Fear of public speaking is a common problem that often arises in childhood. We wanted to do something about it. We developed a virtual reality app that allows primary school children to practice their presentations in a safe environment. At HAN Pabo Nijmegen, we provide a workshop for second-year students who will become teachers after graduation and thus can bring the app to the attention of their pupils. We start the workshop by explaining that speech anxiety is a social anxiety disorder. We discuss what exactly people are afraid of, where it comes from, what the consequences are, and most importantly, how to overcome it. We explain why exposure to a virtual audience in our app can work so well to overcome the fear of public speaking. We conclude with an explanation and demonstration of our developed Speak app. During the workshop, students experience how they can benefit from SpeakApp-Kids! when speaking in public. We will launch the app in May in the app stores where it will be available for everyone for free.
For who?
Seven classes of 2nd year PABO students
