English News

Plain English Speaking Awards 2019

On Tuesday, 28 May the Clyde North Campus hosted the regional final of the Plain English Speaking Awards. The awards are conducted by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) and encourage 15 – 18 year old students to develop their skills and confidence in researching, speech writing and communicating using effective oral language. Students are able to research topic they are passionate but must also deliver an impromptu speech on a topic given on the day.

This year St. Peter’s College was represented by Aaron Suaiso from Clyde North and Ashwin Palanisamy from Cranbourne Campus. The boys competed against students from Woodleigh, Elisabeth Murdoch College and Sacred Heart Girls College. The winner was from Woodleigh but both St Peter’s College students performed very well delivering their five-minute speeches. Aaron’s speech was titled, ‘The Carmichael Coal Mine – A Failure of Social Responsibility’ and Ashwin’s ‘Dogs in the Roman Empire’. Each speaker also prepared and presented a three-minute impromptu speech in response to the prompt ‘Its time’, and which they all found to be the more challenging task.

A number of our VCE English students had the opportunity to listen to the speeches and there were a number of comments passed about the benefits the experience would likely have on their own pending speeches that are a requirement of the VCE English Course. Aaron and Ashwin also received specific and valuable feedback from the VCAA adjudicators based on their performances.

Assistance on the day was provided by Ms Emma VanRens, Ms Bernadette McDermott and Gemma Sabbadin (Year 11 CLN) and their efforts ensured the day ran smoothly and was a valuable exercise for all involved. Aaron provided a reflection on his experience included below.

"Recently I had the opportunity to compete at the Plain English Speech Awards (PESA), a competition where you present two speeches, a speech that you have prepared and an impromptu, a speech you write on the day. Although I didn’t win it was worth my time because of the experience I had. Because it was a competition everyone who participated was skilled in presenting speeches but it was really fun and interesting to be able to hear the opinions of different people. Their opinions were presented in concise and interesting ways and, personally, there wasn’t a single moment where I lost interest in any presentation. After presenting we were also given the chance to talk to the judges about our speech which was a good opportunity for me to know what areas of my speech I could have improved upon and learn how I could improve on the areas I was lacking. I would definitely recommend anyone to join the competition if only for the chance to listen to speeches presented by other competitors. It is a great way to gain and improve oral presentation skills."

Aaron Suaiso

Mr Justin Dee

English KLA Coach – Clyde North Campus