The English-Speaking Union Scotland (ESU Scotland) is an educational Scottish

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

whose purpose, shared with the

English-Speaking Union The English-Speaking Union (ESU) is an international educational membership organistation. Founded by the journalist Sir Evelyn Wrench in 1918, it aims to bring together and empower people of different languages and cultures, by building skill ...

internationally, is to promote international understanding and human achievements through the widening use of the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

throughout the world. ESU Scotland is based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and retains close links with the ESU's international headquarters at

Dartmouth House Dartmouth House is a Georgian house in Mayfair, central London, England. It now serves as the headquarters of the English-Speaking Union (ESU), an educational charity. It is located at 37 Charles Street, southwest of Berkeley Square. Over 40,0 ...

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

, London. The mission statement for ESU Scotland is to: * Promote global friendship and understanding through English

Debating and public speaking

In many circles the ESU is best known for its major educational activity, the promotion of debate as an educational tool. ESU Scotland runs the ESU Scotland Juniors' tournament, which in the 2008/9 school year received 130 entries from 84 schools. Former winners include

Newcastle Royal Grammar School (By Learning, You Will Lead) , established = , closed = , type = Grammar SchoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Geoffrey Stanford , r_head_label = , r_head = , chair_label = , cha ...

Kirkcudbright Academy Kirkcudbright Academy is a state funded, six-year secondary school in Kirkcudbright, Scotland with about 400 pupils and 87 staff including teaching, support and administration. Notable alumni *Jennie Adamson was a Labour Party politician in t ...

Grove Academy Grove Academy is an 11–18 mixed secondary school in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland. History Grove Academy was established in 1889. In 2007, construction began on completely new buildings on the site of the Extension Buildings and huts. T ...

and

Dollar Academy Dollar Academy, founded in 1818 by John McNabb, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school in Scotland. The open campus occupies a site in the centre of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, at the foot of the Ochil Hills. Overview As of 20 ...

. Only

George Heriot's School George Heriot's School is a Scottish independent primary and secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has more than 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff, and 80 non-teaching staff ...

and

have won the Juniors on more than one occasion. ESU Scotland also administers the Scottish legs of the

ESU Schools Mace The English-Speaking Union Schools' Mace is an annual debating tournament for secondary schools in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The competition was founded in 1957 by the journalist Kenneth Harris of ''The Observer'' newspaper, and was ...

, the ESU Public Speaking Competition and the

John Smith Memorial Mace The John Smith Memorial Mace (known as the Observer Mace from 1954 to 1995) is an annual debating tournament ( British Parliamentary format) contested by universities in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The equivalent competition for seconda ...

(named after the former Labour leader and winner of the competition who died in 1994). ESU Scotland also teaches debate through Outreach Programmes, teacher training and the provision of resources. It was commissioned to write comprehensive learning resources by the Scottish Executive in 2006. These can be found a

In 2008, ESU Scotland was awarded follow-up funding to expand and promote these materials. In 2009, thanks to charitable trust funding the ESU Scotland can work with over 40 schools from across Scotland by giving away free workshops. As well as this ESU Scotland offers coaching support to branches and ESUs all over the world and is closely involved with the Scotland Schools Debating Team which competes in the

World Schools Debating Championships The World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) is an annual English-language debating tournament for high school-level teams representing different nations. History The championships were first held in August 1988 in Australia, as part of the A ...

each year. In 2007, the Scotland team won the World Schools Debating Championships.

Creative writing competition

ESU Scotland runs a creative writing competition in conjunction with the

National Galleries of Scotland National Galleries of Scotland ( gd, Gailearaidhean Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the National Collections o ...

and the

Scottish Poetry Library The Scottish Poetry Library is a public library specialising in Scottish poetry. Since 1999, the library has been based at 5 Crichton's Close, just off the Canongate in Edinburgh's Old Town. History and status The library was founded in 1984 ...

. It is sponsored by the

Scottish Qualifications Authority The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA; Gaelic: ''Ùghdarras Theisteanas na h-Alba'') is the executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for accrediting educational awards. It is partly funded by the Ed ...

and supported by ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'' newspaper. This competition requires entrants to write a poem or piece of prose inspired by one of the works in the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland. In 2007, the best entrants from the previous two years will be collated into a book.

EFL classes

ESU Scotland offers part-time English language classes for students at all levels, from beginners to advanced. It holds most classes at the ESU in the centre of Edinburgh or at its Learning Centre in Meadowbank.

World Members Conference 2008

Every four years, the ESU holds a World Members Conference, and in 2008 the World Members Conference was hosted by ESU Scotland in

. Speakers at the Conference included Lord Robertson, Professor

David Crystal David Crystal, (born 6 July 1941) is a British linguist, academic, and prolific author best known for his works on linguistics and the English language. Family Crystal was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, on 6 July 1941 after his mother had ...

, Sir

Richard Dearlove Sir Richard Billing Dearlove (born 23 January 1945) was head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), a role known informally as "C", from 1999 until 6 May 2004. He was in his role as head of MI6 during the invasion of Iraq. He was bl ...

, Professor

Bob Worcester Sir Robert Milton Worcester, (born 21 December 1933) is an American-born British pollster who is the founder of MORI (Market & Opinion Research International Ltd.) and a member and contributor to many voluntary organisations. He is a well-kno ...

, Sir John Bond,

Professor Stanley Wells Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

and Sir

Christopher Meyer Sir Christopher John Rome Meyer (22 February 1944 – 27 July 2022) was a British diplomat who served as the Ambassador to the United States (1997–2003), Ambassador to Germany (1997), and the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission (20 ...

Scholarships

Each year, ESU Scotland runs a number of scholarships: * The Thyne Scholarship - for young Scots to travel to a country or countries of their choice to study and research their own particular vocation. * The Page Scholarship - for education professionals. Scholars trave to the US to study a specific aspect of American education. * The Lady Duke Scholarship - for young professionals wishing to study their vocation in the USA.

Honorary Presidents and vice presidents

The current Honorary President of ESU Scotland is the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament Alex Fergusson. The current vice presidents are

Jamie McGrigor Sir James Angus Rhoderick Neil McGrigor, 6th Baronet (born 19 October 1949) is a Scottish Conservative Party politician, who is a councillor in Argyll and Bute. He had previously been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Highlands a ...

MSP,

Robin Harper Robin Charles Moreton Harper, (born 4 August 1940) is a Scottish politician, who was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothians (Scottish Parliament electoral region), Lothians region (1999–2011). He was co-convener of the Scot ...

MSP, Mike Pringle MSP,

Marlyn Glen Marlyn Glen (born 30 September 1951) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. She was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the North East Scotland region from 2003 to 2011. Glen was born in Dundee and educated at Kirkton High School. S ...

MSP and Michael Matheson MSP.

Branches

ESU Scotland has one active branch, the Edinburgh branch. The branch holds various events throughout the year including regular lunches and an annual speech forum. In early 2009, a steering committee for a Glasgow Branch was started up and an official launch will take place later in 2009.

Other areas of work

ESU Scotland also runs The Call Service, an annual service at the Call Statue in

Princes Street Gardens Princes Street Gardens are two adjacent public parks in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The Gardens were created in the 1820s following the long draining of the Nor Loch and building of the New Town, ...

which was erected by Americans of Scottish descent to commemorate Scots who gave their lives during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. ESU Scotland also runs public speaking and speech writing courses for adults and voluntary organisations.

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.esuscotland.org.uk
ESUCentre of Speech & DebateESU World Conference
Charities based in Scotland English language Learned societies of Scotland Organisations based in Edinburgh