Event Report – Asian English Olympics 2016

Asian English Olympics (AEO) 2016 is held in Bina Nusantara University Jakarta. This event lasts for 5 days from February 16th – February 20th, 2016. Over than 500 students coming from 10 different countries participate actively in 7 different English competitions organized by BNEC (Bina Nusantara English Club). Those students coming from India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thailand, The Philippines, Laos, and Bangladesh, take part actively in Speech competition, Debate competition, Storytelling competition, Spelling Bee competition, News Casting competition, Scrabble competition, and Short Story competition.

According to the Head of BNEC, the English Olympics started with participants from two countries only. Over the years, the English Olympics gradually reached more Asian countries. Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya sent two representatives to join the event this year, one of them is Meggy Themelo (1213013014) from the English Department. Below is her diary.

On the first day of AEO 2016, a technical meeting  (a meet-up where the committee explains about the details and rules of each competition round, and also the regulations that participants need to obey besides competition) and coaching clinic(a free seminar, where participants were given training by experts in each field of competition) are held.

Day 1 starts with the Opening Ceremony to officially announce that this event has started, and also announce all institutions and countries that participate. Day 1 competition starts with Preliminary Round I, where participants perform their best. There is no elimination.

Day 2 starts with Preliminary Round II. There is an elimination announcement at break time to inform the participants who would proceed to the next round. After competing for two days, they hold a special occasion at night to announce the participants who are qualified from the preliminary round to proceed to the elimination round.

The participants who go to the next round would face the Octo Final Round, and there is an elimination to proceed to the next round. The participants who go to this round face the Quarter Final Round, and there is an elimination to proceed to the next round. The participants who go to this round faced the Semi Final Round. This round determines whether the participant could proceed to the Final Round or not on the Final Day.

All participants  gather in one place, and for the participants who proceed to this round perform in front of all other participants (except the Scrabble participants). After the Final Round ends, The 2016 AEO provides a dinner to thank and entertain all the participants, judges and guests. Gala dinner is also the last event which includes Closing Ceremony of The 2016 AEO.  The winners are announced along with the side achievements of each field.