LAMDA Drama or Public Speaking - Which is more beneficial?

[doodles]

My DS (yr 11) is doing LAMDA public speaking, he didn't want to do the drama but wanted to do something other than rugby in his spare time! He's had to write two speeches to present, he's chosen "Monarchy" and "the end of the world" as his topics

He's really enjoyed it and for somebody whose diction has never been great (braces are correcting this now) it's been good, given him some confidence in speaking aloud / presenting a piece but that's about it. For him it's really just a pleasant distraction from the pressures of GCSE exams I can't see how it would help with A levels unless perhaps you wanted to do Drama.

[ToadMum]

I suppose either might be of personal benefit in improving confidence in 'speaking up and speaking out', if the young person concerned feels that this is needed and / or that they would enjoy it (with the emphasis on and I would say, personally).

Definitely not just as something to add to ones list of 'extracurriculars', unless one is intending to study Drama anyway.

[Amber]

he's chosen "Monarchy" and "the end of the world" as his topics

Not 'the end of the monarchy'? Shame

[DC17C]

With Lamda Performance: Acting, the student learns 2-3 pieces to perform as monologues or as duologues. During the preparation of the different pieces (from different periods) the student learns about the language and theatre of that time, has to develop an understanding of their character's motivation and know the importance of the scene to the whole play. So language skills are enhanced and hopefully history as well.

Learning something about how other people think and why they do what they do is useful in any walk of life.
The student will be improving his or her ability to stand up in front of others with confidence and convey a message both spoken and unspoken.
The student will be improving his or her memory.
If working in a duo team working skills are exercised.
At higher levels there is a component of acting theory probably only needed by those serious about drama.

Lamda Public speaking requires the student to research several topics and write speeches, prepare props, and effectively deliver a speech. There will be questions. At higher levels students may be given a topic and only 15-30 minutes to come up with a speech.
This is helpful for developing the ability to think on your feet and helps with interviews too I'm sure. Surely any of these skills are useful to any student at secondary and university level, not to mention teachers, business folk, lawyers...?

The advantage of doing these through Lamda (or Trinity etc) is the one to one (or two or three) coaching and taking more time over it than is often possible in a classroom situation. It also adds a drama option where it may not fit into school curriculum.

DD has loved doing drama but found the public speaking really challenging. She learnt a lot in both. Why not try whichever your DC thinks might be more fun? You can swap later if wanted. It takes one term to do a lower level exam and often two at the higher levels.

Edited 1x for punctuation and to add 2nd to last paragraph.

My dd has gone through the Lamda grades upto grade 8 and I really think it helped her confidence and gained a lot of the skills mentioned above. She enjoyed learning the pieces and gained a lot of understanding about the characters she had to portray..
I wouldn’t have bothered if she wasn’t enjoying it...

[mumsdarling2]

Thanks everyone for the replies especially PerpetualStudent. It does seem like a useful skill building course. I get quite nervous if I have to stand up in front a group of people and talk at length about a topic. It would be worthwhile if I can give him the chance to develop the skill at an early age. I do believe that a formal programme of study will build it gradually. The popular selection in his year group seems to be Public Speaking. The choice of course is up to him.