The Speak Good English Movement 2014

On 28 May 2014, a Wednesday, six student representatives from Secondary 4 and 5 attended the launch of the annual Speak Good English Movement.

The Speak Good English Movement aims to promote the use of good English in Singapore and this year it aims to show that grammar rules aren’t as boring or long-winded as we think they are.

The event was held at The Arts House, and guests present at the launch included famous host Hossan Leong, Dream Academy director Selina Tan and author of The Teenage Textbook Adrian Tan, along with the director of The Theatre Practice, Kuo Jian Hong and the local, well-known acoustic duo, Jack and Rai. The event started off with Jack and Rai playing two songs, Fa La La and If I had a Million Dollars. After that, there was a speech by the Chairman of the Speak Good English Movement, Goh Eck Kheng, said, “If you learn the rules of grammar then you can check yourself far easier, rather than taking mistakes piecemeal,”

Following the speech was an act organised by Dream Academy, where comedian and drama

queen Kumar acted with a few artistes such as Zachary Ho from The Theatre Practice (the school’s coach for the annual National Story Challenge organised by the same company). The short play was packed with the humour typical of Kumar that sent the audience into fits of laughter, and more videos will be posted on the Speak Good English channel on YouTube, and here’s the link for the first episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOpdN5tOXjc

Things got slightly serious later where there was a debate, where the motion to be discussed was “This House believes that the Singapore Government should pass a Corrective English Order”, with the proposition declared the winners of the debate. Thus ends the event. Students of Evergreen managed to grab the opportunity to take a photograph with Hossan Leong with the pose and words “DOUBLE CONFIRM!”, in accordance to the comeback of the popular game show, We Are Singaporeans.