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The Fall 2008 SpokenSkills Elvis Competition

Students representing schools from different countries use the SpokenSkills Learning Lab and receive tips from an instructor to practice a presentation and demonstrate how much they can improve their speaking skills in five weeks.

The winner for the ELVIS competition is Jeong-Hyeon Son representing KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) from Robert Gordon's HS-107 L English class.

Jeong-Hyeon shows great improvement in his presentation both in his delivery and his spoken English skills. He wins for his school a $350 Amazon gift card and a six month license to the SpokenSkills Learning Lab. Congratulations to Jeong-Hyeon, his teacher and his school!
Watch the videos and see his improvement!

Message from The Judges

Thank you to the more than 150 contestants from around the world who participated in the Fall 2008 ELVIS competition. Again in this event it was difficult to choose a winner. We are impressed by the students' dedication, talent and presentation improvement. Keep up the good work!

Sebastian Okada, Kenneth Beare and MaryEllen Welton (meet the judges)

Next event: TBA

"I found this to be the best project I've done all year (maybe in all my teaching career)."
Lori McCune, Teton High School

"My students and I found your video competition to be extremely helpful and engaging, and would love to participate in the future."
Johanna Haas, Seoul National University

Finalists

Each class teacher selected the student that would represent the class in the finals.

	Student: Jeong-Hyeon Son Personality: Trevor McKinney (Of the movie Pay It Forward) School: KAIST (Korea) Teacher: Robert Gordon Class: HS-107 L
Winner - see comments above

	Student: Soomi Song Personality: Angelina Jolie School: Seoul National University (Korea) Teacher: Johanna Haas Class: College English 051
We can see Soomi Song's talent and improvement as she looks at the camera with a smile and correctly uses pauses and word stress to speak with confidence. She certainly has a potential future in broadcasting!

	Student: Eduardo Personality: Marlon Brando School: Brookland-Cayce HS (USA) Teacher: Nancy Rollison Class: ESOL Block 1
Honorable mention - see comments on right

	Student: Wen-Chung Tsai Personality: Arnold Schwarzenegger School: KAIST (Korea) Teacher: Robert Gordon Class: HS-107 R
Wen-Chung Tsai's intonation and sentence stress has dramatically progressed and his hard work really shows. Good job. Hasta la vista, Wen-Chung Tsai!

	Student: Fernanda Personality: "Resident Evil: Extinction" (movie) School: Daniels Middle School (USA) Teacher: Alis Gorcea Class: ESL 2
It is clear that Fernanda put in a lot of effort to improve her English speaking skills. Her audience will have no choice but to watch the movie because her enthusiasm is so contagious.

	Student: Basma Personality: Joe Jonas School: American Bilingual School (Kuwait) Teacher: Tara Elie
Honorable mention - see comments on right

	Student: Jaejoong Jeong Personality: Freddie Mercury School: Seoul National University (Korea) Teacher: Johanna Haas Class: College English 003
2nd place - see comments on right

	Student: Saida Personality: Jesus Adrian Romero School: Brookland-Cayce HS (USA) Teacher: Nancy Rollison Class: ESOL Block 2
Saida's presentation is heart warming and full of optimism. Thank you Saida!

	Student: Yonseok Kim Personality: "Man Of Honor" (movie) School: KAIST (Korea) Teacher: Robert Gordon Class: HS-107 B
Yonseok Kim's improvement is remarkable! His speech flow, clarity and body language are testimonials to his hard work.

	Student: Jane Personality: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (movie) School: Daniels Middle School (USA) Teacher: Alis Gorcea Class: ESL 3
Jane's eye contact with the camera and wonderful clarinet music made her presentation really engaging and fun to watch. Good performance Jane!

	Student: Reynaldo Personality: Enrique Iglesias School: Brookland-Cayce HS (USA) Teacher: Nancy Rollison Class: ESOL Block 3
Reynoldo gave a very nice presentation and singing performance. Thank you Reynoldo!

View all of the participants...

Fall 2008 ELVIS Competition Winners
Compare 1st and last videos to see the improvement.

First Video (Week 2)

Final Video (Week 4)

Student: Jeong-Hyeon Son
Personality: Trevor McKinney (Of the movie Pay It Forward)
School: KAIST
Teacher: Robert Gordon
Class: HS-107 L


2nd Place
	Student: Jaejoong Jeong Personality: Freddie Mercury School: Seoul National University Teacher: Johanna Haas Class: College English 003
Jaejoong Jeong shows great improvement by effectively using inflection, pausing and stress. In addition, he presents with confidence and thrills the judges with a wonderful performance of 'Too much love will kill you'.

