WORDFEST 2022

by Alison Tansley,

Year 3 Teacher

On Saturday, the 26th of November, students from five international schools descended on IBSB to take part in the annual WordFest (spoken word competition). The competition is the brainchild of former IBSB teacher, Cameron Brunke, whose passion for spoken word art forms led him to create a yearly opportunity for students to take part in poetry, drama, and public speaking performances. This was the fifth edition of WordFest, and we are proud to say that IBSB has been there every time!

There are two age groups for the competition: 8-11 and 12-15. Ms Tansley worked tirelessly with the primary school students while Mr Ennion guided the secondary students during the preparations for their performances.

Sofia Peli (Y6) managed to achieve 3rd Place in both impromptu and persuasive speaking categories. The IBSB Primary School also achieved 3rd Place in group acting, thanks to tremendous efforts of Alia Chayek-Patt, Kayla Jayathas, and Ianna Raclaru, who performed Aladdin. Alia and Kayla also achieved 2nd Place in the storytelling category, coming just ahead of two other IBSB teams who shared 3rd Place equal: Ianna Raclaru and Sonia Muthu’s story could not be separated from that of Ralph Cathey-Ureche and Nora Dobrescu. There were other IBSB primary students competing amidst a tough field, so congratulations also to Maria Farmache, Mihai Urjan, and Eva Popescu. All the primary students performed admirably and will be enriched by the experience of speaking for an audience - which is a very scary thing to do!

In the 12-15 age group, 13 students took part, including Tudor Carstoiu, Petru Pirtea, Olivia Opran, Carla Pancescu and Iulia Daianu. These multi-talented students came up against similarly determined competitors from the other schools and gave a great account of themselves, especially considering it was the first time many of them had taken part in this event. Two of our more seasoned contestants, Felix Daianu and Sonia Marta, achieved 1st and 2nd Place respectively in impromptu speaking, matching their success of last year. In the individual acting category, Sandra Curtis achieved 1st Place with a monologue she wrote herself. She was joined on the podium by Eva Nica, who took 3rd Place for her moving performance. In the remaining categories, Nina Culea took 3rd Place for her persuasive speech; Maia Bucura and Dan Stefan Popa were 2nd and 3rd respectively in the poetry category; and another debutant, Cezar Marinescu Netoiu, managed a 1st Place prize for his storytelling talent!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable and successful event for the IBSB students and we could not be prouder of them.

This was the first time the competition had been hosted at IBSB, and of course, it took a lot of hard work to stage the competition. We must thank Ms Ana, Ms Andreea, Ms Madalina and Ms Iulia for their efforts in ensuring the event ran smoothly. Ms Bogdan, Mr Tansley and Mr Cornish were also on hand to show their support and oversee the competition. We are also very grateful to Mr Mujica, who took part in judging the competition - no easy task! Thank you to Mr Iulian, Ms Dobra Ana and Ms Narcisa Rolea, who ensured the sports hall and school site were ready to receive such a huge number of students, parents and teachers from all over the city. Finally, a huge thank you to Mr Tansley for supporting the primary school students throughout the competition.

We really appreciate the support of all the parents who gave up their Saturday morning to attend the event. As ever, it was a chance to see how well the community works together at IBSB.

Congratulations to all the students who participated and we hope to see many of you back again next year!