It was the time of the year again, were the students came out so their voices could be heard once again. It was the battle of the speeches. The High School Speech Competition for Lahore American School took place on Thursday October 7th 2010. There were three students selected from each grade to take part in this competition. Thursday came and the 12 contestants were ready. They all were excited, yet nervous at the same time. 12 topics yet all of them were diverse and unique in their own way.
The Freshman (Grade 9) started the day with their speeches. There were three contestants; Fatima Zulqurnain (3rd Culture Kids), Qasim Sheikh (The Selfless Poor) and Nareman Malik (When Rich Meets Poor). All three of these topics were really well written. I think the content was there, but what I noticed in all three speeches was lack of eye contact. You could tell they knew their speeches well, but I think they were nervous.
I believed Nareman Malik should have gotten 1st place, because her content was excellent, and the way she presented her ideas was effective and organized. Not only was her content good, but her volume, pace and tone was really good as well. The thing I liked most about her speech was her enunciation and confidence. Fatima and Qasim both had the same problems. They both had very little eye contact and they both could have had better enunciation. So it was really difficult to choose who would come second. However I believed Fatima’s topic was much more diverse and personal and it gave it an edge over Qasim’s. So I believe Fatima should come in 2nd and Qasim 3rd.
The Sophomores (Grade 10) had very creative and unique topics. The three contestants were Rafeh Saigol, Zohat Parvez, and Danayal Saeed. Rafeh Saigol was first and his speech was “Hunting is Not A Crime”. Zohat was after Rafeh and her topic was “Is the World Going to End in 2010”. The last one was Danayal Saeed on “Blasphemy”.
I believed that Zohat should have gotten first place. She knew her whole speech, and thus she had good eye contact. She spoke really well. I really liked her topic it was so unique and interesting. Another thing about her speech was her language and tone. Those two were excellent. Rafeh I believe should have come 2nd place. He had the best speech skills I think, but his topic and content didn’t appeal to me. Danyal should have come in 3rd, , only because he was nervous. There were times in his speech when he hesitated a bit. Otherwise his speech content and ideas were good.
From Grade 11 there was Mustafa Tariq, Zahra Sadiq, Hamza Alam and Eisa Peracha. Mustafa was first and his speech was on a topic that has been questioned for centuries “The Chicken or The Egg”. Zahra was after him and her topic was on “Knowledge is Power”. The last speech from grade 11 was a combined speech by Hamza Alam and Eisa Peracha on “Saisa Volleyball; Blue and Gold”.
I believed that from Grade 11 Mustafa Tariq should have gotten 1st place, because firstly his confidence was excellent. He knew his speech well and his eye contact was good. Secondly his content was excellent. This question of the chicken and the egg is a topic known to all, but he spoke of it from a very different point of view. Not only that his voice was excellent. I think Zahra, Hamza, and Eisa both were really good. Its very difficult to choose 2nd and 3rd place because Zahra has everything but the confidence and Hamza and Eisa had everything but the content. But if we I had to pick from the perspective of a good speech I would choose Hamza and Eisa for 2nd place only because they spoke well, they were confident, they had eye contact and their content was personal. I liked Zahras topic better but she lacked confidence and eye contact, thus I would give her 3rd place.
So finally it was the Seniors (Grade 12) turn. The first speech was by Shayan Sadiq on “The Effects of Love on the Brain”. After him Saif Lone spoke about “Space Colonies”. Lastly the last speech of the day was by Amina Khalid on “Arsenic in Drinking Water”.
From Grade 12 I think Shayan Sadiq should have gotten 1st place because firstly his speech was about a very simple topic “love” yet it was so unique. He presented his ideas quite well and his quality of English was excellent as well. His eye contact was good too, and the way he spoke (the enthusiasm) I think brought the speech o life. His enunciation, volume, and con confidence gave the speech its characteristics. I believe Saif and Amina both had good topics; both presented their ideas in a unique way, both spoke well as well. But in the end I think Amina’s speech was better, only because of one factor and that was her tone. Amina’s tone varied according to what she said, Saif I believe had the same tone throughout his speech. That’s why I think Amina should get 2nd place and Saif 3rd.
I think the speeches that deserved first place all had one thing in common. They speeches were complete. If you looked at Shayan, Mustafa, Zohat and Nareman, they all had complete speeches. When I say complete I mean they were a combination of both content and delivery. And if you look at when i explain why i believe they should have won, i mention again and again that only factor distinguished all the speeches. Either one would have no content, or one would have delivery. But in these 12 i think most did not have the delivery. However all the 12 speeches were good speeches, but the speeches that I believe should have won, are speeches that consisted of good content, good organization and clarity, good use of English, variation of tone, good enunciation, confidence and good eye contact.
By looking at all these speeches I learned that my speech wasn’t complete. My topic was on freedom. I had the delivery but I did not have the content. My tone, volume, pace, confidence and eye contact was all there but what I lacked was strong organization. My ideas could have been more developed, or maybe I could have researched a little more on my topic.
Overall, I think a good speech is a complete speech. And on Thursday October 7th there were 12 contestants who showed us what a speech should be like. I also believe that the Speech Competition this year was far better than last years. The topics were much more diverse, the speeches were better and everyone was looking forward to it. Lets hope every year it gets better and better =)
