K-Water's 3rd English Contest in Daejeon

This last weekend 16 of our students competed in an English contest sponsored by K-Water. The contest had other English Villages that are funded by K-Water. There were about 200 kids total representing six different provinces around Korea. The three different categories were Skit, Speech, and Golden Bell (vocabulary test). I have never been more nervous/excited/anxious/happy/proud in my entire life. This weekend was also the weekend when I truely realized how much I care about these kids and their well being.

All 6 provinces represented by about 200 students

We left for Daejeon on Friday, and finally reached the K-Water Education Center 5 hours later, the education center had dorms that all the kids stayed in, and we stayed in some other company's dorms about 10 minutes away. When we first got there, the kids were split up by province, and each province had a different colored sweatshirt, we were red. All day Friday there were activities for the kids and blah, blah, blah. I'll skip to Saturday, which was the day of the contest.

Our students (in red) jumping rope

I was sweating like a madman with nerves. I wanted these kids to win so bad and there was a rumor floating around that the winner would get to go to America, so of course I wanted my kids to have that experience.

This is Charlie, one of the cutest kids ever. He is short, has a perm, and a lisp. I love him. AND he always speaks English to the teachers which is amazing to hear.

Golden Bell competition was first, I don't want to get too into it because it would take forever, but it's pretty much like a vocabulary contest. The way they ran it was so disorganized, one of our smartests kids, Daniel, was out on a fluke and he cried for a long time, and wouldn't speak for the rest of the day (Koreans are very competitive). A girl from our school, Elizabeth, got out, but she got back in because she had more than 3 colors on her socks and got to the stage first. Because that makes complete sense, right? Well good thing she did because Elizabeth won the Golden Bell competition!

Elizabeth winning!

Next were the plays. We had two plays from Inje English Village, "The Sound of Music" and "King Solomon". Sadly, King Solomon was definitely not going to win, their pronounciation wasn't as good as the other plays. The Sound of Music however was a shoe in. They have great pronounciation, they sing, they dance, they're adorable, and they all had matching outfits (just like in the movie!) There was one other play that was a definite threat "The Fox and the Crane" based off an Aesop Fable, and they were amazing; they had cute outfits, great props and it was a great story. Sad to say, The Fox and the Crane won. But The Sound of Music won second, but they moment their names were called, you could see the dissapointment in their eyes, it was horrible, but they got happy once they got on stage.

Andrew and I with the Sound of Music group. I don't know why they look so glum

Last were the speeches. We had Anna who talked about the Olympics in Korea in 2018, and Charlie who talked about Global Sign Language. Anna is amazing, she has great pronounciation and was really confident. Anna won second, and Charlie won first! I was surpised with that, because I thought Anna did better overall, but Charlie actually used sign language in his speech which must've earned him some points.

Anna, talking about the Olympics that will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea

To conclude, our school got first in golden bell, second in skit, and first and second in speech. How amazing is that?? Inje English Village ROCKS! First place won 1,000,000 Korean Won equivalent to about $1,000, and second place won 700,000 Korean Won equivalent to about $700.

Charlie with his parents, the comedian, and some big shot from K-Water

Even more exciting than the money is Charlie gets to go to America! From what I understand, he's going to America for one month to learn English in Washington DC. I am so excited for him, what an amazing opportunity! I wish all our kids could go.

Charlie pouncing around trying to catch the lights like a cat.