česky
english
LET THE MUSIC COME TO YOU | 2010-02-18
The second annual Let the World Come to You competition took place on Friday, February 12, 2010. This year the competition’s theme was music, so the competition was subtitled as Let the Music Come to You. Pupils in grades 8 and 9 from primary schools around Ostrava were invited to participate in this competition, which is part of a campaign which is organized by the City Council of Ostrava to support learning foreign languages - Uč se jazyky!!! (www.ucsejazyky.cz). The Mayor’s deputies Lukáš Ženatý and Lubomír Pospíšil were the patrons of the event and together with the moderator Aleš Juchelka and our school principal Jan Petrus, they officially opened the competition.
Three-member teams had to prepare a multimedia presentation about a chosen music style. Pupils used English as the language of communication and they were evaluated by eight judges. Ondřej Hejma, who is a well-known musician and interpreter, was the chairman of the panel. The other members of the panel were representatives of the British Council, Fullbright Foundation, Ostrava University, Fishnet language school and the 1st International School of Ostrava.
There were some technical troubles at the start but they did not deter the participants. All the teams showed their best on the stage of Středisko volného času in Ostrčilova street. Their English was strong and the teams’ presentations were accompanied by live commentary, pictures, samples of music and short videos. First, the competitors introduced their school and then they described the music style they chose –-foreign and Czech rock, punk, pop, metal, electronic and world music, classical music, local singers and musical legends. Some teams even personally represented their genre – wearing clothes or hairstyles representative of their topic, dancing a bit on stage or even giving a live show. Finally, there were some questions asked by the judges who were curious about some details of the presentations or about the pupils themselves. The judges wanted to hear pupils’ responses--in English, of course.
The moderator and the judges effused a cool atmosphere and their comments and questions were witty and helped the pupils to overcome their stress and stage freight. Due to his popularity, Ondřej Hejma was the most favourite person in the hall and he was very kind and friendly to all participants and their performances.
What were the results of the competition? There were 14 teams in the game, and all competitors got small gifts given by the City Council, the British Council and our school. The best three teams were awarded with other super-duper prizes – the 3rd-place team got a voucher for a one-day English course with a native speaker, the 2nd-place team got tickets to a Kryštof concert, and the winning team was given a voucher for a one-week stay at the Summer Fun Camp, which is organized by our school in Velke Karlovice, Beskydy mountains, in August.
The winning teams:
1st place ZŠ Matiční, Ostrava
2nd place ZŠ Rovniny, Hlučín
3rd place ZŠ a MŠ Ludgeřovice
Congratulations and we are looking forward to next year!
Ivo Helebrant
Member of the organizational team