I would like to take you back to my secondary school days in March 1962. I those days my school organised class contests every year, both in various kinds of sports and in various aspects of culture. One of the contests was called eloquence.

Of course, you can imagine that, then as well now, a 14-year-old would not willingly make himself ridiculous by exposing himself in a speech. Since everybody had to take part in a contest, I was at a certain moment appointed "volunteer" for the eloquence contest. My classmates in those days must have been more aware of my hidden talents in the field of speaking than I was.

Things in those days were a bit different from the way speaking contests are organised nowadays. I was put in a classroom on my own for 15 minutes with a number of titles scribbled on a piece of paper. I had to speak for 5 minutes on one of those topics. Fortunately, I did not finish last, but last but one, which I thought was quite an achievement. After that experience I said to myself: "No way, Jose. You're never going to do something like that again." After a name change and many internal therapeutic struggles I have come to look at the whole thing of speaking differently.

I have been involved in speaking contests for over 10 years now. My school hosted regional rounds in the past, I have been a judge, chair of the day and, yes, as a teacher I have also been involved in the speaking contests.

We hear a lot about teachers being very busy people, with a heavy workload. That could mean that there is an easy way-out for the teachers if they wish to do so. They will just have to do the administrative nitty-gritty that goes with entering a student for the competition. Apart from the fact that this not seem to be very nice to the student, I must admit that this attitude can be a great time-saver: you have more time to wash your car, play a round of golf, or, as in my case, finally do the work in the garden that your wife has been asking you to do for ages.

The teachers with this attitude do not know what they are missing. You can work on the ideas with your student and discover what they have written. After all, students do have something to say. Together you work on the ideas that the students has put on paper. I very ofeten see myself as a sort of sparring partner. When it comes to the actual practising of the speech, I am always amazed at how quickly students peck up ideas, hints and suggestions and further develop them in the speech. A process like this makes you aware of role as a teacher or guide, whichever you wish to call it.

When we get to the day of the speech, usually on a Saturday, we don't get the chance to was the car, play our round of golf or work in the garden. Of course, I am nervous, just like my student is, because I want him or her to do well and go on to the next round. If it goes well, there the joy of winning. If it doesn't, there is, of course, the disappointment, but that is very often only for a short moment.

There is also the feeling of being in this together, for when I told my students this year that in their preliminary round they had lost to speakers who had finally made it to the final, their reaction was: "Oh, cool!"

When I look at the future of the BBC Speaking Awards, I can say that the future is safe. I am also involved in the Junior Speaking Contest Speak!Speak!!Speak!!! for students of the second and third years of bilingual schools in the Netherlands, and I can tell you: there is a lot of talent coming your way.

All these things lift me up and will do so as long as I am involved with public speaking. I definitely will not stop or, to quote the English writer Alan Sillitoe: "They will have to drag me kicking and screaming because I want to stay where I am."