News Secondary
2 August 2024
Our Battle of the Speakers Contest for Years 7 -12 took place on Wednesday 31st of August, 2024 at the College Auditorium. The theme this year was 'Free Palestine'.
The contest saw 25 students taking part and the panel of judges had a difficult task to judge the best of the speakers. The quality of speakers this year was extremely high and worthy of praise. Some speakers were even able to move members of the audience to tears with their emotionally-laden speeches.
The guest speaker – Ms Aseel Tebeileh spoke of the current situation in Palestine and in her candid tone expressed the reality of the war occurring and what needed to be done to end the humanity crisis.
Students spoke about Palestine, Palestinians, historical context and reality before us, our roles and responsibilities and what it truly means to stand with Palestine.
The feedback so far has been very heart-warming and positive as students and staff expressed great satisfaction and joy that this event was timely and gave everyone the chance to be expressive, self-reflect and introspect.
Top three speakers in the Years 7 – 9 category are:
Top three speakers in the Years 10 – 12 category are:
Our heartiest congratulations to the following students who were equally remarkable and made their mark in this year’s Battle of the Speakers Contest:
Category 1:
Category 2:
Category 3:
Category 4:
My special thanks to Mr Haroon Patel and his team from the Humanities Department for your support and assistance and not forgetting my hardworking team from the English Department who stood by me to ensure the program was successful. Above all – I must thank Mr Osama Akkad from the SSD Team for being a great Master of Ceremony for this event.
MEd (Deakin), BEd (USP), GCEdR (Monash), DipHEng (UK), CTESL (USP), DipBusAc (UK), DipCounseling (NSW), DipEdEv (USP), Cert.ITEP (Canada)
Mr Mohammed Azim is currently the Head of English at Al Siraat College. He is also the Instructional Coach for teachers in secondary school. Prior to joining Al Siraat College, Mr Mohammed Azim was an English Lecturer/Curriculum Developer at Monash University's English Language Centre. He has taught VCE English, Language, EAL & Literature for over 14 years as well. He has been in the teaching profession for the past 30 years and has worked in various capacities like Head of English & Humanities, Counsellor, Senior Coordinator, Head of Teaching & Learning, Curriculum Developer, Educational Leadership and Administration Adviser, Discipline Coordinator and PD Trainer in primary, secondary and tertiary educational sectors. He is also an exam assessor for external exams through VCAA – Assessment Administration Unit.
Mr Mohammed Azim was honoured by the Teaching Australia – Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership for National Excellence in Teacher Leadership Award in 2009. In 2011, Mr Mohammed Azim was the first Muslim teacher ever to win the National Excellence in Teaching Awards supported by the Australian Scholarship Group. He was declared as one of the teachers in the Top 10 teachers of Australia in 2011. The awards did not end here as Mohammed Azim was recognised for his outstanding service and contribution in education once again by being named in the 2017 HOT LIST OF TOP 50 AUSTRALIAN EDUCATORS by the prestigious The Educator magazine.
Mr Mohammed Azim has a passion for action research in the areas of teacher quality, discipline, educational administration and leadership, teaching and learning pedagogies, assessment for success and innovative ways of teaching English. Currently, he teaches English at Year 9, 11 & 12 levels. Apart from teaching, he is actively involved in many community initiatives and activities that deals with families and youths.
Mr Mohammed Azim is an advocate of the motto that ‘We rise by lifting others’. This is his passion and mission at Al Siraat College.
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