Passion in Presenting, Year 9 Speech Competition

At the Year 9 Speech Competition students showcased their persuasive skills as they spoke about social issues, on the 31 Jan and 1 Feb 2019.

In pairs, students researched a social issue that they felt strongly about. Their chosen topics included body shaming, the Chinese Government’s treatment of minority groups in Xinjiang and plastic waste in HK. They used their research to construct and present arguments that persuaded the audience that action should be taken. The best speeches from each English class went forward to the final.

A judging panel of the Year 9 English teachers, as well as Vice Principal Mr Rappel, evaluated the finalists on their speech structure, how they presented relevant facts and how they used effective persuasive techniques.

 The winning teams, each spoke about the persecution of Muslim minorities in China:

Ady Lam 9E and Yasmine Lunt 9E
Aoi Sakamoto 9N and Fiorelli Wong 9R

Ady Lam explained her team’s approach to the competition, “I believe it was the self-confidence and trust that Yasmine and I had in each other that led us to win our speech competition. Leading up to the event, we practiced twice a day, often in front of our brutally honest friends, who gave us constructive feedback. We actually cared a lot about the topic we chose, which was the persecution of the Uighurs, who are currently suffering human rights violations, including being ‘re-educated’ in internment camps. I think our outrage about what is happening to them came over in our speech.”

English Teacher, Teri Eves, who lead the project said, “The Year 9 speech competition was a great opportunity for students to showcase the persuasive skills they have been studying. Public speaking is quite daunting for plenty of adults, so it was very impressive to see so many students speaking confidently and eloquently about current social issues. All of the finalists spoke to a very high standard, however, what made the overall winners stand out was their passionate delivery style.”