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What is it? "Speech Gala" is Ying Wa Primary School's annual school-based speech and drama contest. It involves solo verse speaking, prose-reading, public speaking and, duologue. Students learn the set pieces during regular English lessons where they will perform for a place in the Grand Finals. In the Grand Finals, an external adjudicator watches the performances and makes the final decisions on the prize winners' list. |
The beginning...
It all started in 2010, towards December when the Panel Chair of our Department, Dr H C Lee, discussed with the Department Adviser of that time, Mr Simon Tham, on how the school could sustain a language arts atmosphere in school after the Speech Festival. Mr Tham suggested that we have our own version of the Speech Festival which involved the entire school of students. He named it "Speech Gala" during the time when the event was taking shape and provided a lot of professional advice on how it should be run. Mr Tham also adjudicated the first two Galas.
It all started in 2010, towards December when the Panel Chair of our Department, Dr H C Lee, discussed with the Department Adviser of that time, Mr Simon Tham, on how the school could sustain a language arts atmosphere in school after the Speech Festival. Mr Tham suggested that we have our own version of the Speech Festival which involved the entire school of students. He named it "Speech Gala" during the time when the event was taking shape and provided a lot of professional advice on how it should be run. Mr Tham also adjudicated the first two Galas.
How does it work?
All boys from YWPS have automatically entered the competition. The English teachers teach the set pieces and the students will get to choose which category(ies) to enter. The current competition categories include verse speaking, prose reading, duologue and public speaking. While poetry recital is for all levels, prose reading is for P.3 to P.4 and, duologue and public speaking are for P.5 and P.6 only.
The preliminary rounds are done in regular English lessons, adjudicated by the English teacher who selects a finalist for each category for the Grand Finals held in the hall. An external adjudicator does the final judgments in the end. All finalists receive a certificate and the champions in the finals receive book coupons.
All boys from YWPS have automatically entered the competition. The English teachers teach the set pieces and the students will get to choose which category(ies) to enter. The current competition categories include verse speaking, prose reading, duologue and public speaking. While poetry recital is for all levels, prose reading is for P.3 to P.4 and, duologue and public speaking are for P.5 and P.6 only.
The preliminary rounds are done in regular English lessons, adjudicated by the English teacher who selects a finalist for each category for the Grand Finals held in the hall. An external adjudicator does the final judgments in the end. All finalists receive a certificate and the champions in the finals receive book coupons.
Precious memories...
Captured in different issues of FLAME Magazine are the joy and excitement of each year's Speech Gala. The specific pages that have reported the event are displayed below.
Captured in different issues of FLAME Magazine are the joy and excitement of each year's Speech Gala. The specific pages that have reported the event are displayed below.
Adjudicators of Speech Gala
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Mr Simon Tham (Speech Gala 2011, 2012, 2019, 2024)
B.A. (Hons), Dip. Ed, Adv. Dip Ed., M.Ed (HKU), M.A. (HK Baptist U) Simon Tham Sheon-ming is currently an English language consultant and Speech Festival Adjudicator. Before his retirement, he was an English Literature teacher at secondary school level, the Principal Inspector of English in the Advisory Inspectorate Division of the Education Department, as well as the Head of the NET Section of EMB. Tham is an experienced speech and drama adjudicator and has written a booklet and produced a video on “The Teaching of Choral Speaking”, and “Good Practices in Speech Activities” which were distributed to all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. Tham also frequently conducts talks and workshops on the subject for both primary and secondary English teachers. |
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Dr Gary Harfitt (Speech Gala 2013, 2015, 2018, 2021)
B.A. (Reading), PCEd, M.Ed, Ph.D (HKU) Dr Harfitt is currently the Principal of Good Hope School (Secondary section), the school where he first taught in Hong Kong and where he was English Panel Chair in the 1990s. Before rejoining GHS in 2021, he was the Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning and an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. Dr. Harfitt has widely published in academic journals and written two books as well as producing textbooks on teaching and learning poetry. He has a wide range of research interests including the use of poetry and language arts in the English Language classroom. Moreover, he has been actively involved in community services, including adjudicating the Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival since 2002, as well as drama, debate and speech competitions at different schools in Hong Kong. |
