["I really hate public speaking, so it doesn't help that I had to recite a poem in public way back in like 6th grade.", 'I definitely understand that feeling.  It took me forever to sign up for my Speech Communications class because of speaking in public.', "Exactly! I just really don't like speaking in front of people no matter what."]
I actually took it late evening class without too many students and even was scared and only had to speak in front of the professor.
I really hate going in front of crowds. Especially when I had to recite a poem in front of a whole crowd of people.