Once again UIC has completed the Choral Speaking Competition with great success. Many hands went into making the competition successful, and it involved massive scheduling and many practices and arrangements.
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| The students performing "Who's Baddest" by Kate Umansky |
Getting to the final of this competition begins with the Choral Speaking Committee, composed of teachers from the English Language Department (ELC) selecting approximately 12 to16 poems from all around and posting them on ELC’s website. After that, students in all classes in Years 1 and 2 choose the right poem that suits their individual classes best.
ELC visiting interns then guide them by showing them different styles, choreography, and effective ways of presenting their poems. From then on it’s up to the students to perfect the presentation by reaching an effective tone, working on their timing, adding additional choreography, and using props to enliven the presentation. The poems are carefully crafted by the students, adding little touches here and there to give their poems extra life.
After all the practising, there is a week of preliminary contests to determine which classes had the best presentations, and 10 or so classes are chosen to go on to the Final Competition. Judges then decide who the best of the best are at this point, and then finally the top-class teams are awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
The final took place at the Cultural Plaza on Wednesday 4 November. The MC began by welcoming everyone to the Choral Speaking Competition and introduced the very important guests who were Associate Vice President Professor Lilian Kwan, Assistant Director of the ELC John L Halstead, Digital Marketing Manager Samuel Burgess and Chairperson of the Choral Speaking Committee Susan James.
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| The judges |
Susan James then provided some opening remarks before the competition began. There were 11 teams participating in this English speaking competition. The teams were named after universities; the finalists were Bruxelles, Cambridge, Canterbury, Denmark, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Stockholm, Sussex, Trinity and Winchester.
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| Many people came to watch |
Winchester’s performance was last and stood out as one of their performers recited poetry while doing a cartwheel in shorts and high heels.
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| Professor Lillian Kwan gave a speech as well as feedback about the competition |
After the performances, Professor Lillian Kwan gave a short speech to congratulate the participants as well as provide some feedback. After her speech, three teachers sang a lyrically modified version of Bobby McFerrin’s “Don't Worry Be Happy” where the lyrics were changed to suit the situation and thank everyone who had been involved.
Finally, the show came to a close when certificates were presented to the third, second and first place winners. Winchester scooped up third place. While second place belonged to Sussex while the overall winners and first place were Denmark.
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| 1st Place: Denmark, 2nd Place: Sussex, 3rd Place: Winchester |
Winning is not the only source of pride for all contestants as the competition gives all students the chance to practice articulation, timing, voice control, and presentation skills. Perhaps the most important characteristic of the competition is that it allows students to work with one another at the beginning of the semester. The friendships created and cemented here give valuable support to students, who otherwise may never even know their classmates. They learn a lot of working together and striving to produce excellent work.
The Choral Speaking Competition is in its sixth year at UIC and, despite a little shyness at the beginning, has always been well-received by students. The contest provides students with the chance to bond with their classmates and use their creativity to present an excellent and entertaining presentation, much to the delight of the audience. The ELC looks forward to many more such lively presentations in the year to come.
Reporter: Samuel Burgess (MPRO)
Photographer: Xu Xin Yuan (Year 2 IJ)
(with special thanks to John Halstead and the ELC)
