Orena Cyrus is Grade 5 Literacy Enrichment Public Speaking Champ

Orena Cyrus of the Georgetown Primary School is the 2011 Grade 5 Literacy Enrichment Public Speaking Champion.{{more}}

The petite lass defeated eight other finalists to cop the top spot in the competition, which took place at the Kingstown Methodist Church on Thursday, March 17.

The two rounds of competition saw nine participants compete in the prepared speech and impromptu speech categories.

The defending school, Kingstown Preparatory School, represented by Jada Ross, took the second position, while the Calliaqua Anglican School placed third. Tia Dziworshie represented that school.

The topic for the prepared speech competition was: ‘The one laptop per child initiative will help to enhance the teaching-learning process of primary school students’.

All nine competitors responded in the affirmative to the topic. Some students explained the benefits of the laptop in the classroom and noted that it is a means of introducing creativity to the learning process.

Some students explained the disadvantages of having a laptop for each student, such as the ability of students to access mature content via the Internet, and the process of making teachers and students computer literate.

Senior Education Officer in the Ministry of Education Carlton Hall, one of the judges for the competition, congratulated the students on their presentations. He said they were well researched and well presented. He, however, added that there was a need to simplify some presentations to suit the students’ levels, as some of the terms used were too advanced.

The impromptu round saw students making two minute presentations each on randomly selected topics. Topics included: The Internet, My Favorite Sport, How I spent my School Vacation and Reading Books is Better than Watching Television.

The winners of the Impromptu segment were Orena Cyrus of the Georgetown Primary School, who took first place; second place went to Tia Dziworshie of the Calliaqua Anglican School while Roella Bynoe of the Paget Farm Primary School, settled for third place. The finals of the competition also saw an open forum, where students from the audience had an opportunity to practice their public speaking skills in an impromptu session.

The finalists were presented with certificates for their participation. Prizes and trophies were given to the top winners for their achievements.

The National Insurance Services (NIS) collaborated with the Ministry of Education to stage the event.