Taichung 2021 Junior High Readers' Theater Contest

While the monster, COVID, is still ravaging the world, people in Sweet Potato are being complacent about their success in containing the evil force. However, unaware of its new power, the island has been breached. People are panicking and finger-pointing. Will this tiny island once again unite and know its true worth?

 

Fair and square?

 

We got screwed. No doubt about that. Yes, I've got proof, too. 

 

I've watched the live performances on video many times and seriously questioned the fairness and professional judgment of this year's competition results. As you can see from the video, the protagonist alone did much of the talking for two minutes and twenty seconds into the story except for the chants. It was pretty much like that throughout the whole performance.

 

Competition Criteria

 

I didn't mean to single out anyone, but for a fair and professional side-by-side comparison, let's review the contest with the official readers' theater judging rubrics:

• Story(25%): an original story related to real-life should win brownie points, especially when most competitors would use ready-made materials
• Pronunciation(50%): including stress, pronunciation, intonation, connected speech, and vocal emotion
• Interaction(25%): all characters should be involved throughout the whole story using gestures, facial expressions, and body language

  

Inspired by actual events about pandemic prevention measures here in Taiwan, All for One and One for All is a sequel to last year's Tiny but Mighty. There are allusions and hidden meanings in subtle references to the real-world struggles and triumphs, including the Delta variant, the American and Japanese vaccine donations, and Taiwan's homegrown vaccine and semiconductors. 

 

The other school used the famous story from a published picture book. Unevenly distributing the lines is a big no-no. When only one or two students say the most lines, those who have nothing to do would be standing there and beginning to look dull. 

 

Moving on to the second and third categories, it'd be a no-brainer as well. Our students' pronunciation, to my ears, was nearly perfect. When it comes to getting involved in the story, ALL of them, including two narrators, paid attention to every little detail for the sole purpose of bringing the story alive. You won't see any of them detached from it anytime only because they've done their lines. 

 

Winners fail until they succeed

 

While we were expecting another convincing win, the announcement of getting ONLY second place took us off guard, leaving the students on the verge of crying. As we were about to head back to school, some students finally could no longer hold back their tears in the parking lot, and they were even still sobbing while having lunch in school. Both Alex and I were devastated but managed to pull ourselves together to console those broken hearts. 

 

Now that I got my hands on the officially released videos, I've watched the contest again and again and become more certain that we got screwed, not to mention some dark side I got tipped off later that day. They only got away with it because no one realized what they did, so I'll bring it up at many opportunities: in this blog post, at a workshop, in a conversation with another professional, you name it. 

 

If what I heard about the judging panel becomes a reality next year, Alex and I will compete again to win back the third championship before we retire.