Honorable Mentions
	Student: Ko Yoonkyung Personality: Alexei Yagudin School: Seoul National University Teacher: Siyeon Lee Class: College English 29
Ko Yoonkyung certainly learned how to pause and stress words at the right time and topped her presentation with a wonderful re-enactment of Alexei Yagudin's dance. Ko Yoonkyung, you are awesome and could have been one of the finalists!

	Student: Basma Personality: Joe Jonas School: American Bilingual School Teacher: Tara Elie
Basma has a real talent as a presenter. She smiles to her audience, pauses in the correct spots and places emphasis on the correct words. Excellent presentation.

	Student: Hyejin Ju Personality: Audrey Hepburn School: Seoul National University Teacher: Jina Kwon Class: College English 46
Hyejin Ju's improvement was quite notable. Her final video shows off her presentation skills by smiling and speaking directly to her audience with confidence. She recited Audrey Hepburn's words with the same grace and sincerity.

	Student: Eduardo Personality: Marlon Brando School: Brookland-Cayce HS Teacher: Nancy Rollison Class: ESOL Block 1
Wow! Wonderful actor. Very good imitation of Marlon Brando's Godfather role. He leaves the audience with wanting to hear more! Eduardo has greatly improved in his sentence pausing and language clarity.

	Student: Kim Hyoung Keun Personality: Michael Jackson School: Seoul National University Teacher: Siyeon Lee Class: CEII Speaking 2
Kim Hyoung Keun made great progress in his speech. He shows how he learned to use intonation and word stress correctly. Great moon dancing Kim Hyoung Keun!

	Student: Changhui Kim Personality: Eric Clapton School: Seoul National University Teacher: Jina Kwon Class: College English 46
The spotlight shines on Changui Kim for his skillful guitar playing. Thanks for sharing your talent Changui Kim!
Spring 2008 ESL Oscars Winners
Fall 2007 ESL Oscars Winners

What is the ELVIS Competition?

The SpokenSkills Elvis Competition is an activity where students representing schools from different countries will demonstrate how much they can improve their spoken English skills in 5 weeks. All schools (private, public and non-profit) from all countries are invited to participate.

Your ESL students will have fun practicing spoken English by creating a video describing a movie/TV personality of their choice. Guidance of the process is provided to students by SpokenSkills instructors. One of your students will then represent your school in the finals for a chance to win $350 in classroom CDs and books for your school.

However, more than a competition, the ESL Oscars is a fun activity where all students that participate have a chance to practice, get valuable feedback and improve their spoken English. See how students (to the right) have improved in the past event. > > > > >

Register your class for the Fall 2009 event.

Print the ELVIS Competition brochure for your colleagues.

View rules and regulations.

A Simple Process

Each school's teachers register a class or a group of students that would like to participate in the ELVIS Competition.

Each school teacher selects a day that his/her students will start working on their videos. Students will have 4 weeks from that day to create and practice their video presentation. A SpokenSkills' instructor will guide students through the process.
Each student will log in and complete a series of activities that will help complete the final video.
During the 4 weeks the teacher will be able to review the work students are completing.
On week 5, the teacher will select the student from the class that has demonstrated the greatest improvement and who will represent the school in the finals. To select the student that demonstrates the greatest improvement, the teacher will simply compare each student's first and final video.
SpokenSkills will then select the winner from the representatives of each school.

Students' Steps

Week 1:	Student registers & submits script	SpokenSkills instructor feedback

Week 2:	Student submits final script & 1st video	SpokenSkills instructor feedback

Week 4:	Student submits final video

Week 5:	You select the student in the class who has improved the most and will represent your school in the finals

NOTE: for the competition, students will need access to a school or home computer connected to the Internet, speakers and a webcam, video-enabled cell or video camera.

The Fall 2008 ELVIS Competition has been completed. Please stay tuned for the Fall event.

Samples from past events

Student: Choi Kilho
Personality: Guus Hiddink

Student: Oh Hye-Won
Personality: Nicole Blonsky

Student: Junghun Bae
Personality: Julie Delphy

Student: Yeonbum Jeong
Personality: Homer Simpson

Student: Karina
Personality: Celine Dion

More participants...

Why Participate?

In recent years the concept of participatory media (PM) has become more than a catch-phrase, but an easily accessible reality. For students and teachers, this opens the door for assignments that can remain relevant and accessible long after an instructor gives it his/her own assessment. – Learning Interchange at Apple

The success of YouTube proves that today's audience not only consumes media, but also wants to participate. Computer savvy language learners take advantage of these sites to improve their comprehension skills. SpokenSkills' ELVIS Competition takes the next step by providing students of all levels the chance to practice and improve their spoken English skills by using SpokenSkills tools to create an online video.

