( Sungai Petani Division)
26-4-2017
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. It is my great pleasure to welcome you all in Sin Min Independent High School, Sungai Petani, in this wonderful morning.
Today, the International English Debate Competition for Secondary School in Sungai Petani will be held here. It is delightful to see teams from 3 schools have decided to attend the competition today. And I am sure that you all have been spending a lot of time and effort in the preparation in order to perform as well as you could in today’s debate. In fact, you are already half a winner because you are willing to accept the challenge and work for it without giving up during the process. Please do not hesitate to give yourself an applause.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to HELP University as this International Debate Competition was initiated by HELP and HELP has been the leader in organizing English Debates among Chinese Independent Schools annually. With no doubt at all that, English debate is a beneficial activity which encourages students to be well-spoken, knowledgeable and enables them to think critically, at the same time, creatively. So, it is certainly a reason for us to spare no effort in popularizing debate competition. The effort of carrying out these meaningful activities, should never be stopped. Let us give a thanks to HELP University by giving them a thunderous applause!
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is important for us to aware that, English is one of the most used language around the world. Therefore, knowing English enables us to enjoy countless benefits. As English is playing an increasingly important role in today’s global economy, knowing English definitely gives us a competitive edge when applying for a job. It increases your competence as you can communicate smoothly with other English user all around the world. Besides, knowing this international language helps us to expand our horizons too. And there are still plenty of benefits, waiting for you to explore.
However, we can’t deny that the English standard of lots of Chinese Independent Schools’ students leaves much to be desired. To many of the students, English is just a subject taught in school and an exam paper in the end of semester, instead of a language to be used in daily lives. Thus, it is not surprisingly to see our students feel awkward to speak English in front of the others. This explains why I should compliment all the debaters today in the very beginning of my speech, because you are trying hard to improve yourself, not just to talk in English, but you are going to have an international debate in English!
Dear debaters,
Everything requires effort and time, so do English debate. It may seem difficult initially, but once you embark on it, it can easily be achieved through practice. I am here to wish you all to enjoy today’s competition. Make it your best and remember, never stop learning. Take the chance to attend some other English debate competition, where you will compete with more outstanding debaters from other regions and learn from them too.
Last but not least, do enjoy your debate journey, and all the best! Thank you.
Written by Ong Jet