The yearly Storytelling Competition has proceeded in Puxi campus since late October. Every year, it is held so that students can improve their public speaking abilities. On Thursday, November 11th, middle school students had the final round of Storytelling Competition which was a real feast for story lovers.

For Grade 6, round one of the competition was an in-class round, which meant that sixth-grade students were required to tell a two to three minute short story that they had previously worked on over the last few weeks during English class. Each class would then choose one or two of the best presenters to move on to the second round. Every student gave it their best shot, keeping their peers on the edge of their seats with suspenseful and action-packed stories.

Aichen Zhuang from 8(8) recalled :“ For the first round I was very scared and nervous because I saw many classmates presented very well. I had practiced many times at home to get my timing right, memorize it, and add body movements to it. I was very amazed that I could get into the second round.” The content of his story is called the “Journey of Coffee.” He said that he had learned a lot of things about telling stories and met new people.

The winners of the storytelling competition were Clair Lin from 6(10) （S/S+ Level）, Jonas from 6(2) （S/S+ Level）, Vanessa from 6(3) （S/S+ Level）and Jerry Chen from 6(3) (H/H+ Level), Amy Sun 6(9) (H/H+ Level), Chelsea Nam from 6(4) (H/H+ Level)!

As the 7th grade S/S+ students started their speeches, students were amazed at how creative theirs were. Isabelle from 7(1) told a story about a girl finding a mysterious diary at a campsite. Charlie from 7(8) created a story about John and his energy-using dog retrieving energy. In Jaden’s story, the main character is Mr. Detective Pig who solves a peculiar crime case. Daniel from 7(3) went last. His story is composed of a giant trying to destroy a village, and a hero trying to save it. A wizard suddenly comes out and trains monster killers who later save the village.

Students from H/H+ also brought us wonderful stories. Ella Park from 7(4) told a simple but deep story about Billy Roblox going to Earth but then discovering that humans are cruel beyond imagination. Richard from 7(2) made a simple story about the first time eating an oyster seems like a battle with aliens. Eric’s story is also pretty realistic, considering the topic of school bulling. Finally we’ve got another candidate from 7(3), Yicheng. This time he brings us a story about the tale of a time machine.

From the very beginning of the 8th graders’ speech, you could feel the suspense in the air. Everyone learned forward to hear what happens next. The participants all pulled us into their stories until we were all fully submerged in them. Miranda from 8(2) brought us a spooky tale of a telephone call between a young woman and her father that had taken a twisted turn. Eileen from 8(4) presented us with an appealing story called The Piano. It talks about a girl who found a piano in a castle, but somehow, she was controlled by the piano. Victoria from 8(8) introduced to us a frightening story of how a girl called Alicia who begins to experience weird things when she moved into her new house. 8(9) Danial presented to us a terrifying tale of when a boy named Chris who finds out that his father had made a bargain with death, and he tries to escape the wicked fate that awaits. It was extremely amusing to hear all of these great tales come from our familiar fellow students. The vivid scenes they described made us felt like we were in their stories, taking all that completely in.

In the very end, the prizes were brought out and given to the rightful award winners. The atmosphere reached its climax during the lucky draw, with whom the students who voted for the most popular speaker get a chance to be chosen for a huge snack pack. The first-place winners were Isabelle from 7(1) (S/S+ Level), Ella Park from 7(4) (H/H+ Level) who was also the most popular who had the most voters.

Overall, listening to the gifted speakers present their thrilling stories was a delightful experience and the Storytelling Competition was a wonderful reprieve from the stressing Midterm Examinations the week before. Let's give our best regards and congratulations to the winners of the Storytelling Competition, and best of luck to all of the participants who wrote equally fantastic stories for the competition! We all hope that next year’s Storytelling Competition will be as compelling as this year!

Written by Liu Chen, Ms.Ma, Ms.Du, Ms.Gu Pictures by teachers