Last week grades 3 to 6 participated in an English speech contest. I was, of course, unaware of it until the day before I was meant to judge it, and so I was surprised at the amount of work the students had put into it! Clearly, they had had time to prepare and so must have known about it much earlier.
Thursday we judged 3rd and 4th grade, and then the 5th and 6th graders competed Friday afternoon. Unfortunately I only had my camera with me on the first day, so my pictures are limited to the younger students.
Each of the 4 English teachers, myself included, got a copy of the speeches and a little grading rubric to fill out for each one. The grading categories included "Perfection & Content," "Pronunciation & Intonation," and "Confidence & Attitude." Personally, I had a hard time deciding how many points to give each of them in the "Perfection" category, especially because most of the students had memorized stories rather than writing their own speech. Ms An gave me a tip before they started that I should just decide who is 1st, 2nd, 3rd and then fill in the points later! I thought this was crazy, but there were no breaks between speeches and it was soon clear that I would not have time to think about the points! In the end, I don't think I contributed much to the final decision of who was "best" but I was really stunned by the abilities of my youngest students. They all memorized at least a page of English text and some of them were really entertaining!
"City mouse and country mouse"
3rd and 4th grade participants
(You can tell who got help from their parents, though! Those cheaters!)
This student won the 3rd grade category. I have no idea where she got the banner from but her mom was hovering out in the hallway with her nose pressed up against the window for the whole speech.
I really wanted these students to win because they were so dang adorable. They reenacted a summary of the Little Mermaid and then sang this song in closing. Too cute! (Also, I was shocked they told the original version of the story where the mermaid has to kill the prince in the end or else turn into foam! Telling such a dark fairy tale and then following it up with this song was a brilliant juxtaposition that was probably lost on them...)
Today we had a festival at school for the students and their parents. I'd known about it, or at least the idea of it, since last week, but of course the details were fuzzy until the day-of.
All week I've been asking questions. "What will happen?" "What time will it start?" "Until when?" "Do we have class?" My coworkers were frustratingly vague, as is their usual way. Somehow, even after close to 2 years here I never believe them when they say they don't know. Surely they must know something. It makes sense that I don't know what's going on, but don't they get the schedule emailed to them? Don't they want to know?? Even this morning when I asked Ms An if we would have class today, she just deadpanned, "Maybe."
"...So should I prepare the whiteboard?" I wondered.
"No."
Hahahaha. I frantically got my materials together just in case, but in the end she was right.
This morning each class performed dances and songs for their parents. The classrooms were all decorated in balloons and banners and the desks were shoved out into the hall leaving the chairs for audience seating. A few songs were performed as a group but afterwards each classroom held its own talent show to display individual students' special skills. Some of the students did a magic show or played an instrument. Others sang, danced or put on mini plays. Meanwhile, the parents sat in the back taking pictures and shouting words of encouragement.
After I got my work done in the morning, I walked around peeking into the different classes. It felt like some massive carnival variety show: in this room girls were singing, in this one, a taekwondo performance with students breaking boards, in the next class an elaborate card trick was underway with enthusiastic audience participation. The hallway became the "backstage" area as students ran around changing into costumes and getting their props ready.
I snapped some pictures.
Fifth graders getting ready in the hall.
Sixth grade performance.
Sixth grade rendition of "Gangnam Style."
Traditional drummers.
Ribbon dancers
Fourth graders: Yu-jun, Ga-eun, Da-yeong, and I can't remember the name of the one in back!
Later after the shows, we all headed outside to watch a performance by a professional dance troupe. There was traditional drum music and dancers in brightly colored costumes. It was chilly but the sun was out and it was nice to get some fresh air.
The ribbon dancers are always my favorite, though it makes my neck hurt to watch them. Their special headdress has a long ribbon attached to a spinner and when they turn or move their head the ribbon swings around in a big circle. It's hands-free ribbon dancing!
The dancers jump around, drumming, and all the while their head never stops circling, like a never-ending neck warm up. Wow!
All in all the day was great, weather was perfect and I was happy for the mid-week break!
Here's a video of the fifth graders song:
And here's a tiny clip of the swinging-ribbon-head drummers. I ran out of space on my memory card after that!
