Back to VCAA Bulletin No. 51 - August 2019
Plain English Speaking Award
PESA National Final
An Dang, winner of the PESA Victorian State Final, with Oscar Pearce, runner-up
An Dang from Brunswick Secondary College wowed the audience with her unique performance at the National Final of the Plain English Speaking Award (PESA) in Brisbane on Monday 12 August 2019.
The Year 11 student previously won the Victorian State Final of PESA in July, where she delivered a passionate speech about the deaf community's place in Australia.
An presented her speech in spoken word combined with Auslan, the Australian sign language. At one point during her performance, she invited the audience to learn how to say a few phrases in Auslan, including 'hello', demonstrating that learning sign language is not too difficult.
'Speaking about something you are already passionate about is such a joy,' An said.
'I really wanted to give a voice to the voiceless, whether that be a friend or a community that is unable to share their thoughts and opinions due to limitations such as physical, social or cultural.'
'I feel grateful to be able to pass on my message to a larger audience and speak about what I am passionate about, especially as a young person,' she said.
An lived in the United Kingdom, Vietnam and Japan before settling in Australia last year. In the past 18 months she has done three courses in Auslan and hopes to study sign language as a VCE subject.
The runner-up in the Victorian State Final was Oscar Pearce from Albert Park College, whose thought-provoking speech challenged the audience to consider how emotion has crept into politics. He used examples from the recent Australian federal election campaign, Donald Trump's rise to the US Presidency and post-Brexit Britain.
'Right from the start everyone had a unique perspective and well-thought speeches,' Oscar said.
'It was just awesome to hear from so many people with really cool ideas.'
PESA is a public-speaking competition open to secondary students aged 15–18 years. It provides an excellent opportunity for students to build self-confidence and extend their skills in oral communication, speech writing and research.