Uncertainty is the perfect word to mirror the world that we are living in. Not knowing what will happen to us and the people we care about is frightening and unsettling. The feeling of fear is normal and everyone has different ways to cope with it. Living through a pandemic, in hope that our daily routines should proceed like the pre-COVID19 era, the goals are clear: injecting new norms and searching for new ways to make things work. This includes taking the English Festival into the virtual realm. Although it was not easy, it was memorable nonetheless.

In order for us, the English Unit, to come up with contingency plans for possible complications that might occur during the Online English Festival (OEF) 2021, a lot of research had to be done mainly on how online games are conducted. Despite having a long-list of interactive games suggested, our first bump in the road was the large number of participants. The question, “Will this work?”, popped up every now and then especially during our game simulations. In the end, the show must go on.

Online Scavenger Hunt, Online English Festival 2021

Online Scavenger Hunt (OSH) was the first synchronous event for OEF 2021. Unstable internet connection, also known as public enemy number one especially in times like this, emerged as our second obstacle particularly among the participants. Nevertheless, it was a proud moment for us—we saw students enthusiastically looking for items mentioned by us; we witnessed some defeated looks because they came back later than the others; and we noticed some even had confusion written all over their faces as there were questions which required them to solve riddles. It was the sense of achievement that gave students the motivation to try again, harder.

K.O. Draw, Online English Festival 2021

The next live event was K.O. Draw. This game is about drawing with strategy because the participants were only given seconds to draw before the rest made their guesses. Although students were pressed for time, some were able to create Picasso-like drawings while some produced ‘unique’ arts that demanded High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). Imagine the frustration that the participants had to go through to guess the drawings to the extent whereby one of the participants jokingly warned, “Please draw better.” We knew the game was named K.O. Draw for a reason. Students reported to have acquired new vocabulary and were able to relax while learning.

EmojiDle, Online English Festival 2021

Emoji enthusiasts, rejoice! EmojiDle. This was the game which required the participants  to think outside of the box to understand the underlying meanings behind the sets of emoji. Students’ perseverance and confidence did not fail us—it was a sight to see as the teams competed verbally to the get the host’s attention. It was the only way the team could share their answers and become the fastest to take guesses. Being able to identify the respective teams was a challenge, but thankfully the main host, Ms. Farhana, managed to steady the ship. Truthfully, we were surprised we could pull it off!

Hana, the winner for the asynchronous competition, DIY Vacation, stood out from the rest of the contestants as she ticked all the boxes of the requirements. Our personal favourite scene from her clip was her beautiful family bonding moments, as she narrated the clip. It was clear a great deal of time and effort were invested in shooting the scenes together as a family, which led her win the competition.

There you have it, our 2021 Mission Impossible version of English Festival. It is, without a doubt, that we could not have done it without each other’s support. One salient lesson that we learned through this program is that nothing is impossible when we really put our mind to it. Even if COVID-19 hampers our plans, we learn to adapt and come up with contingency plans. Most importantly, we should never ever let it control us.

 

Written by: ASPer English Unit

Tarikh Input: 09/02/2022 | Kemaskini: 09/02/2022 | hasniah