English Competition

April marks the month of the Chiayi County English Competition. So, preparations are in full swing across the county's elementary schools. This past week, my school has been judging students on the two areas of the competition to chose which students we will send to the BIG county competition. Today I was one of three judges for the story telling competition. Being an elementary competition, I did not expect a very formal format. Well, I was wrong. The students were given exactly two minutes to recite a story from memory. They were judged on how they spoke the English words, how well they told the story, and how well they remembered. Each three judges had a score sheet with comment section. The students were so nervous and shaky, I felt a little bad giving low scores, and gave a little higher than I should have. A few students were excellent though, they brought props, did actions to go along with their story, and had voice inflection to emphasize exciting parts of the story. Most of the stories were very monotone, and I had to focus hard to understand the words. Most of the students recited their stories very fast because they were nervous. One student completely forgot his story and stood there trying to remember for the entire two minutes. He cried until the end of the competition. I felt awful. It was so strange to see students that are usually hyper and silly in class turn into a shy, nervous performer. I think three judges staring at you from 3 feet away would be quite intimidating. After the judging was finished for all three grades (6 students per grade), I congratulated a few students on how well they did. One of my favorite students, and probably the most fluent of all, Jonny, said he was so embarrassed and so nervous that he did terrible. I told him that he did a great job and he has nothing to worry about. Most of the students I know from class and recognized their nerves, and I made sure to take that into account. I've never seen Jonny so quiet.
So the next few weeks we will have the chosen students practice 1-on-1 with us English teachers to prepare for the big competition in April. Unfortunately, we are unable to attend the competition after helping them prepare....we can't miss classes :(
TO prepare for my portion of the competition, I had to create a readers' theater script for the students to memorize and perform. We will be practicing this for the next few weeks! WISH US LUCK!