The King's Award

Ok this is the day of reckoning. After more than two weeks preparing the kids its time for them to perform in front of the judges of OBEC to show how savage our school is. I get to the MEP room at my usual time of 8am to find a hive of activity with students and teachers alike running around like headless chickens. My young Science and Math presenters are all very nervous so I spend the next hour listening to their presentations and trying to calm them down. Around 9am the judges are due to arrive as we are first on their route. But surprise, surprise it is 11 before they arrive (supposedly the projector died for whatever initial presentation they were at in the big hall prior to touring the school). Anyways while we were waiting the kids were growing more and more edgy and nervous so that by the time the judges did arrive I was a bag of nerves as well. Then the moment arrived and I swear some of the kids looked ready to bolt!

After all our worrying it wasn’t so bad. There had been a suggestion that the kids would be asked questions about their projects which is what I and all the other teachers feared as the kids had simply memorized their speeches and had little understanding of what they were talking about. The judges watched a few performances put on beside us including a display of thai boxing, some singing in Chinese and girl from the MEP class telling a story in English. Finally they began to walk among our stalls and stopped to listen to each one. Thankfully for both us teachers and the kids no questions were asked and the judges seemed quite happy with the whole spectacle. I spoke with one of the judges for a bit before they moved on to the next department. The whole thing lasted maybe a half an hour and the relief on the kids faces was evident once it was done. It was lunchtime at this stage so we got a bit to eat before the judges went for theirs.

After stuffing my face I went over to the big hall where the judges were due to lunch as there was going to be some entertainment put on for them. This included thai dancing, the adaptation of snow white and some singing from the MEP class. The kids did ok, working their way through “Que Sera Sera” and “You Raise Me Up” without too much trouble (they had got enough practice so they would want to do ok!). It was all good fun so I think it was ok. Then I was informed that a group from OEG (the company that placed me here) had arrived. I had been told a few days earlier that they would show up and I was curious as to the purpose of the visit as nobody had told me. It turns out they wanted to check how I was doing and look at how the school was treating me as it was new to their program. So they hung around for a while, had a chat and looked at my accommodation. All very relaxed and informal. It was a nice way to finish the day. And that’s basically it…..Two weeks of fretting and it was over in a flash.

From what I heard from the other teachers, the judges were fairly happy with the day as a whole and had little criticism of the MEP in particular which was music to my ears and the ears of my coordinator. I didn’t have to deal with the classroom observation in the end which was a bit of a relief. Next up is a weekend in CM with some friends from orientation in BKK. Promises to be messy…… :)