The Forum Competition 2015

 

Reported by ELC

       The Forum Competition 2015 was held successfully at the YTL Hall on 31st March 2015. After going through a competitive selection round, which took place before the March school break, nine teams from different English classes, ranging from Senior One to Senior Three, managed to enter the finals. Each team was comprised of a chairperson and three panel speakers. They touched on a variety of topics, which included education, culture, disease and language. The judges, teachers and their supporters were very impressed by their presentations.

        Mrs Siow, the chief judge, praised that the participants had demonstrated fluency and accuracy in language as well as the use of a wide range of vocabulary. However, there was a room for improvement. The participants were reminded about the importance of making eye contact among the panelists. They were also discouraged from depending too much on memorising. In brief, the  judges  were  very  proud  of  their
achievements.

Hard work is the precious gift

Phang De Yuan (S2 Adelaide)

      I couldn’t have done it without my awesome team and my amazing English teacher, Miss  Juliana Choo. The competition was fierce and we did our best and prayed for the worst, and by a stroke of luck we were victorious  and  achieved 2nd place in the forum competition.  I hope to one day become a good speaker like President Barack Obama, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister Najib and many others, they are my idols. Speaking isn’t something that can be taught – it is  something  that requires hours of watching television shows like How I Met Your Mother, The Simpsons, SpongeBob Squarepants, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Naruto and the like. I don’t believe that there is a truly correct way of speaking; it is more whether the audience or judges like the way you speak or not, so I was very lucky.  I think forums are great, but I hope there will be other types of competitions in the future.

An unforgettable journey

Lee Sheng  (S3 Chicago)

       Speaking of this competition, I would say that it was surely a pleasurable ride all the way. What made all this meaningful was the journey. When we first started practising, we jokingly said that we wanted to represent the class to take part in this competition and win the competition. Surprisingly, it was truly a dream come true as we had  never thought it would really happen. Along the journey, there were fun times as well as hard times. It was really a good lesson to learn to cope with different opinions and we also spent much of our time to draft the script. We constantly commented on each other's pronunciation, speech and style. Awarded as the best speaker, I think that I was lucky to have my team members, Hui Yong, Ke Yi and Xue Qian from S3 Chicago and also Ms Evon, our English teacher, who helped me a lot in improving my presentation skills. I was definitely surprised having won the best speaker  as my  team  members  were  equally excellent. I would say that winning the title was really awesome. Thanks to the judges and everyone who had made  this  come  true.  This is one of the  sweetest experiences I have ever had in high school.