Young Master
Young Master students at an English competition event
English Competition

A fun and challenging experience for students to showcase their English knowledge and skills.

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English Competition

Aims, Scope and Content

The Young Master Challenge's English Competition offers international students a unique opportunity for holistic growth, encompassing cultural, emotional, academic, social, and spiritual dimensions. This growth is fostered within a stimulating and challenging learning environment that promotes structured and purposeful English language practice at an appropriate level.

Emphasising the value of spoken language, the competition focuses on enhancing students' cognitive, social, and linguistic development. Through reading, writing, and confident speaking, students learn to articulate their understanding of texts and visual literature while developing solid foundations in communication.

Young Master student reading during an English activity

Comprehension skills, rooted in vocabulary, grammar, and global awareness, are nurtured through engaging conversations, real-world scenarios, and discussions on diverse topics and resources. Encouraging wide-ranging reading, the competition aims to instil a love for literature, expand knowledge, and cultivate curiosity in students.

Additionally, the Young Master Challenge provides natural opportunities for vocabulary expansion, promoting clarity, audience awareness, purposeful communication, and proficiency in figurative language usage from the target vocabulary list.

Effective composition, encompassing idea formation, expression, and logical organisation, is also a vital aspect of the competition, ensuring students can effectively communicate their thoughts to diverse audiences.

Age Categories

Resources, tests and challenges are designed to be suitable for each age category.

CategoryYear of BirthLevel
Little Bee 2017, 2016, 2015 Ages 9-11
Honeybee 2014, 2013, 2012 Ages 12-14
Bumblebee 2011, 2010, 2009 Ages 15-17
Little Bee Honeybee Bumblebee

2026-2027 English Theme

Don't Wait for Life to Happen. Make It Happen. The Future Belongs to Those Who Refuse to Stand Still

This year's English Competition encourages students to explore inspiring stories that develop confidence, creativity, critical thinking, and communication.

Through carefully selected books and films, participants discover how courage, resilience, and positive choices can shape their future while strengthening reading, writing, speaking, and analytical skills.

Each age category has its own age-appropriate learning journey, encouraging students to read with curiosity, analyse with confidence, and communicate with purpose.

Books, Films and Skills

Little Bee

Ages 9-11

Fish in a Tree
Book

Fish in a Tree

by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

A heartwarming story about a girl who struggles with dyslexia but discovers her strengths through the support of an inspiring teacher.

Paddington
Film

Paddington

A delightful family film following the adventures of a polite young bear who finds a new home in London. Through humour and kindness, students explore themes of belonging, empathy, courage, and accepting others.

Honeybee

Ages 12-14

The Lightning Thief
Book

The Lightning Thief

by Rick Riordan

A fast-paced fantasy adventure introducing Percy Jackson as he discovers his identity and learns to overcome challenges through courage, friendship, and determination.

Queen of Katwe
Film

Queen of Katwe

Based on a true story, this inspiring film follows Phiona Mutesi, a young girl from Uganda whose talent for chess transforms her life.

Bumblebee

Ages 15-17

I Am Malala
Book

I Am Malala

by Malala Yousafzai

An inspiring memoir telling the story of Malala's determination to defend every child's right to education.

The Giver
Film

The Giver

A dystopian science-fiction film exploring a society without pain, conflict, or individual choice. As the main character begins to question his world, students examine freedom, responsibility, and ethics.

Challenges

Online Knowledge Test

The Knowledge Test will consist of a set of multiple-choice, single and multiple-entry questions on a range of vocabulary, verbal reasoning, comprehension, character and scene analysis based on topics and resources shared with the participants before the test. The depth of knowledge, vocabulary and comprehension will be convenient for the age categories.

Participants will have 60 minutes to complete 50 questions from the topics and Maths in Life resources. The questions will come in three levels of difficulty and each level will have different weighing to contribute to the final score of 100.

Reading Bee

This challenge involves questions that test understanding of the main idea, details, inferences, and vocabulary in a given text. Participants may be required to analyse structure, style, themes, or characters.

Writing Bee

Participants will be given a prompt or topic and asked to complete 200-500 words of creative or narrative writing within 30 minutes. Judges score grammar, vocabulary, creativity, originality, and overall writing style.

Speaking Bee

Participants will be given a prompt or topic and asked to prepare and deliver a speech for 3-5 minutes in front of an audience. Judges score delivery, content, language, and overall impact.

Spelling Bee

Teams will be asked to spell and use words in a sentence correctly and complete verbal reasoning tasks at varying difficulty levels within a set time limit.