From Speeches to Creative Writing, It’s the Year 9 Speech Day!

From globalisation and climate change to gender equality, Year 9 students delivered some spot-on and passionate speeches as part of their annual Speech Competition on 21 January.

Applying the techniques they had learned in the art of persuasion during their English lessons, students worked in pairs to research a social issue that they felt strongly about and ultimately persuaded the audience that action should be taken to address the problem. Vice Principals Mr Paul Bentham and Mr Nicholas Lee were on hand to assist with the judging, and thought the quality of the speeches were “fantastic” and “showed engagement with important social issues.”

Public speaking is quite a difficult skill to master, as Tracy Fu (9E) explains: “It was really nerve-wracking to present in front of so many people,” – but despite this, all of the presenters did an excellent job. Renee Leung (9F) said  “everyone’s speech was strong, passionate and convincing. Their persuasive techniques were used really well.”

Winners:

Audrey Leung 9E and Aleen Khaimson 9E with a speech on Child Marriage

Katie Adams 9W and Lyndsey Mulligan 9W with a speech on Euthanasia

Apart from public speaking, writing a good short story is also an art form. To celebrate the talents of students in this area, the English Department ran a competition to find the best creative writing from across Year 9. The nominations, including reworked fairy tales, horror stories, and stories inspired by Hong Kong’s history will all be published in an online anthology later this year.

Winners:

Sophia Yuen 9D

Sophie Luk 9N

Special Mention:

Airi Tachino 9D

Renee Leung 9F

Anson Chan 9F

Tammi Ip 9R

Congratulations and well done to all the winners!

Click here for more pictures from the day.