Thanks to all the dedicated volunteers who have to raise these kids from teaching them basic English, moving onto advance learning and last Saturday, we witnessed 10 of them, for the very first time, giving their speeches in front of their parents and families, most importantly, the judges from the Toastmasters!
Yes! This is our very first Speech Contest, which a million thanks to volunteers from DHL and individual basis, who have been their mentors since the beginning of the year, to coach them on the preparation, from scripting their speeches till their presentation.
The topics of their speeches are all from the youths themselves. They proposed their ideas and their mentors helped them to arrange their ideas into a proper speech.
These 10 youths who participated in the Speech Contest (with the topics of the speeches) are:
(1) Hiap Hock Lai - Is Gaming a Curse?
(2) Sathishvaran - The Body Speaks
(3) Hiap Jin Hong - The Bad Side of Gaming
(4) Saswin Rao - Love is in the Air
(5) Rifka - Martial Arts for Women
(6) Hiap Jia Kai - Mother Earth
(7) Navaneshvaran - Parenting that Kills
(8) Yogaloshana - The Best Gift
(9) Siti Nur Aishah - KPOP
(10) Hiap Yong San - Sports
Besides presenting their prepared speeches, the judges also organized a Table Topics session, where the selected youths were given a topic and they have 3 minutes to talk about the topic. This is to test their spontaneity and all of them did well with the topic given - "The Most Unforgettable Day in my Life".
Eventually, the results for the planned speeches are:
Champion: Hiap Jin Hong - The Bad Side of Gaming
1st Runner-Up: Hiap Hock Lai - Is Gaming a Curse?
2nd Runner-Up: Navaneshvaran - Parenting that Kills
While the results for Table Topics are:
Champion: Hiap Hock Lai
1st Runner-Up: Navaneshvaran
2nd Runner-Up: Hiap Jia Kai
Congratulations to all their hard work, effort and dedication. All of them were their very very first time, to ever delivering a speech in front of so many people. Some of them who used to be so timid to introduce themselves, while right now, they were so confidently sharing the ideas and passion from their hearts through the speeches. I must say, all of them are the Winners regardless the placements.
This is indeed a long journey. It's all started since the year 2015 when we first brought in the Blossom Literacy Program Syllabus. These kids went through all the series and right now, they were on their feet, being empowered to deliver a speech on their own. We want to take this opportunity to thank the mentors and volunteers, they are:
Andal (the Mastermind of Blossom Literacy Program),
Manju, Ooi and Farah (The dedicated volunteers from DHL). And Manju brought along her son Thibhan.
Kaldip (the retired Teacher who tirelessly mentoring our youths and children in the Reading Program). Then Kaldip brought along her son Angert to be one of the mentors for the Speech Class.
Zatil (another dedicated volunteer who has been coming regularly as a volunteer teacher in Reading Program who eventually signed up to be a mentor for the Speech Class)
Bavani (a friend of Andal who is a friend of Andal and dedicated her time to mentor the youths in the speech class)
Moving forward, we are looking for sponsors to sponsor examination fees for these youths to sit for International Examinations and as well, continue to train them in their writing skills.
Our heartfelt thanks to:
NAVEM Toast Master Club
DHL Toast Master Club
for being the judges and sponsoring the food & beverages for the event!
Our Gratitude for:
DHL IT Services
DHL Go Teach Volunteers
for your dedication in bringing in the volunteers, teaching syllabus and as well getting the funding to sustain the program
Click here to watch the Thank You Video which recorded the journey we have had with our 10 youths and their mentors:
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