7/29/2019 Script for public speaking - holidays

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Holidays

Good morning to the panel of honourable adjudicators, teachers, and friends. On this fine morning, I

would like to talk about Malaysian Holidays.

Our country of Malaysia is the home of people of different cultures and ethnic groups. The majority of

Malaysians are Malays. Besides Malays, there are Chinese, Indians, and so on. We live here,Malaysia, peacefully without wars amongst ourselves.

There had been some disturbing talk some time ago about the necessity to do something about

Malaysia having too many holidays. I say disturbing because who has heard of having too many

holidays? Weve got along all these years celebrating every festival that is on the calendar and still

managing to keep up with the work that has to be done.

To students, a public holiday means having fun and relaxing. We students will get tired of school if

holidays didnt exist. Spending our time on a holiday also means we could spend some time with our

family. A five-day school week gives us less time to hang around with our families. During the

weekends, our time is usually spent in shopping malls with either our family or buddies.

On Hari Raya, Malay kids would be elated to have duit raya. My past years of going around the

village have passed, leaving good memories such as being chased by a goat with my cousins. When I

turned ten, I felt awkward being around little kids while collecting the duit raya. This year I spent my

time at my grandparents house with my siblings and my 12years+ cousins. I felt bored, having the

urge to go back home and listen to head-banging music. These days, teens as well as preteens dont

have the spirit of a get-together. To me, its dj vu every year.

Even though the spirit of togetherness is being overshadowed by the stress of a teenagers life, we

still somehow find a way to make holidays with our families interesting. For example; we try not to talk

back on our parents opinion to go to an island somewhere in Borneo. While were there, we have fun

snorkelling and appreciating the wonders of the marine world. And I thought I was going to swim withthe lionfish!

Holidays should be spent with reasonable activities. Some parents send us to camps during the

school holidays. We dread of going to camps. I had the experience when I was 11. I signed you up to

a camp in Rawang. Its a four day study camp, said my dad. I was like, What?! Im so not going

there! I was full with anger and fury. My diary read I cant believe this is happening! - Well, who

likes to go to camps when their parents say so? I saw this poll in the internet and it said 73% of

people rather stay at home without TV than go to camp. So its true that students dont like being

forced away to camps during the holidays.

The Chinese celebrate a lot of festivals. There is a list of the celebrations, but Im going to talk about

two only. Im not sure what they celebrate on the Moon cake festival, but what I know is that there areloads of moon cakes. Yum! The most obvious and marking the first day of the New Year of the

Chinese calendar, is Chinese New Year. Lion dance and parades are held, full of excitement.

The quietest of all the festivals known to my brain, Deepavali. Im not the whiz of the details of the

festivals in this country. The kalam is a decoration they make out coloured rice. The other thing that I

know is they eat murukku. A delicious, country treat.

Of all the holidays in Malaysia, there is one celebration that most of the citizens watch or attend.

Merdeka is the word that people cheer to at the stroke of midnight of 31 st August of every year.

Celebrated at landmarks such as Dataran Merdeka, and many more in the Wilayah Persekutuan.

Thanks are the word I would like to say, for sharing your time with me on this wonderful day.

7/29/2019 Script for public speaking - holidays

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