This past weekend my school hosted their annual English Competition. It was really interesting to see because we don't really have anything like it in the United States. In April, students at the religious schools in Hungary took a written exam. All those who scored higher than the cut-off point were invited to participate in the listening and oral parts that were held on Friday and Saturday. On Friday everyone arrived, there were almost 70 students as well as teachers and people who were helping out. Emily, a CETP teacher in Szolnok, and Christian, a CETP teacher in Karcag, were both acting as judges with me. 

The competition consisted of a listening part and 3 oral exams, a powerpoint presentation, a situation and a picture description. The listening and powerpoints were on Friday and there were some interesting topics. All of the topics were related to the Bible, so we heard about animals in the bible, mothers in the bible, sins in the bible, jobs in the bible, etc. I had helped a few of my students who were participating although I was not judging their group so I didn't get to see how they did but it was still fun. The juries were made up of 3 judges and if one of us had a student in the group we were judging, the scores of the other 2 judges were averaged so that it wouldn't be biased. 

Friday night we had a big dinner with all the teachers. There was delicious food, wine, beer and homemade pálinka from my contact teacher. It was nice getting the chance to relax with the other teachers and talk to some people I'd never met before. 

Saturday dawned bright and early with breakfast starting at 7am. Then from 8-12 we had the situations and picture descriptions. The situations were hilarious at times, like when I had to pretend to be an 18yr old kid's mother telling him paintball is too dangerous! Then the people organizing the competition tallied scores while Christian and I gave presentations. He talked about Washington DC and I spoke about Columbus, OH. I've noticed that because the Hungarians know I was born Cincinnati they always are surprised when I introduce myself as "from Columbus." I do this mainly because I feel more connected to Columbus as a city, no offense to Cinci. Anyway, I hate presenting (and yes I'm aware I'm a teacher and speak in front of teenagers every day, it's different) so I was super nervous but one of the other teachers told me I did fine so that was a relief. 

The awards ceremony was nice as there were a lot of books as prizes donated by different publishers. One of my students won 2nd in his group and 3 others placed somewhere between 5th & 9th (they were announcing in Hungarian and I got a bit lost, but I swear I know most of my numbers in Magyar now!) Also, the jury members got flowers and ceramic plates as a thank you for helping out, which was a nice touch

Here are some picture from the weekend:

Nametags!

Hungarians think my name is too short so they always add Lyn in.

Sanyi and Erika are so cute.

Niki giving the opening announcements and many of the jury members.

Representing CETP :)

Dr. Papp Andrea and Dobos Lászloné (I think I spelled that right)
the lovely ladies on the jury with me.

Mezotur pottery with my name on it, as well as the name if the competition.

Attempt at a dramatic shot of the flowers I received.

Sunday was a catch up day for lesson planning, laundry, and sleep. Tomorrow I will be participating in a group performance with the new teachers (where we will dance and sing in Hungarian) so I'll let you know how that turns out.

Sziasztok.