Post 1
Dear colleagues,
Let me welcome you to the BEO Forum! This Forum is here to provide academic support, clarifications of the guidelines, and essential information relevant to the competition and the programme in general. Please feel free to send any academic questions to me at kdolejsi@oxfordinternational.com.
All the questions will be collated, and answers will be published on a weekly basis. This will allow us to ensure that the most up to date information is available to everyone at the same time. Please understand that the operational demands of this competition do not always allow for individual responses to every email. We suggest you therefore sign in and follow this Forum on a regular basis.
The posts will be divided into 4 sections. In the ‘general’ section we will answer questions that are relevant to all competition events or that are related to other aspects of the programme. The general section will be followed by questions and answers related to the presentation events, followed by the Debate and finally there will be a section on the creative elements, that is, the Song Contest, the Drama Festival, and the Improvisation Challenge.
We will also post additional guiding documents and / or practice materials. This week we are bringing you the recording of our first BEO webinar, which focused on general rules and the Presentation events.
We would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that our next webinar will take place on 1st December at 3 pm UK time. The link to participate will be sent to all registered schools in the weak leading up to the webinar.
Best of luck with the ongoing preparation and do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Regards,
Kamila & the OIEG team
PRESENTATION EVENTS
Question:
For the Country Spotlight is it allowed to do something like a puppet show or would that be more in the line of drama?
Answer:
You are allowed to use props, so technically speaking puppets are props, but as you as, you do need to make sure that your presentation does not turn into a drama because you will be still judged using the presentation rubric (page 31 of the written Guidelines).
CREATIVE EVENTS
Question:
What happens if we choose the same song as another team for the A Cappella Contest? Should we have a back-up song?
Answer:
There is no need to have a back-up song as you will be assessed on Lyrics, Body Language, Vocal Technique, and Overall Entertainment Value (page 34 of the written Guidelines) which are likely to differ even if the melody is the same as someone else’s.
Question:
Is there no Mystery Challenge this year?
Answer:
Correct, the number of overall events has been reduced to 6 and an additional academic workshop has been added to the programme. Please refer to the webinar recording for further information.