As always, we started off by summarising the previous year. There were altogether 5 events for students and 2 seminars for teachers (Maila Vilu taught us about Generation Y and Tiia Raag and Marju Purge taught us some Vocabulary Games) .
- Tiia Raag and Marju Purge (both from Võru Kreutzwald Gymnasium) gave an overview of the 4th English Drama Festival. This year there were 14 different plays performed by 65 students. The actors were supervised by 12 different reachers from 4 shools (Võru Kreutzwaldy Gümnaasium, Võru Kesklinna School, Haanja Basic School and Kääpa Basic School). The organisers of the event would especially like to thank Ms Ere Tumm form Võru Kreutzwald Gymnasium who supervised 6 plays this year. To bring out some positive sides of the festival, it provides the students with the chance of public performance experiences (performing on stage and public speaking), improving social skills, teaching team work and responsibility. It also helps to build students' self-esteem and activates their imagination. However, for future purposes, it is advisable to encourage the actors to speak louder and face the audience. Also, the organisers of the event kindly ask the teachers to inform of their participation as early as possible.
- Merle Paat (Antsla Gymnasium) talked about the 8th Form Translation Competition. There were 24 participans from 11 different schools (Võru Kreutzwald Gymnasium, Võru Kesklinna School, Võru I Basic School, Parksepa Secondary School, Kääpa Basic School, Antsla Gymnasium, Rõuge Basic School, Krabi Basic School, Varstu Secondary School, Vastseliina Gymnasium and Kuldre Basic Scool). The students did a very good job and the organisers are very sorry it's not possible to give individual feedback to each student. Also, there was a proposal to modernise the competition from pen-and-paper format to a computerised one. It would solve the question of organising transportation and make it possible to provide the translators with more time for actual work. There will still be a limitation on the number of students to make the marking manageable: 3 students per school. Another improvement has been made to the marking system: sentences and language items give a point (or a half point if there is a minor problem) each, which has made the choosing of 5 best translators more transparent.
- Mare Veiderpass (Võru Kesklinna School) provided an overview of Form 6 Quiz. There were 23 teams of 3 students, 2 teams of 2 students and 1 single person teams this year. Altogether 74 students from 14 Võru county schools (Võru Kreutzwald Gymnasium, Võru Kesklinna School, Võru I Basic School, Parksepa Secondary School, Kääpa Basic School, Antsla Gymnasium, Rõuge Basic School, Krabi Basic School, Varstu Secondary School, Mõniste Basic School, Haanja Basic School, Osula Basic School, Meremäe Basic School and Kuldre Basic Scool). As always, there is one hour worth of timed puzzles for students to solve. This year, the timing had been managed better than in earlier years. There was a problem with one task's key, despite having checked everything several times. The matter was settled by the teachers who were on the judges pannel. Regarding the future of the event, there is one problem rising: Where to find new tasks? All suggestions are more than welcome.
- Eve Unt (Võru Kreutzwald Gymnasium) made summary of the Impromptu Speech Competition for Secondary School. There were 17 students from 3 schools (Võru Kreutzwald Gymnasium, Antsla Gymnasium and Parskepa Secondary School). This year we tested out a completely new format . The idea originates from the final round of English olympiade. The participants are divided into pairs (by lottery), The pairs will perform turns. The first student picks a topic (again by lottery) and gets 1 minute to prepare. Then he/she has 3 minutes to express his/her views on the topic which is followed by the round of the opponent asking him/her questions. Then the roles are swapped and after the second student has finished his/her speech and answered the questions, the next pair of students is on. The judges panel will assess each performer and give points for different aspects. The student who gets the highest score is the winner. This type of a speaking activity needs thorough practice beforehand. But at the same time offers a great public speaking experience. It's now or never! However, it seems that the students found it more stressful and felt very nervous. It seemed that some topics were easier than others and some opponents managed to ask quite difficult or provocative questions, which in turn resulted in lower points. The judges encourage students to pay more attention to political correctness issues and not to be afraid of demonstrating their bright original ideas.
- Maive Salakka (Võru Kreutzwald Gymnasium) spoke about 7th Form Crosswords Competition. This year there were 29 teams of two students and 2 teams of one student, altogether 60 participants from 9 schools (Võru Kreutzwald Gymnasium, Antsla Gymnsaium, Osula Basic School, Parksepa Secondary School, Haanja Basic school, Võru I Basic School, Kääpa Basic School, Rõuge Basic School and Sõmerpalu Basic School). The crossword was dedicated to active movement related vocabulary as 2014 was declared the year of movement in Estonia. Traditionally, the students had 120 minutes to figure out 50 different word items with the help of definitions and paper dictionaries. In conclusion, the problematic areas are the same as the year before. The students need to pay more attention to spelling - quite a lot of points were lost because the contestants misspelt the words on the answers' sheet. Also, the students should seriously consider whether their parter is reliable or not. The students of the one-membered teams were let down by their teammates.
A suggestion of starting up with a teachers' book club was made. There are so many methodology books in the languages centre's library but teachers have little time to read them all. It would be nice if everyone read something and shared interesting ideas with the rest of the teachers.
It was decided that the traditional events for students should also continue in the upcoming year. So, the preliminary for schoolyear 2014/15 is as follows:
- English Drama Festival takes place on Saturday, 22nd November
- Form 8 Translation Competioion takes place on Thurdsay, 4th December
- English Olympiade's Preliminary round takes place on Friday, 5th December
- Form 6 Quiz takes place on Saturday, 7th February
- Impromptu Speech Contest takes place on Thursday, 26th February
- English Olympiade's Final round in Tallinn takes place on 6th March
- Form 7 Crosswords Competition takes place on 11th April.
Wishing you a great new school year!
Tiia Allas
