Alabama 4-H and the Chilton County Extension Office kicked off a seven-week public speaking class on Monday for kids throughout Chilton County.

The class is taught by Skip Coulter who spent 40 years as a speech teacher, including 20 of those as a college-level debate coach.

“The idea behind the class is to help them become better speakers at an age where they will be confident in speaking for the rest of their life,” Coulter said.

Coulter has taught speech classes before through the extension office and has competed in state competitions with certain members of those classes in the past.

“I’ve found that if you can get to kids early, that makes them more confident in a more substantial way,” Coulter said.

The first class focused on introductions, as each student learned a little bit about a fellow student and then introduced them to the rest of the class.

Over the next six classes, a new type of speech will be introduced each week including how-to-do-it, informative, persuasive and campaign speeches. Coulter will demonstrate the next speech prior to each class.

“I never teach as something that is easy, because it is scary getting up in front of people,” Coulter said. “Pretending that everyone in the audience is in their underwear doesn’t work for somebody who’s scared, but you can prepare your way to excellence.”

The first speech will require each member of the class to explain how to do something to the rest of the class.

According to Coulter, he encourages them to choose a topic that they already know a lot about and are familiar with.

“Pick a passion,” Coulter said. “For the rest of your life after school, people are never going to ask you to give a speech about something that you don’t know anything about.”

The final class will be held on Nov. 7 and members of the class will have the opportunity to perform their best speech at the state competition.