Winning words

By Itsarin Tisantia
Photos by Itsarin Tisantia

The English-Speaking Union (ESU) of Thailand in cooperation with the Ministry of Education recently held an annual public speaking competition. This year’s contest was based on the topic, Ideas are Our Greatest Weapons.

Read the following story to learn more about this great speech contest.

On March 22, ESU and the Ministry of Education arranged the final round of the annual public speaking contest. The winner will represent Thailand to compete with other representatives from around the world in the grand final round to be held in England.

“I’m happy to know that so many Thai students can speak English fluently,” Education Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana, who presided over the contest, said. “Generally, I’d like Thai children to be able to at least basically communicate in English.”

ESU AIMS

Established in 1918 in London, the ESU aims to promote international friendship and global communication through the usage of English.

The ESU, under the royal support of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh acting as the ESU president, also provides scholarships for postgraduate students and professionals in wide range of academic fields, including environmental, language and business studies.

COMPETITION RULES

The 10 finalists were required to give a five-minute speech during the first half of the competition. This year’s speeches were based on the topic, Ideas are Our Greatest Weapons. Three finalists were then selected to be runners-up, who were given a short time to prepare a 3-minute, impromptu speech. This year’s special topic for the runners-up was about awareness of the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community).

After each speech, the participants were asked an additional question by a judge, which they had about two minutes to answer.

INTERESTING IDEAS

During the first part of the contest, all the contestants were given the same topic with which they could freely express their opinions based on their views, experience and imagination.

Engineering student Siwat Bunyakan from Chulalongkorn University said that people have different ideas about how to reduce global warming and protect the environment.

“My simple example of a way to reduce global warming is that I took only had a five minute shower this morning, so I was able to save water,” Siwat said.

Natale Noppon Ghezzi from Chonradsadornumrung School was asked by a judge whether he preferred to use his head or his heart when making a decision. The student answered that to come up with a way of becoming rich, he would prefer to use his heart and study for a degree in order to find a well paying job.

“If I only used my head, I might just try to rob and steal to get money,” he added.

YOUNG WINNER

This year’s top award went to one of the youngest contestants, 17-year-old Intouch Piticharoen, who was obviously outstanding with his fluent and impressive speech. Here is an excerpt from Intouch’s speech.

“Apprenticeships are a key way of building awareness of the AEC among teenagers. Have them go and work abroad in, for example, Vietnam, so that when they come back, they can tell their friends how awareness of the AEC is important. Students might know the list of countries that are members of the AEC because their teachers make them memorise it, but they won’t know the actual significance of the AEC unless they have real experience of it.”

EXERCISE

Read through the story. Then, decide whether the following statements are true or false.

1. The topic of this year’s contest was Ideas are the Greatest Influence.

……………………………………………..

2. Siwat Bunyakan won the contest.

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3. AEC stands for ASEAN Economic Community.

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4. Pongthep Thepkanchana is the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

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