Saturday was our first activity with Speech and Debate. We had a workshop/exhibition thing where kids got a chance to see the different events. There are two other coaches with me, the new head coach and then the same guy from last year (that phrase makes him sound ho-hum, but he's really not). It's interesting working with two guys, because the head coach who retired last year was female. (That, and I grew up with three sisters, majored in English, and went into teaching--all include a ton of ladies).
We met up at my school at 7 on Saturday, and went to the exhibition school. K (the coach from last year) trailed the bus in his own car. H (the head coach) met us up there. So, on the bus it was me . . . and 49 kids. Way exciting, since last year we had a grand total of 15 or so kids (including everyone).
I was in charge of Duo Interpretation and Storytelling and so I got to see hwat I could remember about those lovely categories. A couple of kids from other schools modeled them, so really it was a good chance for them just to see how things work.
My favorite (ahem) part of the day was checking the kids on and off of the bus. It's hard since I really don't know most of them and every kids seems to think that I should somehow be able to understand his name when he says it at top speed.
Here's a sample scene:
Me: Okay, next.
Kid: ALpaofhk ASDfjk
Me: Excuse me?
Kid: ALpaofhk ASDfjk!
Me: Okay, this time annunciate. One more time
Kid: Alfred Askjodkeden*. Come on.
Because everyone knows that it's such a common name!
Now, imagine this with thirty people. It's somewhat ironic that this is occuring with future speech and debaters. I had to laugh.
*Names changed to protect the innocent, but are still indicative of the type of names mentioned.
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