What do Genghis Khan, Will Smith, Princess Diana, Dr Seuss, Barbara Kendall and Donald Trump have in common? They were all impersonated by College Year 8 students as part of their Famous People presentations yesterday! The students had spent weeks researching their famous person, then collating the important facts and significant events of their lives into a visual and oral report. The famous people ranged from the extremely popular, such as Rihanna and Prince, to the more obscure but definitely equally worthy, such as marine biologist, Ingrid Visser and fencer, Yuki Ota. They came from close to home, including Kiwi heroes Amelia Earhart, Barbara Kendall, Greg Murphy and Brendon McCullum, as well as global figures such as David Beckham, Walt Disney and Mahatma Gandhi. The work spanned the depths of history, from the students’ contemporaries such as Stephen Curry and Lorde right back to Richard III and Alexander the Great, covering a range of interests from sport to arts to politics and academia.

Parents, grandparents, teachers and fellow students were invited to see and hear the presentations in the Elizabeth MacFarlan Centre. Delving deep into their character, the students gave a 60-second recount of their famous person’s life story, with accents, props and mannerisms all used to convey their subject’s personality. The students recited their speeches many times across the afternoon, with their enthusiasm and passion maintained, and confidence growing. The oral presentations were being assessed for their voice projection, body posture, eye contact and memorisation as part of the English literacy curriculum on speech making. The displays were marked on their use of visual language skills, such as structure, ideas, audience awareness and presentation. The occasion was the culmination of a great learning experience for the students and an entertaining and informative one for the guests. 

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