Monday, March 11, 2013

You Be the Judge

Over the past two months I have been working with my English club to improve their creative writing skills in preparation for the “Write On!” contest which was held today at my school. “Write On!” is a competition in which students from around the world compete to write the most interesting essay as judged by national and international panels of Peace Corps volunteers. Each country chooses one finalist/grade to send on to the international committee to award first through third place.

Last year my school produced the national champions for grade 11 and 12, and my students are hoping to defend their school’s titles this year. I’ve included summaries of each participant’s essay from today to show just how wild my students’ imaginations can be!


Grade 11 Prompts
 
One thing I wish I could do that is not allowed is…
or
What does a blind person see?

Raksmey: I want to buy something without paying money. If everything is free, maybe there would be no meaning, no hurt, no happiness, and no success. The world would be broke because of the crowd of people.

Daro: There is an enchanted forest which no one can pass through because ghosts will kill whoever passes through. A rich man declares that he will marry his daughter to any man who can cross the forest, and one man is successful. When asked by the rich father how he was able to cross, the man explains that he was blind and not able to see; he just followed his dream.

Chanleak: Blind people have different lives, and they are able to see ghosts and spirits. Their blindness allows them to talk, play, study, and go places with the ghosts (including into the earth and inside trees). After time, blind people are able to integrate into the ghost culture, and their lives are fantastic.

Phanny: Blind people see black, blue, brown, gray, orange, red, and yellow. They are not afraid of being eaten by tigers or lions because they cannot see them. Everything is beautiful for blind people because someone always takes care of them and all they need to do is sleep and eat.

Kea: We can’t see into the future like blind people. We go about studying and working blindly to have unknown future successes.

 
Grade 12 Prompts
 
What would you do if you knew you were going to lose your memory at the end of every day?
or
If death were a person, what would he/she be like?

Monorith (last year’s grade 11 national champion): His mom poisons him with milk every day and while he sleeps a creepy woman causes him to have no idea who his mother or his sister is. He doesn’t even know his own name.

Panhasey: If he knew he would lose his memory every day, he would tell his sweetheart, a cow. Although people think he’s strange for loving a cow, he gets drunk and impregnates the cow. The cow bears a man-child in the forest and then demands an iPhone. The cow uses the phone to call heaven and then the happy couple elopes to the trenches of the sea where they visit underwater clubs and ride on helicopters.

Saroth: Death tries to steal a dog, but Saroth tries to stop him. Death’s face is very red, and he wears red clothes. His body is very very fat, and his hands and legs are very very long. He has a big nose and mouth, but most importantly, he has body odor and terribly bad breath. The police come to try and save the dog from death by stalling death with a toothbrush and a request for him to brush his teeth. Saroth then poisons death with a cup of water and causes death to forget why he came in the first place.

Kunthea: Death would be rich, have smooth long hair, and would meet a lot of sexy boys and girls. Death would hunt living people and possess them in order to control and damage the world by 2016. When the world is destroyed, death will destroy 5 other planets by developing them with ghosts and monsters. These planets would have blond factories, ghost car factories, ghost teeth factories, and especially spirit factories. Since death can only live two hours after being born from bamboo, death must inhabit human spirits. In sum, die now, or die in 2016.

Which story would you choose as the winner from each grade? Let me know!

 

 

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