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Spotlight Marathon manBy Suwitcha Chaiyong Book lover worms his way to a win
In 2003, the Thai National Statistical Office found that Thai people don�t generally read much. The survey showed that, on average, each person in the kingdom reads just seven lines of text a day. To encourage teens to catch the reading bug, the Office of the Basic Education Commission and the Big C Foundation arranged a national Reading Marathon. The junior high-level winner of the contest was 15-year-old Kritsada Phanookaew (Note) from Phanutnikhom School in Chon Buri. �I love reading, and I spend time in the library every day � either on my own or with friends,� Note said. �My favourite subject is science. I don�t read comics, fiction or fantasy because I prefer to learn facts.� NO TIME FOR TAUNTSWhile most teens like to while away their time with TV, video games or the Internet, Note is a book lover who spends his free time reading. Because Because of his reading habits, he admits that some classmates teased him about being a nerd. But the young winner doesn�t care about his bookworm image. �I didn�t pay any attention to teasing because I�ve done something worthwhile,� Note said. �After I ignored them, they stopped teasing me.� TOUGH COMPETITIONNote explained that the Reading Marathon wasn�t about reading over a long period of time. In fact, the contestants had to read several stories in a limited time and then answer questions to prove that they understood the contents. �I originally thought that I had to read several books over a few days, but in the first round, participants had to read three short stories in an hour,� he said. Note said that concentration was the key to making it through the first round. �At first I got distracted with nerves because I had to finish three short stories that I�d never seen before,� he said. �But later I calmed down and caught up with as much as I could, though I didn�t really like the fiction contents.� The final section of the contest was more of a marathon. For that round, the contestants had to plough through a 200-page encyclopedia. �In the final round, we took a copy of the Thai Junior Encyclopedia home to read through in a week,� Note said. �I read it every day after I finished my homework, and I finished the book three times.� DOWN TIMEDespite his passion for reading, Note sometimes became exhausted with all his assignments and preparation for the contest. �I was selected to participate in more than one reading contest,� he said. �I sometimes got headaches because there was too much homework.� With a little help from his friends and teachers, Note managed to make it through. �My friend recommended that I finish the assignments first and then prepare for the contests after that,� he said. �A teacher also gave me special exceptions for some assignments.� READ MORE, KNOW MOREAll that hard work was worth it when Note won the Reading Marathon. He thinks that the competition was useful, even though it was more about memorising information than reading ability. �The more we remember the content, the more knowledge we have,� he said. �But we need to understand the content before memorising it.� Note firmly believes that reading is one of the best ways to gain knowledge. �If we don�t read, we will know nothing,� he said. �Reading helps us be well rounded, and the things that we learn can also be used later for entrance exams.�
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