On 6th April, 2019, English Department Student Association (EDSA) held the 6th National English Speech Competition (NESCO) for all SMA/K/MA students in Indonesia. The guideline for the speech was that of practiced in TED Talks. The purpose of this national competition was to develop students’ critical thinking, to boost their confidence, and to exercise their public speaking skill. Bringing the theme of digital literacy and Industry 4.0, the competition consisted of two rounds, each of which had its own sub-theme. The first round, preliminary round’s theme was “Digital Literacy in Industrial Revolution 4.0” and final round’s was “Industrial Revolution 4.0 and How It Will Shape the Future of Education”.
There were 37 High School students from all regions of Indonesia who parcitipated in NESCO. In the preliminary round, they were divided into 3 groups consisting of 13 -14 participants. Two best participants of each round competed in the final selection. The panel of judges consisted of PBI UMY lecturers, Language Traiing Centre (LTC) instructors and PBI UMY alumni.
The competition was concluded with the announcement of the winners. Parahita from SMKN 3 Kasihan as the first winner. The second winner was Felicia Nadya Isabel from Home Schooling Primagama Yogyakarta and the third winner was Arinda Carentika Jaya from SMAN 1 Sidoarjo. All three winners received certificate, trophy, money and several souvenirs from American Corner, Lemospires Batik House and UMY.
Sibakhul Milad, the chairman of NESCO committee mentioned, “As the chairman of the committee, I had two impressions from NESCO, first is for all the committee, I do appreciate all of our hard work and effective teamwork. The second impression is for the participants, I am very amazed with their speech and they have demonstrated their critical thinking and creative ideas which I believe will make Indonesia better.”
(noven/puput)