August 2026.
Coaching slots and the Essential Materials Package will return ahead of the next festival cycle. Join the early notification list to hear first.
The Speech Festival Is a Stage. We Train Children to Own It.
A spoken piece is not read out loud. It is performed. The judges score what your child shows the audience, not what is on the page.
The Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival, run by HKSMSA, is the largest event of its kind in Asia. Children are scored across seven specific areas, from how well they understand the piece to how naturally they stand and breathe. A technically accurate but flat delivery scores poorly. A slightly imperfect but alive delivery wins.
Our coaching is built around those seven criteria. We work in small steps over four to six weeks, so the piece feels owned by the child long before festival day. The goal is not just a higher score. It is a child who walks off stage knowing they did their best work.
Seven Criteria. One Performance.
HKSMSA judges score every speaker across these seven areas. Knowing them is the start of training for them.
Understanding
Does the child know what the poem means and who is speaking? Without understanding, every other skill collapses.
Tone and Mood
Does the voice match the feeling? Excited, sad, mysterious, funny. A flat voice loses marks fast.
Pace and Pause
Nerves speed children up. Strong delivery uses varied speed and well-placed silence for effect.
Articulation and Clarity
Every word must be heard. We pay extra attention to final consonants and sounds Cantonese speakers tend to drop.
Projection
The voice must reach the back of the room without shouting. This is breath support, not volume.
Eye Contact and Presence
Three or four points at the back of the room. Not staring at the floor. Not racing through with eyes shut.
Memorisation
For Verse Speaking the piece must be fully memorised. Hesitation breaks the spell. We build it line by line.
What Is Inside the Coaching Package
Two ways to work with us. Start with the Essential Materials Package. Add individual coaching if your child needs more than the printed guidance.
Essential Materials Package
A clear PDF poem guide with stress, pause and tone marks already built in. A video demo of the poem read by an experienced coach. Section-by-section mood notes so your child knows the emotional shape of the piece. Pronunciation flags for sounds that trip up Cantonese speakers, marked directly on the script.
Individual Coaching by WhatsApp
Three coaching sessions across four to six weeks. Your child sends voice or video recordings. Our coach replies with audio and text feedback covering articulation, pace, expression and confidence. We focus on the seven judging criteria, one or two at a time, so progress is visible week to week.
Built for Hong Kong Speakers
Every piece is annotated for the pronunciation patterns that matter locally. Final consonants. The l and n sounds. The th sounds. Voiced and voiceless pairs. Sentence stress that often goes flat. Trained on day one, then maintained through the practice cycle.
Solo Verse Speaking Focus
Our primary speciality is Solo Verse Speaking, both Open and Non-Open categories. We coach Primary 1 through Secondary. Public Speaking and Prose Reading support is available on request when slots reopen.
A Four-Week Rhythm That Works
We do not cram. We build the piece slowly so it lives in the body, not just the head.
Understand
Read the poem together. Talk about what it means and who is speaking. Mark the mood of each section before any rehearsal starts.
Articulate
Drill the sounds that matter. Final consonants, l and n, th, voiced pairs. Slow delivery first. Speed later.
Express
Add tone, pace and pause. Practise the emotional arc. Bring the piece off the page.
Perform
Eye contact, breath, presence, memory. Run-throughs at performance pace. Dress rehearsal style. Festival ready.
I am so touched by the thoughtfulness and recognition that you bestowed upon Anthony. Your love and dedication for students is unfathomable, and I can see God’s grace in how you steer your students through their challenges, pursuits and most importantly, difficult times.Edna, Parent of 3 Elite Kids Students
Questions Parents Often Ask
When does the programme reopen?
Which categories do you coach?
What does the Essential Materials Package include?
How does the WhatsApp coaching work?
My child is shy. Is this still suitable?
Do you help with registration?
Join the Early Notification List
When the programme reopens in August 2026, we email the early list first. Slots fill quickly because each coach takes a small number of students per cycle. If your child is preparing for next year’s festival, this is the easiest way to be ready.
Email to Join the List →Or write to us directly at elitekids@mindbe-education.com and tell us your child’s year group.