One of the bigger competitions that I've gotten to judge this year was the CCTV "Star of Outlook" English talent competition; the semi-final round was this previous Sunday, June 1st just outside of Hangzhou. All of the competitions that I've assisted with in the past have been on campus (and never paid anything other than maybe a small gift like the English Host Competition) but the promise of money was enough to get me up and downtown at 7am on one of my days off.
The competition is split into different age groups--kindergarten, primary school, junior high school, high school, and university. As you walk into the building there are children dressed in different costumes--cowboys, wolves, ballgowns, race car drivers, Little Red Riding Hood (she was SUPER popular)--and their parents, all their eyes locked on the judges as they walked by. The foreigners were separated into their different groups and I was placed with the primary school students along with Other Adam.
I was matched with four other Chinese teachers--all of their English, of course, being amazing. My job was to score each of the 120 children that came through in the two minutes that they were on the stage and then ask them a question to see how well they could understand and how quickly they could answer.
We started the competition at about 8:30 and went all day until about 5pm, only stopping for one hour for lunch.
Each student had to jump through a series of hoops: introduce themselves, show us a talent, tell a story, and answer a question.
They would be dressed in outfits that you know either their parents thought were the cutest or the fanciest (only a few of them actually wore cute outfits in my opinion). Almost all of the kids (even some of the boys) had make up on and their hair done. One by one the children come up to the front of the room and introduced themselves with:
"Hello! My name is Lily! As you can see, I am a cute, adorable and sweet girl!"
or
"Hello! My name is Danny! I am a sunshine boy!"
After that, they would show us how talented they were (which is hard if you don't have a talent that includes singing or dancing... I would fail miserably at this--I can't showcase writing at a talent competition!). They would sing songs ("Let It Go" "You are My Sunshine" and "Do-Re-Mi" seemed to be the favorites of the day), dance a little, or act out a story... all the while doing the hand motions that you just know their parents made them practice over and over and over and over again. Some of the singers were actually really good (as a child can be... you know that they have the makings of greatness in them once they get older) and we had a few Latin dancers and kids who played the piano and guitar.
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| This girl was actually the best--she was the winner of her group that day! |
After their talent was completed, they each had a photo on the screen behind them that showed either two men robbing a bank, going fishing, or driving a car or a bunch of overly cute animals sleeping, crying, eating, or sitting in class. They had one minute to tell us a story about the photo. Some of the kids were able to get through their memorized story perfectly (some of them making sense and others having no actual plot at all) and others would just stand on the stage for the full minute, trying desperately to think of what to say. It was in this moment that I quickly learned whether their English was actually any good or if they were just memorizing their scripts.
Then it was my turn to ask questions to the kids. Since they were lower level, usually I was stuck with asking, "What is your favorite color/animal/food/sport/holiday?" or "How many people do you have in your family?" I tried "What is your favorite subject?" a few times... some of them understood and others DID NOT. But there were about five kids that came up with nearly perfect English (one of them talked about the planets and how Neptune is his favorite because it is made out of methane)... these were the ones I loved asking harder questions and having them get it.
There were a few kids that really stood out in my mind. They were fun, entertaining, natural, and some had great English and others had just okay English.
James Bond. This kid was my absolute favorite. He had Pierce Brosnan strapped to his head and a gun slung over his shoulder (a rare sight in China). He wants to be a sharpshooter when he grows up someday and he shot three balloons from across the stage. He then turned to me and said, "Amanda, will you come up to the stage?" I wasn't sure if it was allowed to go up there... But I did. The kid barely came up to my waist but he explained how to aim and shoot the gun (I'm an American... like I don't know!) and he told me to hit the last remaining balloon on the other side of the stage. I knew I couldn't miss it--I would disappoint the Chinese in the room and be an embarrassment to the American nation if I did!! Fear not, my friends... That balloon went pop on my first shot. Sadly, no photos of my appearance on the Star of Outlook stage >_<
Another favorite of mine was "Father Christmas." I had seen this kid from across the room and could not wait to see what the heck he was going to do. He had on a Halloween tie, a fake Santa Claus beard, reindeer antlers, and a sack of toys over his shoulder. He sang, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and pretended to be Old Saint Nick... But I'm still not sure what his talent was...
My third favorite kid, I kind of felt sorry for. He was a little eight year old who was so short and sweet. His English was okay and he was dressed like a doll. But his parents were crazy stage parents--the room was just FILLED with them. When it was his turn to go up to the stage, his parents brought up a chair, a foot rest, an actual amp, and a guitar for him. He was so small, he had a hard time getting his arm up and over the guitar to play it... But when he did start to play, boy did he play. I tried to learn guitar a few times in my teenaged years and I could never do it. This kid was awesome.
But thinking of that little boy's parents took away from the joy I had in watching these kids come up and sing and dance. 99% of them were not doing this for themselves--they probably didn't even care! These were kids 8-11 years old who, on a weekend, one of the few days they don't have to be studying in school, are stuck at a competition that is exhausting both mentally, physically, and emotionally. It was Children's Day, one of China's many pointless holidays--but instead of playing with their friends, they had to act like little adults and compete. It is the parents that this competition is for.
One little girl completely broke down, started crying, and had a mini panic attack where she couldn't breathe... But did anyone help her? Of course not. They made her stand on the stage for the full minute with the microphone in her hands in front of everyone, instead of pulling her off and comforting her. Now I am all for making kids responsible and brave and courageous but this was an eight year old little girl who was petrified. A parent's job at that moment should not be to force your kid through that traumatizing experience to make them stronger but to comfort them and tell them that there is always next time. Seeing the parents push their children constantly just breaks my heart sometimes... Competitions like this (for children so young) are robbing these kids of a childhood.
The only thing in America I could equate it to would be crazy stage moms for aspiring young actors, singers, models, or dancers... Or maybe even some of the moms on "Toddlers and Tiaras" or "Dance Moms." Your child's greatness means that you, too, are great in some way so they continue to push and push their children until they either reach success or snap under the pressure. Yes, a bit of compeition is good but so is the feeling of your parents being proud of you and loving you no matter how you did at your competition whether it is for dance or English.
Am I glad I got to go to the Star of Outlook English Talent Competition? Yes. I got to be the fun judge who was nice and smiling and encouraging the kids. In some cases, I am their first interaction with a foreigner and I am glad that I was able to make it a good one. The kids were precious. The parents were crazy. The free lunch was delicious and the extra $200 I made for just talking with a bunch of kids for the day didn't hurt too bad either.
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| Free food... Me gusta... |
Until Next Time,
Amanda
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