Raj Bhowmick, a Class VII student of Netajinagar Vidyamandir, was confident as he delivered the one-minute speech on gardening that he had memorised for the Speaking Festival 2010, held at Birla Industrial and Technological Museum on August 9.

But his twang, picked up from the volunteers at Irish charitable organisation, international NGO Suas Educational Development, faltered when it came to interacting with the judges and he switched to his mother tongue, Bengali.

Aimed at improving the English communicative skills of students who study it as their second language, the second edition of the festival had participants speaking on a pre-set topic on stage for a minute. Around 170 participants from six government-aided schools from the city and the outskirts locked horns for the best speaker’s trophy.

The students were helped by NGO Vikramshila Education Resource Society, volunteers of Suas and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

The participants were divided into three categories according to their class (VI, VII or IX). Those most conversant in English spoke individually, while the rest spoke in pairs or groups. The topics ranged from their hobbies, pets, favourite actors to future career choices.

A few could hold their own in English beyond the prepared lines. Subhrajit Nag, of Ramakrishna Vidyapith, claimed he had included his own ideas in his speech. “Not all of it was coached,” said the Class IX student, who spoke on what he would do if he could be chief minister for a day. “Being poor in communicative English is a big handicap in today’s world. I would love to mix with students of big schools and to participate in their fests. I watch Hollywood movies to hone my English,” said the youngster, who wants to be “a doctor or a social worker”.

But most were tongue-tied or required a translator to answer the judges. “Why was there no actress in your list of favourite film stars?” asked a judge to a duo in the “pair category”. A puzzled expression and a garbled answer were all he got.

Netajinagar Vidyamandir bagged the maximum number of prizes (seven), followed by Ramakrishna Vidyapith and Bratachari Vidyasram.

Among the individual speakers, Rohit Mukherjee of Ramakrishna Vidyapith, Anuja Das of Bharati Bhavan and Jhilik Mukherjee of Mayapith Nari Shiksha Asram were adjudged best speakers in the Class VII, VIII and IX categories, respectively.