Kids' Speech Contest

I helped judge a kids' speech contest on the weekend. This was the third time that I have been involved. I've always enjoyed it. My daily life brings me into contact with children very rarely, and I find it fun and inspiring to see so many precocious little Korean kids standing in front of an audience speaking English. It almost makes me want to have kids of my own.

Sometimes the contest reminded of that old Bill Cosby show Kids Say The Darnedest Things. One little girl, in response to a question about how she felt when she had had difficulty doing something, replied that she was scared. It turned out that she was scared because her mother hit her. This, of course, had everyone in the audience looking around for the guilty mother. Another kid said that he respected his parents most because they never fought - even when his father drank so much that he couldn't get up. His mother just asked him not to drink so much. This, too, had everyone looking around the for the drunken bum and his understanding wife.

In general, though, the kids were just impressive. From pre-school to middle school, their English was quite amazing. They must have worked really hard.