Do you need to understand people speaking English with different accents? Then you’re going to love this video.
A couple of weeks ago we set our viewers a challenge: to send us video telling us who they are, where they’re from and what they do in English.
And they did! We were blown away by the videos we received. We can’t give everyone an Oscar but we can award them a SEVY – a Simple English Videos Award. Welcome to the SEVY awards video!
Congratulations and thank you so much to everyone who took part. You were brilliant!

SEVY Awards Ceremony

Hello everyone. A few weeks ago we gave our viewers a challenge – a speaking challenge.
We asked all of our learners to send us a video telling us who you are, where you’re from and what you do.
And we got some replies.
We’re they any good?
Yes, they were brilliant. They all deserve an Oscar.
Ah, well we’ve invented a different kind of an award called a SEVY, or Simple English Videos Award.
And so welcome to the SEVY presentation ceremony.
Shall we look at the first video?
Yeah, come on. Let’s go.

Hello Vicki and Jay. This is Jack. I come from China. I’m a student.

His pronunciation was really good.
Yes. English is his favourite subject. Jack, you get the first SEVY for pronunciation.
Thank you Jack from China. Let’s go onto the next one.

Hello Vicki. Hello Jay. I’m Emad from Egypt. I’m an electrical engineer, happy to enjoy this experience. Thanks a lot.

Thank you Emad from Egypt and we’re so glad you enjoyed the experience.
And you get the SEVY for coming from a place we’d both like to visit.
We’ve never been to Egypt and we would really like to be there.
But you know there’s someone else from Egypt.
Oh right. Let’s check that out.

Good morning, Vicki. Good morning, Jay. My name is Ahmed. I’m from Egypt and I live in Cairo. I’m an English language teacher and I teach English to adults. That’s all for now. I hope you like my video. Goodbye.

Ahmed gets the SEVY for multi-tasking. Walking while shooting.
He’s very athletic.
And his pronunciation is really excellent.
Yes, apparently he’s never been to the UK, but he watches the BBC world Service all the time. So it really works!
Obviously. Next one.

Hi! My name is Ashish, and I am from Varanasi, India. Now I’m working in Samsung Electronics as a promoter.

Thank you Ashish from India.
Yes, can you guess what SEVY we’re going to give to Ashish?
Hmm, oh I know. Best costume.
That’s right. Did you notice? He was wearing and English football team jersey. He’s a fan! OK, next one is our youngest viewer.
Oh let’s see that.

I’m Elizabeth. I’m in Malaga. I’m in Malaga, Spain and I’m a student.

That’s Elizabeth from Malaga and she’s a student. How old is Elizabeth?
Four.
Oh, I’m impressed.
Apparently she likes to sit on her mother’s lap and watch our videos, and her favourite video is the one we made at Halloween.
Oh, mine too. Hello Elizabeth.
Hello Elizabeth. Shall we see her Mum?
Absolutely.

My name is Amanda. I’m from Guadalajara, Mexico but now I’m living in Malaga, Spain. I have multiple jobs. That means that I am mother of two little children. Bye.

So she’s originally from Mexico, now she’s in Malaga, Spain and she has multiple jobs.
Yes. Amanda, you win the SEVY for the best joke! Two children – multiple jobs.
Oh got it! Who’s next.

Hello. I’m Suzanne. I’m French. I live in a little town to the south of Lyon. I’m now retired but I was a German teacher. Thank you very much for your videos. I find them very useful. Good-bye.

Auf wiedersehen, Suzanne.
So she speaks French, German, English.
Right! She gets the linguist SEVY.
Yes, and she also gets the SEVY for being the first responder, because she sent us the video first.
Thank you Suzanne. Let’s see who’s next.

Hello Vicki and Jay. I’m Aki from Japan. I live in Australia at the moment. I work as a Japanese language assistant. I’m a big fan of your channel so please keep up the good work. Thank you. Bye.
Aki wins the SEVY for best vocabulary. She said ‘Keep up the good work’.

Yes. She’s lived in England, you know.
I didn’t know.
And I think she’s been to America once. Aki, if you come back, you must look us up.
Right, let’s see who’s next.

Hello Vicki, hello Jay! My name is Jerome. I come from Nice. This is a beautiful city in the southeast of France. This is close to Monaco, but due to my job now I live in Monaco. It’s still in France, but it’s closer to the mountains of Switzerland. I work for an important airport operator. I am the quality, safety, security, environment and complaints manager. And working in an international context at an airport pushes me everyday to improve my English a lot, and this is why I have decided to follow your YouTube channel. Thank you for everything. Cheers!

Jerome gets the SEVY for confidence.
Yes. He’s a very confident speaker. Apparently in his last job he used to use English a lot, but he uses it less in the current job, so he comes to our channel to practise.
That’s a very good idea because if you don’t use it, you lose it.
Good point! OK, next one.

Hi everyone. I’m Lucas from Brazil and I live here in Sao Paulo. I’m a student. I study petroleum engineering, also known as oil engineering, and this is my last year of college.

Lucas wins the SEVY for fluency and clarity.
Lucas we love Brazil. Vicki and I have been there a number of times and we can’t wait to go back.
Lucas has got a competitive exam in the next few weeks that’s very hard.
Good luck Lucas.
Good luck Lucas. OK, next one.

Hello! I’m Mario from north Italy. I live in the province of Provencia. I’m a farmer. I would like to become a professional singer as soon as possible. See you soon, bye!

Mario gets the SEVY for the most unusual job.
What does Mario sing?
Italian pop songs, but he also sings in English. Like Frank Sinatra.
Oh Mario, I wish we could hear you sing.
That would be so cool.
Let’s see who’s next.

Hi. I’m Ying Tao. I come from China. Now I live in Philadelphia in the United States. I’m a software engineer and I’m developing some apps for mobile phones.

So Ying Tao is right here in Philadelphia.
Yes, we live in Philadelhia too. And Yong Tao you get the SEVY for being closest to us. And one afternoon we’ll go out and have a coffee together.
We wish we could have a coffee with all of you.
Or a party.
Right.
It’s been FANTASTIC to receive your videos, and to get to know you a little bit better because we make the videos and we have no idea who’s watching them so this has been marvelous for us.
It’s really been nice to meet you. Thank you so much for sending the videos. Have a great week everyone and we’ll see you next Friday.
Bye!