Since the start of the AEC (Asian Economic Community) at the end of 2015 the students at the English Resource Centre in Pekanbaru, run by SEEDS employees, feel increased pressure to improve their English speaking skills.
It is Saturday night at 8pm. Small groups of students are found in all corners of the English Resource Centre: some are singing English songs, some are hanging-out in the TV-area watching an English program about wildlife while others surf the Internet, and a couple of students just have a chat – of course in English.
But don’t be deceived by this apparently leisurely scene: students at the English Resource Centre mean business, even if it is Saturday night! Soon most of them gather in a big circle in the library. Led by one of the student volunteers with more advanced English skills they are ready for another round of Public Speaking practice.
Public Speaking practice on Saturday nights started in 2011 out of the students’ desire to practise speaking in front of other people and increase their confidence to do so. The procedure is simple, but very effective and proves to be very popular. Anybody can join at any given level of English, no matter how confident. The main thing is willingness and determination to ‘just try’.
Each participant writes a word on a piece of paper which is then collected. Different roles are assigned: a timekeeper, a grammar checker, a vocabulary checker. Every participant gets the chance to do an impromptu speech for a maximum of three minutes based on their drawn word and then receive feedback about how to improve grammar and vocabulary. This flexible format means that students at all levels see improvement.
SEEDS employees encourage the students with more advanced English to sharpen both their English as well as their leadership skills through leading the Public Speaking sessions. They also join in the sessions themselves and support the student volunteers to facilitate this ongoing program.