Joyful Speech

So these past couple days have been "speech contest" days at Ewha. Students from all different levels compete.

As a teacher, I was a judge and scored each "victim" (as Jean liked to call them).

My special TOEFL classes also participated. They weren't competing for the prize... they were just demonstrating their skills.

I asked Joy, prior to the speech contest, to share her answer to the "T-Rex" interview question. She covered her face and cried.... "Ohhhhhh nooooooo."

Tough luck kid, that's what you get for being the best. :)

The next day I was surprised when she asked me to correct her speech. (I thought she would simply use her old answer.) It was brilliant! Joy added all kinds of great stuff. She began with... "Today we will go to an imaginary place..." and ended with "So come to my t-rex barbeque." And it was all very well written.

When I returned the corrected speech to her, I let her know how impressed I was. Her face beamed... and then she started clowning... she put on her best "hello, my name is Joy, and I'm awesome" face and started posing. The other girls decided they could play too...

"Teacher, we wrote the speech... not Joy. When you were gone she said, 'Write my speech or I will punch you.' We had no choice." Joy was shaking her head in protest and trying to speak, but they wouldn't let her interrupt. It was so funny.

The other girls did put their talents together and created Joy's poster, so she could concentrate on her speech. Each contestant was graded on their speech as well as their poster.

When it was Joy's turn to present, I scooted to the edge of my seat and waited.

I caught a glimpse of what it must be like to be a proud father. I could hear no mistakes. I could see no faults. She was perfect. And I had a big silly grin on my face and clapped till my hands hurt.

Please note the classic "Annie behavior" in the right corner. I believe she has a scarf wrapped around her head.