We're #1 (and #2)!

Phew -- with that collective sigh of relief from all of us PCVs and English teachers in the city, Olgii's third annual English Olympiad is over. My students' hard work really paid off: my 9th and 10th graders took first place and my 11th graders took second (out of 9 teams competing). Brian's 9th graders took second and his 11th graders third. Sure the two-day competition was long, nerves were frayed, and emotions ran high (especially amongst the private school kids who couldn't accept the fact that they were getting beat by the public schools), but it was all worth it in the end to see how happy my students are now. Plus, I feel like I have finally "delivered" something tangible to my school director who seemed quite pleased with the competition's results. After the awards ceremony she even invited all of us PCVs to her office for "refreshments:" crackers, oranges, and bowls of fresh koumiss (fermented mare's milk).

The competition consisted of 6 rounds: (1) team introductions; (2) general knowledge; (3) a spelling bee; (4) grammar; (5) a talent show; and (6) proverbs and slang. Justin, my counterpart Agii, and I moderated the events and Ashlee, Adi, and our English-speaking friend Khala were the judges. Brian became the de facto computer maestro as nearly every team wanted musical/video/slideshow accompaniment for their performances.

Overall, I think the whole thing was a success, however there is definitely room for improvement for next year's competition. For one thing, the "talent shows" were pretty one-dimensional: most of the teams ended up sending out one student to sing the same handful of English songs -- costing them points for creativity and participation. Also, there needs to be a way to make the whole thing more competitive for the other public schools who were all pretty much floundering on the grammar and introduction sections, totally placing themselves out of the competition. Oh well, that's something for Brian, Justin, and Adi to worry about since this time next year we will be back in America. Weird.

Here are some pictures:

The Mongolian/Kazakh "goi" factor was in a full force with balloons, twinkly lights, a karaoke system, and a "Merry Christmas" banner.

Justin and I emceeing it up.

My first place 9th graders. All first place teams won 40,000 tugriks worth of phone units donated by the local branch of World Vision. Second place got 30k and third 20k.

This is me monitoring the grammar portion of the competition. All the kids were super serious.

These are my 10th graders performing a skit called "An American Comes to Olgii" for the Talent Show. This performance really sealed the win for them.

My 10th graders after winning 1st place. That's Bahitgul on the left. She's the 10th grade teacher so she was pretty invested in the win.

These are my 11th graders in an equally creative talent show performance. Each student recited a Shel Silverstein poem while the other students acted the poem out. I think after the 9th and 10th graders took first place, the pressure to do as well really got to them. They were so nervous at the beginning that they fumbled their introduction, but they bounced back for this performance. They were initially upset about placing 2nd, but they soon came around to realize that 2nd place is pretty awesome.

There was lots of posing and photo arrangements going on after the awards ceremony.

Judges Ashlee and Adi with my counterparts Sophia and Bahitgul.

One last arranged photo. In the front row that's Bahitgul on the left next to Agii. Indira, the school director, is sitting in the middle. See how she is actually sort of smiling?