Benefits for Students

	Student use video & the Internet - mediums they are familiar with and enjoy.
	It's a simple process for students. Students can complete the videos in their free time over a 4 week period.
	An activity for students of all levels. The competition is based on improvement from the first to last video so all levels can participate.
	Students will improve their English speaking skills. Though your students will have a lot of fun, they will also be working hard on improving their English communication skills and receive valuable feedback that will help them improve.
	Ideal for shy students - It is a challenge to get some students to speak. Get them talking and enable them to share their own interests and talents in a more comfortable setting.
	Independent self study - Instructions and activities are designed with the option for students to work independently and/or in class.
	Intensive language practice that targets all English levels.
	Fun - Students can express themselves and show their creative side while practicing their English.
	Individual feedback - SpokenSkills English tutors are assigned to each student free of charge!
	SpokenSkills Pronunciation Exercises - Students can use the resources at SpokenSkills to practice their pronunciation. There are many to choose from or create your own!

Benefits for Teachers/Schools

	Simple process for the instructor. The class instructor simply has to watch students practice with the option to provide them with tips of how to improve.
	Test drive an amazing tool. Teachers will get a chance to see how participatory media tools work and one example of the types of assignments they can create.
	It's FREE to participate AND your school may win the grand prize! The winner takes home $500 in classroom CDs and books and a six-month FREE subscription of SpokenSkills Tools for one class.
	Class projects - A great way to assign a class participation grade and evaluate the oral skills of all students equally and fairly.
	Excellent Customer service A professional staff can provide you with technical and pedagogical assistance.
	Message Board - Communicate with the entire class at one time.
REMEMBER - though your students will probably not become instant Hollywood stars, they may make your school famous!

Class Registration
The Fall 2009 ELVIS Competition starts September 1st, 2009 with registration closing on September 31st, 2009. If you would like to register more that one student class, simply complete the registration form again.

* indicates a required field

Step 1: School/Institution Information

* School Name:

* Address:

* City:

Province/State:

* Country:

Postal Code:

School Website:

School Logo:

(Select a .JPG or .GIF logo/image that represents your school.)

Step 2: Teacher Information

* Teacher Name:

(First) (Last)

* Teacher Email:

(Only used for registration purposes.)

Phone:

I would like a SpokenSkills instructor to provide feedback to my
students. (Free of charge.)

I don't need an SpokenSkills instructor. I will provide my students
with feedback. I will receive instructions on how to provide online feedback to students. (Free of charge.)

Step 3: Class Information

* Class Name:

*Day you would like
your class to start:

(mm/dd/yyyy)		Anytime between September 1 - 31 2009
(Your students will have a total of 4 weeks from the start date you select to complete the script and the 2 practice videos. On week 5, you will select the student who has demonstrated the most improvement.)

Class Level:

Step 4: Submit Your Registration

I agree to the rules and regulations of this contest.

Why participate?

	Student use video & the Internet - mediums they are familiar with and enjoy.
	It's a simple process for students. Students can complete the videos in their free time over a 4 week period.
	Simple process for the instructor. The class instructor simply has to watch students practice with the option to provide them with tips of how to improve.
	An activity for students of all levels. The competition is based on improvement from the first to last video so all levels can participate.
	Students will improve their English speaking skills. Though your students will have a lot of fun, they will also be working hard on improving their English communication skills and receive valuable feedback that will help them improve.
	Test drive an amazing tool. Teachers will get a chance to see how participatory media tools work and one example of the types of assignments they can create.
	It's FREE to participate AND your school may win the grand prize! The winner takes home $500 in classroom CDs and books and a six-month FREE subscription of SpokenSkills Tools for one class.
	Class projects - A great way to assign a class participation grade and evaluate the oral skills of all students equally and fairly.
	Ideal for shy students - It is a challenge to get some students to speak. Get them talking and enable them to share their own interests and talents in a more comfortable setting.
	Independent self study - Instructions and activities are designed with the option for students to work independently and/or in class.
	Intensive language practice that targets all English levels.
	Fun - Students can express themselves and show their creative side while practicing their English.
	Individual feedback - SpokenSkills English tutors are assigned to each student free of charge!
	Excellent Customer service A professional staff can provide you with technical and pedagogical assistance.
	SpokenSkills Pronunciation Exercises - Students can use the resources at SpokenSkills to practice their pronunciation. There are many to choose from or create your own!
	Message Board - Communicate with the entire class at one time.
REMEMBER - though your students will probably not become instant Hollywood stars, they may make your school famous!

Suggest a speaking activity


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