At the beginning of October, ETA Kylie Eiselstein introduced the WORDS competition to her SMA Santo Paulus Pontianak students. WORDS is an annual storytelling competition held by AMINEF. Each ETA holds a local competition at their host school with three guest judges. The judges decide first, second, and third place in the competition, and the first-place winner goes to Jakarta to compete in the national competition in February.

Since the competition was announced in October, the students at Santo Paulus have been passionately preparing their stories, planning their performances, and practicing their speaking in anticipation of the local competition. It all came to a head on Saturday, November 16, when participants gathered to showcase their stories to the judges. Kylie and Santo Paulus welcomed three guest judges: Ibu Stella Prancisca, S.Pd., M.Pd., head of the Universitas Tanjungpura Language Center; Ms. Muna Alhanif, Kampung Inggris Purnama volunteer and the contact person in the hosting department of Bina Antarbudaya of AFS chapter Pontianak; and Hira Baig, fellow Fulbright ETA at SMK Negeri 5 Pontianak.

Kylie was so proud of the time, effort, and dedication that the students put into their stories. Many students worked on their stories for over five weeks! The final results of the competition were as follows:

First place: Luna, class XB
Second place: Jesica, class XF
Third place: Mario, class XE

Best speaking: Vieny, class XIC
Best writing: Daven, class XH
Best storybook: Wynnie, class XID

Kylie is thrilled with each student’s exceptional performance and is excited to accompany Santo Paulus’ first-place winner, Luna, to Jakarta in February!

Kylie Eiselstein is currently teaching at SMA Santo Paulus Pontianak, West Kalimantan.