Our student has been successfully qualified for the Global Round
of
The Wevoi Public Speaking Competition
by
Itır Beğen Yılmaz
The FDY English Public Speaking Club is very pleased to announce that Sabancı University student Uğurhan Altınbaş has successfully qualified for the Nationals and gained the opportunity to participate in the Global Round of the Wevoi Public Speaking Competition!
Uğurhan Altınbaş is a junior student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. He attended the FDY English Public Speaking Program in Fall 2019 and showed an outstanding performance. Following that, he had positions in many SU clubs including presidency and vice-presidency. When the opportunity for the competition arouse, I approached some students including Uğurhan. I am proud to mention that with his diligent work and dedication he has incorporated the feedback he received from me and from Jacqueline Einer, the Director of School of Languages’ and his qualification has been our pride and joy. You may access Uğurhan Altıbaş’s speech following this link:
Wevoi:
Wevoi officials summarize the competition as;
WeVoi is a ground-breaking online public speaking competition for young people eager to voice their ideas and make a change. This challenge provides a platform for speakers aged 9 to 24 to realize their potential, raise their voice, and share it with others. Public speaking is a vital day-to-day and professional life skill for young people. WeVoi aims to unify participants from every walk of life to develop and appreciate this ability, to speak their mind and share their thoughts on an international online platform. Participants finish the competition enhancing their confidence and learning how to develop and structure their opinions. This exciting competition is open to young minds from all over the world. There are 2 stages: WeVoi National and WeVoi Global (both are conducted online). Every young speaker has a chance to participate in both WeVoi National Rounds. There are four age groups. Every year, WeVoi changes themes and encourages participants to give their voice to these new ideas. All participants are given a certificate of participation, and the top 3 in each age category earn a monetary award in WeVoi Global. Successful speakers in WeVoi National also have the opportunity to present their winning speech in their own countries.This online platform helps young speakers voice their ideas and be heard (https://www.wevoi.org/what-is-wevoi/).
How it began and preparation:
Five colleagues and I have now offered our English Public Speaking Program at Sabancı University, the School of Languages, for eight semesters, during the course of which we have had 564 participants. As the coordinator, I am also proud to note that it runs with four sections per semester, with 25 students in each class, and has resulted in many of them shining under stage lights.
One of the objectives of The FDY English Public Speaking Club in the 2021-2022 Academic year is to compete in public speaking competitions and to pursue that, I prepared an action plan:
1.Met with the interested students and went over the eligibility criteria, qualifications, and deadlines
2.Focused on the preparation tips
3.Highlighted the actions to take
4.Taught how to write a speech and crucial strategies
5.Practiced, practiced, and practiced.
6.Asked the students to email their speeches to me
7.Held one-on-one tutorials with the students
8.The students edited their speeches, recorded them, and emailed them to me
9.Held one-on-one tutorials with the students
10.The students finalized their videos and emailed them to me
11.Jacqueline Einer, The Director of The School of Languages, checked it and gave her precious feedback
12.The students applied to the Wevoi Public Speaking Competition National round
13.Uğurhan Altınbaş has been successfully qualified for the Wevoi Public Speaking Competition Global Round.
Conclusion:
The School of Languages Director, Jacqueline Einer and I would like to find a way for School of Languages students to continue to gain more experience in public speaking once they leave the English preparatory program and move on to their faculty classes. To do this we would like to encourage our English Public Speaking Program students to apply to more competitions and dance with words.
