By Esther Angie
An interactive training on how to become young journalists, future activists, and public speakers were conducted at Mtoto News offices on 21st August 2023.
It was attended by children between the ages of 7-17 years and were taken through various topics by Mtoto news officials and specialists.
The training dubbed Sauti Zetu started at 9.00 am where they learnt what Mtoto News does. The facilitator said Mtoto News is an organization that makes children visible.
They were trained in communication, media, journalism and its principles, types, and characteristics. They learned that a good journalist should be a good writer, speaker, critical thinker, and an active listener.
The children learned a journalist should be independent, objective, fair diligent, and accountable.
Facilitator Kevin Anyong’e trained on News where he said News is a report that follows a specific structure. It must be factual and have human interest,
Ms. Lydia Gichuki trained the children on public speaking, interview and presentation and writing a good story.
She said a good story should have a what, where, when, why, and how. A story has a head, body and conclusion.
The introduction or the head entails important facts in order to grab people’s attention.
The body describes the issue or activity being discussed. In the body, quotes are used to quote people’s remarks. The conclusion is the tail.
The discussion also tackled how to research for an article which included interviews, and googling. reading magazines, and journals and watching documentaries.
In public speaking, one should be audible, know his/her audience, note down talk notes, relax, maintain eye contact, research and end with a strong conclusion.
Lastly, there was a discussion on the interview which is a conversation between an interviewer and an interviewee.
There are phone, causal, telephone or Zoom, and personality interviews. When preparing for an interview one should prepare carefully by familiarizing with questions and asking the relevant question.
The kids learned how to pass information with one kid said,’ The training was so nice.’
Leave a Reply