Shane English School Indonesia (SESI) held its first ever Spelling Bee contest this October and combined the event with a wonderful Storytelling Contest. Students came from all over Jakarta and the competition was very strong.
SESI’s teacher and senior consultant Gary Jones gave a welcome speech to students and parents, emphasising the importance of English in today’s world and celebrating Shane’s history in education.
For the Spelling Bee, the two levels of students were divided into subgroups, the three highest scoring students going into a final round. The final rounds both went to the ‘knock-out’ stage, and each time it was a nail-biting contest, no student conceding first place easily. Finally, 3rd, 2nd , and 1st place winners were declared and awarded with trophies and certificates for themselves and their schools.
After lunch, the Storytelling contest began. The judges – myself, Gary, SESI Principal Wylen – judged the students on the use of their voices, their face and body gestures, their use of space and the pace of their performances, as well as their characterization and effective use of costumes and props.
Again the competition was fierce, and we were all greatly impressed with the amount of effort and preparation competitors had gone to. Individual students confidently told and acted out stories based on myths and legends of Indonesia. We learned fascinating, funny, and heart-warming tales from Java, Sumatra, and even Borneo, with titles such as The Golden Snail, Shallots and Garlic, and The Legend of One Thousand Temples.
As well as the certificates and trophies, the 1st place winners in the Spelling Bee and in the Storytelling Contest were awarded with an ASUS laptop and 2.5m Rupiah of vouchers to use in SES Indonesia, the second place winners received 2m Rupiah and a tablet, and the third place winners 1.5m and a mobile phone.
It was a splendid day and Shane English School Indonesia have much to be proud of. Credit goes to Wylen, Vinny, Wiliawan and all the SESI team for their excellent work. Next year’s events will have to be very good to improve on this day!
About the Author
Chris Redpath has been a teacher, Franchise Senior Teacher, Assistant Director of Studies, and Director of Studies with Shane English Schools Taiwan. He is currently updating the Shane Kindergarten Programme.