Sabah students win national English contest
Published on: Monday, September 12, 2022
By: Christy Chok
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They were among a total of 44 students, aged 8–18 years old, from CEA English Academy (formerly known as Cambridge English Academy) who had made it through to Stage Two of the contest, where they were assessed on their reading, writing and listening proficiency.
Taking the top spots were Valerie Chia Kai Qi for the A1 category, Alyssa Liew Xuan for the A2 category, and Phang Ern Young for the B2 category. The other top scorers were Lucas Lau Zhi Xuan (third in the A2 category), and Tan Yu Xuan and Carissa Lu Yi Tong (second and third respectively in the B1 category).
For the A1 category, the Commended Award winners were Gordon Chan Kah Thong and Qalesyah Amira Binti Syamsul while recipients of the Certificate of Achievement were Lim Xiu Man, Bilal Hayat Khan Bin Hayat Ullah Khan, Chok Xuan, Presley Vun Jet, Sarah Chin Si Rong, Nurqalesyah Firmiza Firhan Binti Abdullah, Chong Ying Xin, Jennifer Yeoh Yi An, Wan Mohammad Idzhar Bin Wan Mohd Nadziham, Natalie Foong Pei Chee, Kiu Sie Lok, Queeny Wong Kha Ting, Elisha Lau Yan Xi, Isaac Mah Jing Jie, Winston Wong Qun Bo, Sarah Isabel Wong Mei Hui, Aaron Soh Heng Lit, Ahmad Bin Abdul Jabbar, Adam Bin Abdul Jabbar, Gabriel Ling Yi Shun, Natalie Chia Kai Qing as well as Dominic Chia Kai Him.
For the A2 category, the Commended Award winners were Kelly Kah Chia Yee, Lim Yuan Zhen, Chung Shi Yan, Ashley Liew Jin Yue, Nurfatiha Fateen Binti Romzi, Cyrus Hougan Lee, Lau Sie Hui, Soo Wei Yang, Kong Pui Shyuan and Teoh Xin Ying.
In the B1 category, the recipients of the Certificate of Achievement were Peter Kim, Clive Wong Zhi Cheng and Nur Hana Aqilah Binti Romeo while Law Man Zi from the B2 category.
Winners at the national level were then scored against participants from the region, which included Thailand, for the chance to compete at the Global Event in Greece in September. The extremely high standard of the competition and the sheer number of participants in each category saw the Malaysian national champions bested by a slim margin to proceed to the world stage. Two former Sabah participants, Chin Yih Thung and Celine Shantini Rajesh Kumar, won at the regional level in 2019 and took part in the Global Event held in Serbia that year.
KGL is a global English language contest organised by the International Testing Authority to aspire students to learn English as a foreign language and compete with their peers from around the world in a fun and exciting way. With the language format that is aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), the contest tests students at the highest international standards and prepares them for future language assessments.
Participation is open to schools and language centres worldwide that meet the entry requirements. All the participants from Sabah this year were students of CEA English Academy (in City Mall KK) which provides classes to prepare students to sit for the Cambridge English exams at their centres in Tawau and Kota Kinabalu.
The success of Sabah’s participants in the last two KGL contests at national and regional levels is particularly encouraging and is a clear indication of the importance being placed on mastering the English language as part of their academic development. It also provides them with the opportunity to engage with students from their country and abroad on their shared journey to acquire proficiency in English as their second language.
