The level of students has kept going up since the English Speaking Union (ESU) launched the competition in Mauritius. This is why Sabrya Cader Carim, from Queen Elizabeth College, must be even happier to have won the final. She has managed to gain the jury?s favour with her exposé on ?Mother Earth: past, present and future?. Her ability to master Shakespeare?s language, her material and the touch of humour that punctuated her structured speech must have helped her to do so. The runner-up for this year is Marie Clerette Sarah Mallet from Loreto College Port-Louis.

Sabrya obviously had a good surprise when the president of the jury, British High-Commissioner Anthony Godson, pronounced her name as the winner. ?Obviously I am very happy to have won the competition. I want to thank all my teachers because we have all worked for it together. My friends were also there and I must say I am only representing the success of a team?s work,? she said just after the results.

Now that she has won the final in Mauritius, she will fly to London for the international competition to be held between14th and 17th May. ?I hope I will represent Mauritius at best,? she commented. This international competition will include preliminary competitions from which only eight finalists will be chosen. ?We hope Mauritius will be among the eight and that she will finally obtain the winner?s certificate from the hands of Prince Philip,? declared the ESU executive officer, Lina So.

Tomorrow, she will have a coaching session by two members of the ESU Speech and Debate Squad in London ? Patricia Edwards and Bilal Mahmood. The latter made a short enlightening demonstration of public speaking at the end of the competition. Thanks to their lively and humoristic approach, they managed to make the audience aware of the importance of content, structure, tone, body language and eye contact when speaking in public.

Both the British High Commission and the ESU president, Sir Victor Glover, stressed the good level of the finalists this year. The eight of them ?did extremely well. In 2005 already, it was very difficult to make a final judgment but it was even tougher today,? said Anthony Godson.

The coaching they all had on the eve of the final from the ESU squad from London was certainly one of the reasons for the good level. They all made an effort to be lively and entertaining. They all addressed the audience directly and both the winner and the runner-up made their speeches with a pinch of humour.