Today we’d like to introduce you to Sanjana Jain and Tommy Wan.
Alright, Sanjana, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I noticed that it was challenging for students, in particular non-native speakers, to obtain in-depth feedback to improve their communication skills. I would often hear my peers feel unsupported without any clear direction. “Improve your tone” or “improve your pace” were examples of feedback that students would receive but would be unsure of how to improve. Effective communication is becoming increasingly important in the modern world. This was the direct need that I wanted to address through establishing a website that offered comprehensive, convenient, and prompt feedback on speech delivery and writing in a universally accessible platform.
We recently celebrated the first birthday of Speak Smoothly on 7th September 2021. During the past year, we reached out to various schools and leaders locally and internationally to encourage students to avail themselves of our services. We built a strong and growing student base. Our Director of Marketing, Tishika Deora, a student in Mumbai, regularly conceptualized posts for our social media accounts such as speaking advice and interactive games.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has been a challenge to promote our website outside of our local community due to the lack of connections we have. To solve this challenge, we have used extended networks and conducted research to contact people outside our direct community. After all, smooth is our middle name!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Speak Smoothly?
An innovative and novel student-led idea, Speak Smoothly provides middle and high school students elaborate and precise FREE feedback regarding their speech (both writing skills and delivery) beyond barriers. By connecting novice and experienced speakers, we can evaluate speeches in English, French, and Spanish. Unlike any other website or online tool, Speak Smoothly offers assessment regarding tone, pace, cohesion, pronunciation, and verbal engagement as well as writing skills such as repetition and clarity.
Students who are experienced and well-versed in English, Spanish, or French have the opportunity to join us as a Student Assessor and earn community service hours through our application (https://forms.gle/7nLJmM2LphT2phF86).
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
The education system will inevitably be in place for the foreseeable future. However, there will be new methods of teaching, new priorities, or even a revamp of the current educational models in Houston and beyond. Nevertheless, the speaking component will always be a factor, where students have to present or participate in extracurricular activities. As a result, the demand for effective public speaking skills and feedback will remain the same.
Contact Info:
- Email: speaksmoothlyhelp@gmail.com
- Website: speaksmoothly.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speaksmoothly/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpeakSmoothly
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjO5imU0zo5Tj40SmeUbnhQ/featured
- Other: https://forms.gle/7nLJmM2LphT2phF86
Image Credits:
TED Talks (The Village School)
