In 2003, a Peace Corps volunteer in the country of Georgia started the Writing Olympics as a way to get English language students to think and write creatively. It is now held each Spring in 11 countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Albania, Georgia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Moldova, Mongolia, Philippines and Ukraine) with thousands of participants.
PCVs like me started hearing about this event in early February, but my mind was not on preparing my students to enter and write. Back then, I was lucky if I could find my classrooms. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I asked my school director for a classroom to use on March 29th, and 17 students showed up - 5 from Sally's school and 12 from mine.
Me and Sally and one of the English teachers from Digah Village School, Masalli.
In the Writing Olympics, students from grades 6 thru college compete by answering one of three questions that are prepared at grade-appropriate levels. Participants have up to an hour to compose an answer, and entries are then submitted to PC Baku for judging. Since the focus is on originality and creativity, essays not judged on spelling or grammar. Topics are not given in advance, but English teachers can prepare students by using questions from previous years.
Here are examples of questions from the 2010 competition:
6th form: Would you rather be a dog or a cat? Why?
7th form: If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?
8th form: Imagine that there was no television. What would you do with your free time?
9th form: Who is the person you most admire?
10th form: If you could design a new feature for a mobile phone, what would it be?
11th form: School would be better if. . .
Not sure I could write a winning entry, but the ideas are quite provocative.
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