Literature comes to life

orallang092: 2009 Oral Language Festival

Serious Solo finalists (from left) Oasis Garcia, Geena Younger and Dalton Boyt

orallang093: 2009 Oral Language Festival

Verse Choir Winners (top from left) Brandi Moy, Max Fortnum, Nick Wilbur, Sam Shockley, (bottom from left) Emily Horrigan, Sarah Powell, Elise Myers and Chandler Beck

orallang094: 2009 Oral Language Festival Humorous Solo finalists (from left) Nick Clarksean, Jessica Ricketts and Jessica Druey

orallang095: 2009 Oral Language Festival

Humorous Duo finalists (from left) Juan Diego Hernandez, Erick Moreno, Samantha Stauch, Kathryn Piper, Elizabeth Nakagawa and Annie Murrell

How do you interpret the feelings of a stinky dinosaur and the desperate lives of an earthquake ravaged nation in one forum? The answer is you provide five forums in one location to deal with both the humorous and serious side of literature. Such was the case on Feb. 12, when the Kern County Superintendent of Schools convened the first half of the 38th annual Kern County Oral Language Festival for students in grades four-through-six at University Square in Bakersfield. Students in grades seven-through-eight will have their festival on Feb. 26.

What started out as an estimated pool of more than 39,000 Kern County students was pared down in school and district competitions to the approximately 190 in grades fourth-through-six from 17 districts that competed at the county championship on Feb. 12.

Ronald Reagan School’s Dalton Boyt was a great example of how choosing the right literature helped him win in the Serious Solo category with his entry, “Are You Going to Help Me.” He said it gave him the passion to compete.

“It was about the 1989 earthquake that flattened Armenia and how a father would not give up the hope that his missing son was alive while digging through the rubble for him. When he found his son, he was alive, and the son told the father to keep digging for the rest of the kids because he would be alright. That emotion helped my voice really standout and made my interaction with the characters believable.”

Students were judged on content, delivery, total impression and adherence to rules as they used their drama and speech skills to interpret humorous or serious literary works in solo, duo or group presentations. The literature had to be a published work available to all students.

Hart School’s Jessica Druey expressed her comical self with her winning humorous interpretation called “Gorgonzola, a very Stinkysaurus.” The serious side is that Druey had been working on her performance since September.

“Everyone was fed up with trying to clean this stinky dinosaur which wasn’t going real well,” Druey said. “To tell the story, I had to change my voice several times to interpret the different characters that were helping him. The memorization wasn’t hard but staying in character was a challenge. I had to make sure each voice was distinct so that the audience would always know which character I was portraying. It worked out well for the dinosaur and me.”

As many as eight students could take part in an event called “verse choir” where the interpretation required the group to recite in unison and in smaller individual parts. St. John’s Lutheran was the judges’ choice with their humorous interpretation of a young boy’s troubles getting his hair to conform for picture day called, “Bed Head.”

“Giving an oral presentation is a difficult and commendable task,” English and language arts coordinator Teresa Twisselman told the audience. “Each student presenting tonight can be proud of this accomplishment.”

Where Druey had to worry about mastering a host of voices, Stockdale Elementary’s winning humorous duo of Kathryn Piper and Samantha Stauch had to concentrate on timing for their entry, “SkippyJonJones.” Each had different parts to
interpret while avoiding stepping on each other’s lines in a story about a schizophrenic cat who thinks he’s a bird and a Chihuahua.

“We had it down really well, so near the end of our practice sessions we concentrated on just working on the parts we were messing up, and we worked over and over and over on that,” Piper said.

“And we remembered what my mom had told us, ‘Be as funny as you can be, stay relaxed and have fun,’” said Stauch. “It worked.”

Awards were presented to the top three finishers in each category. The finalists were:

Humorous Duo
First Place — Kathryn Piper and Samantha Stauch, Stockdale Elementary
Second Place — Annie Murrell and Elizabeth Nakagawa, Thorner School
Third Place — Juan Diego Hernandez and Erick Moreno, Di Giorgio School

Humorous Solo
First Place — Jessica Druey, Hart School
Second Place — Jessica Ricketts, Norris Middle
Third Place — Nick Clarksean, St. Francis Parish

Serious Duo
First Place — Jeanette Calderon and Jaycie Knox, Thorner School
Second Place — Graciela Perez and Alma Velasquez, Casa Loma Elementary
Third Place — Julianna Morton and Giovanna Sacco, St. Francis Parish

Serious Solo
First Place — Dalton Boyt, Ronald Reagan School
Second Place — Geena Younger, Thorner School
Third Place — Oasis Garcia, McKee Middle

Verse Choir
First Place — St. John’s Lutheran: Chandler Beck, Max Fortnum, Emily Horrigan, Brandi Moy, Elise Myers, Sarah Powell, Sam Shockley and Nick Wilbur
Second Place — (tie) Reagan School: Shawn Bhogal, Mudit Buch, Josh Dhaliwal, Manraj Garewal, Humza Siddiqui and Sailesh Tirupasur; Ollivier Middle: Jose Camacho, Cristian Garcia, Anthony Moreno, Daja Polee, Taylor Reese and Rodnesha Vickers
Third Place — Discovery Elementary: Tyler Burnes, Grace Carlson, Caitlyn Carr, Brooke Crosswhite, Brock Hallum, Jansen Mamauag, Madison Parks and Kennedi Sullivan


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