The voices of today’s youth should propose a way forward for our future. On June 1, 2019, the 6th GlobalEnglish-SpeakingCompetitionforTeenagerstookplaceintheNationalAssembly.Therewerethreetopics:measures to resolve fine dust(cooperation with China, two-part car system);howtosolvetheNorthKoreanuclearproblem; Korea-Japan relations,isitnecessarytoclearthepast.Participantswerefreetoselectanytopicoftheirliking,withatotalof24teamscompeting.Manyteamsshowedgreatperformances, so the competition was keen.

Middle school students Hong Seongyul and Sagong Seorin, won the Excellency prize at the competition this year. We spoke with them about their experiences in the competition.

Q:  Tell us about how you chose your topic and your process of preparation for the competition.

A:  Among the topics, we had different opinions from each other, but we chose a Korea-Japan issue because we knew the most about that topic. In spite of it is a familiar topic, researching it was quite difficult. Our team divided the research into parts so it would be easier. We investigated the involvement of Korean soldiers in the Vietnam War, recent instances of conflict between the two countries, and the benefits of conflict resolution with Japan. Afterward, we each wrote our sections and combined them all together. After correcting the first draft of the essay, we started to memorize. Our team’s tone and enunciation were not very good, so we needed to practice a lot. Our academy’s native teacher, Lisa, helped us a lot to correct our English speaking. We practiced again and again, and it improved a lot. Then, we added gestures and our PowerPoint to practice like the real presentation.

Q:  Elaborate the situation on the day of competition. What were you thinking and feeling?  What was your impression of your competitors?

A:  My team was so nervous when we first entered the competition hall. The judges were sitting in the front in a quiet atmosphere. Everything looked somber and scary. We were able to relax a little bit with support from the team members. A team that chose the first topic, the solution to North Korea's nuclear program, made mistakes because it was a difficult topic. It made us feel relieved, but it also made us nervous as warning that we would be as nervous as they were. So, we kept watching the other teams’ presentations and felt there were many really good teams. They had loud voices, good teamwork, amazing performance, and good pronunciation. We wanted to do better. When it was our turn, we did our best. We showed our efforts well. However, in the middle of the presentation, my team made a mistake, but we tried to finish well and worked harder to cover the mistake. 

Q:  Finally, tell us what you took away from the competition and your experiences.

A:  We learned trying something new is challenging but good for us. We just tried to show a good presentation without thinking too much about winning. We want to take part in the competition and do a lot better next time. We did not win the Grand Prize, but next time we hope to take the highest spot. We think this contest not only gave us a good experience. but also helped us know more about Korean history. We also improved enunciation and made good friends. Although the results did not meet our hope, we could take some good things from trying something new. We enjoyed this experience and would recommend it to anyone.