International orators shine

International Students Public Speaking Competition 2018

The 4th annual International Student Public Speaking competition was held at Northcote High School on Wednesday 22 August. The event was described by school Principal Ms Harrap (one of the judges for the completion) in her Weekly Bulletin as “a finely tuned, warm and quality evening.” The judges and the audience were truly impressed by the high quality speeches the International Students delivered. Ms Harrap also highly praised the speakers’ performance in her Weekly Bulletin: “The confidence and proficiency of the speakers, who were speaking in their second (or in some cases, third) language was truly remarkable and a joy to listen to.”

Three Northcote students; Ngoc Diep (Jane) Nguyen, Dao Phuong Dung (Isa) and Chenxi (Isabella) were selected to represent Northcote High School in the competition. Our students’ performance was indeed remarkable. Jane won first place in her section and both Isabella and Isa spoke exceptionally well. Congratulations to Jane, Isabella and Isa!

The International Student Public Speaking was initiated at Northcote High School in 2015, led by Martin Ramsay and the International Student Office. The program has grown rapidly over the last 4 years; this year we were pleased to see that 30 contenders from 15 schools entered the competition. The 4 judges were Sue Harrap (Principal, NHS), Andrew Arney (Assistant Principal, Melbourne Girls College), Rebekah Keenan Mount (Head of English, NHS), Elaine Doyle (Kew High School). The International Education Division of the DET was represented on the night by Connie Clark who also said how much she enjoyed the evening.