The EL Oral Exams Are OVAL OVER

Having survived the ordeal of the Chinese 'O' Level Oral exam (and was thoroughly humiliated >_< ), the EL one shouldn't be that bad, I reasoned. Which was half-true in a way. I went from gibbering like an ang moh with the limited vocabulary of a Chinese pre-schooler (Hell, a preschooler now could have done better) to rattling like some overeager primary school brat.

Reading
...Went fairly smoothly compared to the other two. I did try to enunciate clearly and vary my voice pitch for the characters. All while trying not to sound too fake at the same time. The names were damn distracting though.
Rakesh, Kevin, Amrita & Helen.
In my panic-induced dyslexia, I kept reading "Rakesh" as "Rashek" during the ten-minute pre-oral practice.

I knew people named Kelvin & Calvin. Both are pronounced "KELL-VIN". So when KEVIN popped up, I misread it as "KELL-VIN". Both during the practice and oral. But thankfully, I corrected myself after a single error. It's pronounced as "CARE-VIN".
Then there is a Japanese song from the anime Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles called Amrita. In the song, Amrita is sung as "AH-MER-LI-TA". "AH-MER-RI-TA", if you ignore the Japanese way of pronouncing "R" as "L". On my first try I went "AH-MER-RI-TA & HEL-LAN"...And nearly well did it again during the oral. I caught myself just in time for the examiners to see it as a stumble. It's actually "AM-RI-TA", w/o any MER sounds.

Picture
Dear God. Picture discussion really sucks. And I suck at that. It was a photo of some groups of people playing around in the sand on a beach. In the foreground was a group of young boys and two older girls placing a hand each on a sand mound with a moat.I couldn't lift from the reading passage and say it was a sandcastle building competition. And the way they put their hands seemed more "this-is-Pride-Rock" kind of reverence to me than "they were patting the sand into shape". I lost my head from then on. For the life of me, I couldn't remember the word "mound" and went on ungainly about the sand "lump". Then I touched-and-go on all the other people in the background.
For the woman burying her boyfriend in the sand, my first thoughts were: "This is unwise as sand may get into his underwear and unmentionable orifices, thus posing a health risk." But I had to settle for "This is dangerous since the sand particles may get into his throat and choke him"
Halfway through, my brain decided to abandon me. I begun to start every sentence with "And then", something I hadn't done since I was seven. And then I peppered the whole damn thing with "Err..." & "Umm...".
And then things like "the back of the background", "in the far off background" & "a grove of co-err...palm trees" emerged in my description.
And then I concluded with "This shows that one doesn't need technology to have fun. Even simple things like sand can be used for fun." *facepalms*

Picture
I was asked three questions w/o prompts (Good sign, non?)
This is my saving grace. I'll fail this EL oral exam if it ain't.



Oral Rant is OVAL OVER. What other highlights of the day?
Oh, I brought my camera to school on orders of the Class Chairperson to get photos & vids of my class for the Class Farewell Video. I took quite a number of candid shots in every lesson, since I know a number of stubborn people wouldn't wanna pose no matter how much I beg. So here they are.

NOTE: The more funny candid photos are withheld cause I have no desire to be sued (As threatened by my form teacher when she caught me) And to those who want their photos off, or who just want their photos, drop me a line in the tagbox or something.

A fellow classmate off to La La Land in deep thought.

Failed attempt at artistic photography. Was she aware I took the picture?

Teacher giving us answers to a practice paper.

Our dear Vice-Chair sleeping as usual

Sleepy too, Charis?

Between Chem & Physics. The Ex Vice-Chair yanking at his collar for reasons unknown. This pic had to be horribly lightened since he was standing against the light.

Jus-...Another classmate listening attentively for once in MT.

Hard at work during Chinese lesson.

On the way to Recess.

Our dear Vice-Chair awake and keeping his PSP company.

The Vice-Chair & The Ex Vice-Chair. Geography lesson was like Mission Impossible. Thoroughout the whole time, I swear the teacher was fully aware of my spy camera.

Bored In Geography.

Due to my poor stealth skills, I can only take this backshot of the class returning from Geography lesson.

But I'm stealthy enough to take this FRONTAL shot of these usually camera-shy people. HE was featured sleeping on HweeYing's blog

At assembly. This teacher usually looks kinder.

Some of the few people who make my job easier by ASKING ME to take photos for them.


The opening of Class 3/1's Drama. Honestly I don't know what the hell is the Sec 3s' theme, for every class to have DANCE in their plays. And this is one of the...least titilating dances I've seen of the Sec 3s. They were beyond spastic, at best.

My junior from the Drama Club reprised his role as an angry drunkard father in his class play. The prospects of his Drama career is worrying if he gets typecast as an Angry Drunkard again. But anyway, he did well here. =)




Another notable part was the spoof of a particular teacher, which was brillantly performed by a brave guy with his high pants. He even got the speech pattern down pat. I'll probably upload it on Youtube when I'm free.

Adios for now, folks.