Applying your English outside the Classroom at ACE Tuol Kork Campus

By XLeang Hou, ACE Teacher

Australian Centre for Education (ACE) is an English school with 5 campuses in Cambodia. In an effort to support students language development, ACE offers activities outside of the classroom for students to apply their English and improve their proficiency. One program that has been created for this purpose is the General English Program (GEP) Presentation Competition at ACE Tuol Kork Campus. This competition encourages GEP students, from all levels to compete against one another.

The group of students who presented

Before the competition started, these students had butterflies in their stomach, but they did not give up. Instead, they surprised the audience with their confidence and powerful messages that were conveyed even through for many of them it was their very first time presenting in front of an audience. Of course, mistakes were unavoidably made by these students, yet this was not the focus of the competition. The main focus was to provide a platform for students to learn to express their ideas more confidently, to overcome their fear and to learn from other fellow students.

When the final decision from the judge was made, some of them went home with prizes while others didn’t it. Yet, they won something very valuable which is the experience and knowledge they got on how to deliver a natural presentation.

This competition transformed people who thought they could not speak publicly to become people who start to believe in themselves. This is the life lesson we want ACE students to uphold.

Thanin Yous (Campus Manager, ACE Tuol Kork) and the winners of the competition

Presentation Competition: Winner Testimonials

“At the beginning of term 1 I enrolled at Tuol Kork campus, there have been many competitions which allow students to challenge themselves. In the beginning, I did not want to join the presentation competition because I was terrified of speaking in front of many people. However, my teacher, XLeang Hou, encouraged me to join. He told me that this competition would boost my confidence to speak English. After I registered for this competition, my stomach was full of butterflies. Therefore, I started to prepare myself by watching speeches from famous people on YouTube. I tried to learn their public speaking techniques. Unexpectedly, on the competition day, not only did I present well, but my partner and I won. I highly encourage everyone to join competitions because it is a chance for you to see how far you can go.” – Ropseth Pheng, GEP 7A Student

“Before the competition, I studied presentation techniques and asked my teacher to give my partner and I feedback on our presentation through in-class practices. At that time, we had a thousand mistakes, but we learned many things. On the competition day, I came to school very early to practice one last time with my partner. Suddenly, I saw two outstanding students’ presentations, so I felt so scared of losing. But that did not stop me. We had a microphone test on the stage, and I started to calm myself down a little bit. When I saw many students who had confidence on the stage, I told myself that, “If they can do it, why can’t I?” These were the words that pushed me to do my best on stage. Determination really paid off because we won the competition. I would like to thank Teacher XLeang Hou for helping us out whenever we sought his advice. Before I end this short story of mine, I want to share with you one of my personal quotes, “Before you can become a winner, you need to win yourself first.” – Sosakpanha Menh, GEP 7A Student