So the English Theater Competition has come and gone! Eleven schools competed in this year's day-long event, and the theme of the competition was "My Choice, Our Future!"
My kids all dressed well, spoke well, and performed to the best of their abilities. I was very proud of their efforts. For a bunch of eighth and ninth graders competing against older kids (and some native English speakers), I thought that they were fantastic.
Unfortunately, the kids from Zobue didn't win. The first prize actually went to a private school for foreign students, most of whom already spoke English at home. And despite my central role in organizing the competition, I didn't feel like it was my place to overturn the judges' overall decision. I had to let it happen. The final ruling and announcement of the winners was a great source of disappointment to my hardworking little students, especially when a student from the winning school came running up to tell me:
"We won! We won! We winged it and we won! We didn't even practice!"
But the little Zobue kids kept their heads held high. They've vowed to redouble their efforts next year, and return to win it all.
Words can't even express the pride I feel for them. I know just how hard they're worked.
Here they are in all their glory, on stage at the competition:
And, of course, their big finale:
It doesn't matter whether they finished in first place, last place, or somewhere in the middle. These kids are still the best. They will always be my favorite.
And they know it.
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