Double Awards for Prior Park at International Speech Competition

11 Jan 2014

Three Prior Park students attended the International Student Voice Competition last week, with two out of three pupils receiving awards for what were all extremely impressive presentations.

On 26 November, three of our international students from Prior Park College took part in the International Student Voice competition, an annual speaking competition, which this year was held at the Royal High School. There were fifteen speakers in total, with three representatives from each of the five participating schools. The standard was exceptional, and the range of topics impressive, with rhetoric including a talk on the pressures faced by a Christian-faith, Egyptian family during the recent revolution, as well as a very informative talk on Aung San Suu Kyi.

Jose Pablo Payro, a pupil in Year 9 at the College, was the first speaker of all, setting the bar high with his compelling defence of footballers’ high salaries. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this controversial topic generated some tough questions from the audience, which Jose handled deftly. It was this, combined with his powerful delivery style, that won him second prize in the Junior competition, which comprises speakers from Year 10 and below.

In the Senior competition (solely comprising orators from Years 11 and 12) Chloe Chan, a Year 11 student, impressed with a well researched and informative speech about life in Hong Kong before it became a British colony and the subsequent effects of colonisation. But it was Year 12 pupil Cynthia Zhang who took the plaudits, winning first prize with a speech on the differences between studying Dance in the UK compared with in China. This cross-cultural topic clearly resonated with the international audience, and everybody was charmed by her performance, which even incorporated a few dance moves!

Mr Peter Stroud, Head of English as an Additional Language at Prior Park College commented: “How appropriate for us to gather in the education sector and celebrate the ‘voice’ of our international community. We all understand the challenge that public speaking presents – but to speak in a second language only accentuates that challenge. All of our students can be proud of this extraordinary achievement – and to take home prizes in such an outstanding field shows the calibre of Prior’s international student body.”

 

Photo: Jose Pablo Payro