sHaRoN's wOrLd: ANNUAL CHINESE STORYTELLING COMPETITION 2005

My kids went to participate in the Annual Chinese Storytelling Competition on 9th September organized by Kampong Glam CC… it was a really tiring process as preparations and rehearsals were conducted only this week... Besides the P5 Camp, I spent my time in school, training my 4 precious ones for the competition...

Met with some hiccups… though the kids had already been using the same story for our internal school storytelling competition, their rehearsal performances were always fluctuating... Sometimes forgetting words, lacking of feelings, wrong pronounciations, forgetting props etc... At times I really wanted to give up... cox it seemed like the kids were not serious at all...

But they surprised me one afternoon.. I brought them to a classroom and told them to wait for there while I went to bring their props.. when I returned.. I heard them rehearsing on their own and they were reminding each other about the actions and feelings which I had taught them…gone were the quarrels and squabbles and I really saw for myself TEAMWORK and COOPERATION – qualities which I had stressed upon since the very beginning of this competition..

So there I was.. standing and peeping outside the classroom. Crying. I was touched.

Many times in life.. we put in 101% in the things which we do.. and along the process.. we want to give up due to setbacks and discouragements.. but when you get to see the final product in a condition better than you expected, you really feel this HUGE sense of achievement and satisfaction..

And at yesterday’s competition, my kids emerged SECOND RUNNER-UP in the Pri School Category!!!

My Principal, HOD, 2 other Chinese Teachers and parents of the kids came to support the team… we were the 3rd team on stage and my kids delivered a FLAWLESS performance!!! they got all their ‘pitching’, ‘head voice’, ‘feelings’ all correctly done!!! Though nervous, they looked SUPER Confident on stage and wowed the audience with their apt story – The Story of Mid Autumn and Chang’ Er… their costumes and props also helped to enhance their performance, esp my boy who was playing the role of ‘Hou Yi’…. He was so cute and chubby on stage, earning laughters and a loud round of applause from the audience… ;op

We waited for a long time before the results were finally announced. Before that, the 3 judges went on stage to give their comments on the entire performance.. they praised some groups (not us) .. and stressed that costumes and props weren’t necessary… bleh…. I felt as if cold water was literally drenched on my head… expected a consolation at most… however, the moment our names were not announced in the consolation category, I started to get panicky.. haha.. my kids too! When they heard that they had emerged 3rd, they were soooooooooooooo happy!!! Me too! Haaaaaaaa……. Proudly and happily, there strutted on stage to receive their trophy and to have their pictures taken…

After the ceremony, I got the P, HOD, teachers and parents to go on stage to have a picture taken with the team as well… then the emcee announced that all winning teams would have to return to the same venue today for the official prize presentation ceremony and performance as the Guest of Honour will be declaring the beginning of the Mid Autumn Festival @ OG Albert this evening.

AT that moment… everything was worth it.

Time taken to train the kids – 30 hours
Time taken to prepare the props – 5 hours
Time taken to wait for the results – 3 mins
The joys of teaching – PRICELESS

There you have it. Though I burnt my entire September holidays, I gained 2 rewarding experiences.. which money could not buy..

I’m so proud of you kids, Qin Yi, Wen Jia, Zhuo Rui and Han Wen !!!

Well done children! I love you all sooooooooo much!