So last Saturday, starting at 11am, my institute held its long awaited speech contest. There were more than a few of us who were glad that this was finally going to be over, even if it means that we still have one more big contest to go. As teachers, we started over a month ago before this point, picking out the books from a list of selected "good choices", and then reading each book to make sure that we wouldn't go nuts listening to the same speeches read again, and again, and again. Next, each class held its own speech contest, where the highest scoring students won. From there, each classes two best students went to the next stage, where during the day, they each went before a panel, and were individually tested on their speech. From there, the highest scoring students of that stage went on to the institutes speech contest, which was held Saturday.
All in all, I was really pleased. Last year, my showing had been a little poor compared to some of the other teachers. However, this year, I made up ground. I had 7 total students competing in the institutes speech contest, with former students of mine who I'd taught recently raising the number to 12 students. The total number of contestants was 27 students out of my institutes 900 or so students. (Don't worry, they don't all come at the same time)
During the whole contest, I was busy taking pictures with my camera. The frustrating thing was that my institute, which may know how to hold a speech contest, knows absolutely nothing about good lighting; this made taking good looking photos very difficult (that and my increasingly shaky hand.) You would think that with my expensive camera, I should be able to overcompensate for the lack oflighting. However, as I've found out, expensive camera's only make taking photography more difficult. I digress.
For the kids, this isn't as much fun as it is for their parents. The parents make this out to be such a big deal, and the kids usually follow along, albeit a little begrudgingly. That is, until they win.
This year, I got lucky with some students who really knew how to warm up to the camera; and in the end, my students ended up taking the top two prizes. The grand prize winner, shown above, read a speech (written by a teacher) about "Little Red Riding Hood." Her mom decked her out in everything plaid; even her watch was authentic. It was red, had a little red riding hood girl, and alternating wolves on the band (I'm not joking). She's a brilliant girl, and my parents can attest to that. She stands a great chance at mopping up at the big speech contest, and I know she'll do great. My second student (also shown above further up) placed second, a great feat considering she slipped for what seemed an eternity to her mother, but made up for in confidence when speaking.
From here we go to weekly practices, and refining, and double checking to make sure that everything is perfect in preparation for the final step in the speech contest. I think that I'll be heading to the final contest with three students this year; a drop from last year, but I'm still excited by their chances.
I hope that everything is going well with everyone back home. Take care, and I'll catch you later
me