NZ holds speech competition

JAKARTA: The New Zealand Trade Development Board held an English language speech competition, involving the participation of 81 students here recently.

The board said in its media release on Tuesday that 17 contestants had been selected from of a total of 81 representing nine colleges here.

The topic of the speech competition was "Compare the lifestyle of living in Jakarta, Indonesia, with Auckland, New Zealand."

In their speeches, the contestants talked about the density of population, pollution levels and traffic jams. A number of them also talked about the valuable lessons that can be learned from the diversity of people and cultures in both places.

The winner of the competition was Siti Astrid Kusumawardhani from SMU (senior high school) Islam Al-Izhar, second was Leonard Hart Tangguh from SMU Don Bosco and in third place was Tania Surya from SMU Kristen 1.

The first prize was a month's tuition in English language at Academic College English Group (ACE Group) in Auckland, including airfares and accommodation. The second and third prizes were three month's English tuition at the newly established ACE in Jakarta. -- JP