Vietnamese Students Share Their Thoughts on U.S. Culture

The contest judges pose with the top 5 finalist after the winners were annouced

From July 14 to August 2, The Institute of International Education (IIE) and the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City held an English-language speech contest with the theme, “Share your Perspective on U.S. Culture”. The contest offered local high school and college students a chance to practice their English-language communication and critical thinking skills and to express their ideas about U.S. culture.

Of the 90 students who submitted their presentation outlines, 20 were selected to meet with the second-round judges, who listened to the presentations and asked relevant follow-up questions to measure English comprehension and conversational skills. The top five students then presented their speeches to an audience of 300 at an awards ceremony held on August 2. Eight members of the Consulate community and two American students studying in Vietnam volunteered to judge the competition, and all were impressed by the speeches, which dealt with challenging issues such as international views of US foreign policy and culture as portrayed by Hollywood movies, US cultural values reflected in advertising, and the concepts of the “melting pot” and “mosaic”.

The top honor went to Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Kim Long for her speech “U.S. Culture – A diversified one”. The other winners were Ha Minh Quynh Anh (2nd Place), Bui Quang Minh (3rd Place), Nguyen Thi Kieu Lien (4th Place), and Tran Mai Khanh Ngoc (5th Place). The top twenty students also received prize packages, including materials on American culture donated by the Consulate’s Information Resource Center. Congratulations to the winners and to all participants for their great work!