Thai Speech Contest, Isaan Thailand.

Last weekend I ventured to the Sunee Grand Hotel, which was hosting an English seminar thingy which Mr. Andrew Biggs was presenting and also there was a speech contest taking place.

In the convention centre area there were various displays set up and some banners caught my eye. On the boards were some words of wisdom for all to take in.

Now I am not a well read man, the words of wisdom or inspiration on the left in yellow were by a man called William Arthur Ward, and after googling the man found out he is one of Americas most quoted writers.

His words are so true for teachers throughout the world, to be a great teacher you have to inspire your kids, to make them want to learn.

And I love Winston Churchill’s words.

Personally, I am always ready to learn; although I do not always like being taught.

I have students like this.

Anyway, I made my way to the speech contest area. There was an array of Andrew Biggs books for sale.

Andrew does stand out in a crowd, look at the melon. Andrew happily makes fun of himself often in articles I read. He has a very good sense of humour. Of course he is an Aussie.

Andrew returned from his short lunch break and was then thrust straight into the judging arena. Next time I get the chance I will take a picture of a judges card for such a contest they are something else at times.

There were two elderly people who obviously were important guests sitting and watching proceedings. I don’t know who they weren’t as they weren’t introduced.

This girl is from Assumption College and was first on stage. She is in primary 5, speaks English well and does work hard to achieve this. The speech she did she wrote herself and was tidied up by a Thai teacher. She got a little lost during the speech but recovered well.

For any person, especially young kids it takes a huge amount of guts to get up in front of a crowd, be it small or large. I give all the kids who partake in the competitions a big thumbs up for being brave and confident enough to show off their English skills.

The second contestant was from another local school with an English programme, she did speak well but she was very nervous.

The 3rd contestant was from a small local school with no English programme, the Thai teachers teach the English to the students. I love seeing kids like her having a go, she didn’t deliver the speech well, the speech was hard to follow but she got up there and gave it her best shot and these sorts of kids I reward in my classes. A kid who tries will always grade better than one who completes work well but never says a word the whole year.

This is another Assumption student, she was so, so nervous but did her best and for her first contest I was proud for her.

This girl is from another school with an English programme, Y.E.S or Youth Exchange School. This girl was confident and she started off her speech really well. She quoted some inspirational words from a past American President and then went into her speech. Her pronunciation was very good, be it with a small American accent (sorry I am an Aussie). Her speech was good, delivered well and with plenty of confidence.

This was another Assumption student and also her first contest, she could recite her speech forwards and backwards in the days leading to the competition, but with the eyes upon her she froze a few times but did well for her first competition.

There were still two more competitors to go but I had to go and teach my private classes.

I returned just before 4pm and was informed the YES student won, no surprise, the first girl on stage took second and third was the second girl on stage (I think from memory).

Andrew had taken notes and offered the contestants some advice for the future. The Thai teachers were very impressed with Mr. Andrew Biggs.

So that was the excitement from the speech competition in Ubon Ratchathani.

Brunty