Speaker's Corner

SPEAKER’S CORNER DOES IT AGAIN! EDITORIAL On Wednesday, November 12, 2008 the Lycee’s English-speaking Intellectual and Artistic Team SPEAKER’S CORNER (version 2.0) won the 1st Place in the first stage of Mr. Know-All Linguistic Contest organized by the Kyiv International University. Two years ago our team, consisting of young ladies only, chose the name Speaker’s Corner and did the same: outscored every single team of the district and won the gold! No kidding: you may check our archives! The new team consisted chiefly of students of Group 42-E and young gentlemen definitely prevailed (hence the designation version 2.0): •

Pavlo Syrnikov (Captain)

• • • •

Mykhailo Bevz Anton Osipenko Yevhen Vashchuk (Gr. 32-E) Hanna Khairatdinova with artistic support of: Mykhailo Smeshko & Arthur Guziy

• •

Left: Pavlo Syrnikov receives last pregame instructions from the jury.

They were escorted across the city to the assembly hall of the Kyiv International University by Vice-Principal Valentina Shapovalova (see the photo on the right) and Senior Teacher Oleksiy Zabolotnyi. Going by subway and trolleybus was a long and tiresome trip alone! The contest consisted of two stages: the linguistic one and the drama one. Our team was scheduled to be the first (and maybe destined to remain the first) and took their places behind the table to answer multiple choice questions (as seen on the left). Our guys had to know synonyms, Conditionals, prepositions, Syntax, multi-part verbs, Phraseology, Etymology and what not! By the way, they had to be familiar with the multiple choice procedure. And they were. They

gave their answers faster than any other team, and the answers were correct. Atta boys (and girl)! The second stage of the contest involved the team’s skills of dramatizing and theatrical performance. They presented a rather Gothic abstract

The

Unbearable Easiness of Nonexistence based on Caroline Thompson’s work with music by Daniel Elfman.

And they were not just actors, but dancers, singers, narrators, musicians and even acrobats. It was worth seeing. Unfortunately, some circumstances prevented Vice-Principal Olga Stepanovna Kondratenko (see the photo on the left), the artistic director of the show, to accompany the performers, see them act and share their triumph on the spot! Anyway, thank you so very much! Summarizing the results of the contest, the Chairperson of the Jury Professor David Sargent (USA) expressed his high evaluation of our students’ level of achievement in mastering English as a second language. Right: Professor David Sargent’s concluding speech.

So, our guys are the best! You can see their diplomas displayed in the teachers’ room, but the most important is the fact that a kind of tradition of winning contests seems to be established in the Lycee.

Good job. Well done. Thank you, guys! We are proud of you!