Ms. Thitikan Satchabut
(pictured above), a master’sstudent of natural resources management at the School of Environment,
Resources and Development (SERD), recently won the third place prize at
the Thai National Best Business English Speaker Competition held on 2
November 2008 at the Sasin Institute of Business Administration of
Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.
By placing third, Thitikan just missed out on being selected to
represent Thailand at the Asia International Final.
The competition involved a select group 14 finalist
contestants of Thai nationality born after Jan 1, 1982, who were
either current students of recent university graduates.
Ms. Thitikan was joined at the elite competition by fellow AIT student
Ms. U-thumporn H.A. (pictured above) of the School of
Management. The pair reached the Thailand national final round by
virtue of their high test scores in business English competency using
the Cambridge Bulats test. The competition was organized by Cambridge
ESOL and Corporate English Consulting.
In the first session the competition, contestants gave a 3.5-minute
PowerPoint presentation on stage to an audience of international
travel agents on the compulsory topic, “Promotion of Tourism in
Thailand.” They were judged for their use of grammar, pronunciation,
content, confidence, and how they conducted the presentation. Following
this task, each contestant had fifteen minutes to prepare an impromptu
2.5-minute speech in the more challenging part of the competition. The
topic was about their proposed plan for the development of a plot of
land. Finally, each competitor had 1.5 minutes to answer questions from
the judges about their development plan.
Apart from sharing her ideas for developing eco-tourism in Thailand (as
part of the compulsory component of the competition), Thitikan tried to
persuade the audience to see how her land development venture could
benefit local communities. In the end, however, she thought she scored
highest in the eyes of the judges during the question and answer
session, replying to the question: “What are the advantages and
disadvantages of working at home?”
Ms. Thitikan attributes her English language skill to her years living
in America as an undergraduate student on scholarship. She graduated
with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas. Prior to
that, she spent one academic year of high school in the United States
as a foreign exchange student. She says her English has been
further bolstered at AIT where, apart from studying in English, she
also serves as an MC for functions organized by the Student Union. As
the third prize winner, Ms. Thitikan received a cyber dictionary, a
mobile phone, and a free English Course at Bulats.
MBA student Ms. U-thumporn H.A., 24, said she was convinced to enter
the competition by the AIT Student Union President, who persuaded her
to endure the six-month-long testing process that eventually landed her
a spot as one of the top fourteen students and young
professionals in Thailand. Representing AIT at the Bulats test
conducted at Dusit Thani University, she won out against students from
fifteen national universities. The School of Management student said
she developed her English proficiency while studying for eleven years
in India from high school to university. Before coming to AIT, she
graduated from the University of Punjab with a bachelor’s degree in
business administration.