On November, 17th the students of Local Stream Secondary joined in on what ended up being a morning of inspiration, insight and intense competition. This year’s English Festival was a resounding success that highlighted the bright minds and can-do attitude of the students here at SUIS. Let’s take a look at the amazing achievements of the students!

 

Inquiry Presentations

“I enjoyed the group presentations most. I think it showed friendship and tight collaboration between our classmates.”

—— Coco from 6A homeroom

 

After months of preparation, each grade level presented their top presentation from our Inquiry classes. Up first was grade 7, with their presentation on their new hybrid sport and game, Darts+. The students of grade 7 worked diligently trying to create new and exciting ways to play well known games and create their own hybrid versions. Polly, Toby, Antony and Lucy from 7A gave an amazing presentation on their creation that combined the game Tic-Tac-Toe and the sport of Darts. They finished their presentation will a nice competitive demonstration with some volunteers from the audience. In the end, the 7A students gave us an informative and exciting presentation!

 

 

For grade 6 it was Tina, Leo, Benny and Alice from 6A presenting on the thought-provoking topic of how does education and school influence us? They made excellent points about how things such as their school environment and teachers can have a strong influence on their own personal growth. Everyone was very impressed by the confidence displayed by the grade 6 students presenting amongst older grade levels and it was clear that they put in a lot of hard work and preparation before their presentations.

 

 

Our final presentation was from the students in 8C. This groups consisted of Hanson, Edwin, Amy W. and Sam. Their topic of discussion was about animal communication, in particular animal dialects. This groups created a fascinating presentation about a not commonly known topic and shared some very insightful facts and ideas. They discussed topics such how migration affects animal dialects and how animals can even learn new vocabulary! It was a pleasure being able to see the grade 8 students pass this insightful knowledge to their fellow classmates.

 

 

Writing Awards

“My classmate Terry won the creative writing award for our class and he said that at that moment he was so astonished and proud. It makes him want to work hard in the future.”

—— Bob from 7C homeroom

 

Following the presentations was the writing award portion of the program. Two students from each homeroom were selected to receive a prize and certificate of achievement for being chosen as the winner for either the best written or most creative story awards. Topics for the writing competition were, my friend is an alien, dinosaurs still exist and you have superpowers. It was a difficult task trying to choose who would be made top of their class, but those who were on stage exemplified the kind of skill and creativity all students should strive to achieve.

 

 

Spelling Bee

“I was on the stage for the spelling bee and it made me feel excited and proud because I like competing and actually helped me learn some new words.”

—— Sissi from 8A homeroom

 

The final portion of the English Festival was the spelling bee. This event garnered a lot of positive feedback last year, so both students and teachers were really excited to see the results of this year’s competition.
With Mr. Sal and Mr. Wilson as our announcers, the top speller from each homeroom walked onto the stage, some nervous, some excited, some both. The spelling bee started off well. The students did an excellent job with the first round of words and it was clear that they were becoming more and more confident on stage. Shortly after, some students were met with words that proved to be too tricky for them spell and gracefully exited the stage. Although not top that day, they had already proven their spelling prowess by being the top in their classes, so in that respect, they had already won.

 

 

In the end it was down to the final two competitors, after a series of very tricky words, it was 7B’s Emma who would be crowned this year’s winner. Always humble, she accepted top prize with humility. A huge congratulations to Emma and all the other contestants!

With another very successful English Festival over, we happily look forward to what achievements and accolades are in store for the students of Local Stream Secondary!