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Dr Verner Bickley, MBE (Speech Gala 2014)
MBE, Ph.D (London), M.A., Dip. Ed, LRAM, LGSM, FCIL, FRSA Dr Verner Bickley is a writer, author, publisher, educationist, cultural administrator and speech and drama performer. Until very recently, he was an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre of Asian Studies (CAS), now renamed, “Centre for Humanities and Social Science (incorporating the Centre for Asian Studies”, University of Hong Kong, He is a Sector/Subject Specialist for the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic & Vocational Qualifications. He is Chairman of the Executive Committee of the English-Speaking Union, Hong Kong. For a number of years he was Chairman of The Royal Commonwealth Society, Hong Kong, and remains on the RCS Committee. With his wife, Gillian Bickley, Verner Bickley is co-Director of the independent publishing house, Proverse Hong Kong, and co-Founder of The Proverse Prize for unpublished writing. |
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Ms Mary Ann Tear (Speech Gala 2016)
Dip. LCDD, LLAM (Hons), LISTD, Dip. Ed (Nottingham), Cert. TESOL (TCL) Ms Mary Ann Tear is a BIFF adjudicator as well as a Trinity College London senior examiner and she is their Drama and Performance Consultant for SEA based in Singapore. She is a choreographer, director and Performing Arts lecturer. All this work has taken her to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka, Canada, as well as many UK and European centres. Whilst enjoying the examining, adjudicating, directing, choreographing, and lecturing Ms Tear has also found time to read, listen to music, to go to the theatre, visit art galleries, and watch the latest films, believing that it is so important to be up to date with movements in the contemporary arts scene. She also enjoys spending time with her family and friends in Singapore. |
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Ms Tanya Kempston (Speech Gala 2017)
M.A. (with Distinction) (University of Warwick), PGDE, B.A. Hons (Queens University of Belfast) Ms Tanya Kempston has worked as an English teacher in Northern Ireland and Japan before moving to Hong Kong in 2001. She was awarded a Master’s Degree with Distinction in Drama and Theatre Education by the University of Warwick in the UK in 2006 and is currently a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong with teaching and research areas including ELT Methodology, Drama in Language Learning, Literature in Language Learning, Children’s Literature, Child Development etc. Ms Kempston has adjudicated the Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival for many years. |
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Ms Nicole Tavares (Speech Gala 2020, 2022)
Fellow of The Higher Education Academy, UK; Certificate in Careers Teachers Training (with Distinction), M.Ed. (with Distinction), P.C.Ed. (with Distinction), B.A. (English Linguistics, French and German) (HKU) Ms Tavares is an award-winning senior lecturer in Teacher Education and Learning Leadership, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. She is currently the Programme Director and Coordinator of the postgraduate courses of MA(TESOL) and MEd(CLIL) respectively. She has published widely in academic books and journals on English teaching pedagogy and has been engaged in research related to English Language Teaching as well as Teacher Development. Besides, Ms Nicole is enthusiastic in the arts of speech and drama. She has many years of experience as an adjudicator in speech events and contests in local schools and the Hong Kong Schools Speech Festival. |
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Mr Wong Chi Ngai Genper (Speech Gala 2023)
Student Researcher, The Chinese University of Hong Kong President, Hong Kong Society for Neuroscience Top Scorer in HKDSE 2020 Mr Wong is an alumnus of YWPS and was the Champion in P.6 Public Speaking in Speech Gala 2014. He went on to achieve the top score in HKDSE in 2020 where he received 5** in seven subjects. He is now (2023) a student researcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also the president of the Hong Kong Society for Neuroscience. He focuses on rare neurodegenerative diseases and studies how the immune system and metabolism play a part in aging and disease development. Besides research, he also actively engages in public outreach. He is a member of the curriculum development panel at the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and has designed neuroscience education campaigns, which have been adopted by the Education Bureau into regular enrichment programmes for secondary schools. |
