Dear all,
We have received a lot of excellent questions this week, so please make sure you read this week’s post very carefully.
We have also received a couple of comments concerning the BEO Portal, so here are also some tips to help you upload everything smoothly:
- The student information needs to be uploaded student by student
- The size of the photograph must be lower than 300 dpi
- If you at any point click “Mark as Complete” the system will think that you are finished with your submission and will lock the information. If this happens by accident, let me know and I will unlock it for you
- The DOBs must follow the European standard DD/MM/YYYY. If you use the arrows next to the field, you can be 100% sure it is correct
Without any further ado, let’s explore the concerns you have raised this week.
Kamila & the Oxford International team
GENERAL
Question:
Does the limit of the student numbers (for the Country Spotlight and Drama Festival) count the students who are backstage helping as a staff, for example with props and music?
Answer:
Any students on the podium will count as participating students. Students operating the computer to play music or forward the slides do NOT count as participating students. Generally speaking, students will not be allowed backstage.
Question:
In the case that the students need something, can they receive a package on campus?
Answer:
Yes, once you have been assigned to your campus, you will also receive a Centre Guidebook which will give you and the parents or relatives the mailing address.
PRESENTATIONS EVENTS
Question:
Do the mystery/legend or unexplained phenomenon have to be linked to the places the students suggest as travel and tourist attractions, or can they be completely different tourist places?
Answer:
The legends/unexplained phenomena do not have to be directly linked to the tourist attractions featured in the presentation but they do need to be linked to the assigned country.
Question:
In the BEO Investigation, does the instruction “consider the date” mean that we have to consider what happened that day (even if it’s not recent), or make sure that the article is recent and current?
Answer:
“Consider the date” refers to the publishing date and how up to date the information presented is.
DEBATE
Question:
We can see in the guidelines that the debating students are allowed one AS page/cue card. We do not have AS paper but we do have cue cards. There are 2 debaters, is it a cue card for each student or a cue card for both? What size must the cue card(s) be?
Answer:
AS format is practically an equivalent of Half Letter size (approx. 210 x 145 mm). The pair of debaters will be allowed one card AS/Half Letter (no bigger). They can use both sides to write on.
Question:
Does the team have to represent the given country in this event? Should every argument be based on our assigned country?
Answer:
No, your assigned country has no impact on this event. Students should consider the debate topic as a global issue. They can make references to any country they have come across in their research and/or to their home country if they think the content is relevant.
Question:
Do we have to send the Position Papers on 16th February along with the Song Lyrics and the Drama Festival Script?
Answer:
No, you are not expected to submit anything for the BEO Debate.
CREATIVE EVENTS
Question:
We were wondering if singing in Spanish will be penalised. Our dialogue is in English, but this is a technical question we have.
Answer:
I am afraid this would be up to the judges. I imagine that if they felt like they have missed content or the content became unclear because of a Spanish song, they may decide to grant a lower mark in one of the categories.
Question:
Do the judges and the audience need to see that the students are speaking when they appear on the screen (shadow)?
Answer:
The judges/audience will not necessarily be seeing the students while speaking but there will be a member of staff behind the screen observing that the team has been following the rules.
Question:
Could puppets be used for the presentation? Students will be moving the puppets and making the voices.
Answer:
Students can use any props they wish.
Question:
Could you tell us what type of lighting will be used? For example, the voltage and measurements of the lamps. The drama teacher says it is important to know so that they can play with the distances students will have between them and the screen for the shadows to be shown.
Answer:
Please refer to Post 1 for this information.
Question:
What type of material will be the screen be made of?
Answer:
Please refer to Post 1 for this information.
Question:
Do students need to hold the screen?
Answer:
No, they will not need to hold anything.
Question:
Can the drama be about situations they are living nowadays? (e.g. insecurity, bullying, narcotics, etc.)
Answer:
The drama has to meet the brief assigned in the written guidelines, page 28.
Question:
Can there be a narrator or does there have to be a dialogue?
Answer:
There can be a narrator for some parts of the drama. However, if the whole piece is narrated by just one, it would probably not be considered a drama piece.
Question:
In the drama festival, will the judges all be in the front of the stage, or will there be somebody judging the teamwork behind the screen?
Answer:
The judges will be in front of the stage and there will be a member of staff observing the team behind the screen.
Question:
In the Drama Show, it is stated that “the beliefs & assumptions (shadows) that currently shape your reality.” Who does “your reality” refer to? The students’ reality or the public in general?
Answer:
This refers to students’ reality.
Question:
A question appeared in Post 9 regarding the shadow theatre/drama presentation. This question asked whether a character ‘can go in and out from behind the screen and whether they could be behind the screen for some parts and in front for other parts’. The answer was yes they could. However, I find this question to be very confusing in nature. First of all, it does not state whether these characters would be just narrating or interacting with the other characters behind the screen. Are they performing both behind the screen and in front of the screen? This seems to us that if done this way that the shadow theatre aspect loses its essence so to speak.
Answer:
Yes, one student (at a time) can appear in front of or by the screen. We shall not be prescriptive as to what the role of the student should be as this very much depends on the storyline and content of the play in question. It is also not a requirement, if you think your play will lose something rather than benefit from it, you do not have to do this.
Question:
Is it possible to bring coloured paper (cellophane) to change the colour of the light for the Shadow Theatre?
Answer:
No, unfortunately we will not allow any alteration to the light set up for health and safety reasons.
Question:
My students are considering 3-5 acts for their script. Is there a maximum number of acts?
Answer:
No, there is no limit on the number of acts.
Question:
In the BEO Acapella, can a student join in the middle of the song, or is it mandatory that all participants start at the same time?
Answer:
The student could join the actual performance later. However, they would have to come to the stage with everyone else and hand in their ID to the judges for participation count. They would then have to wait somewhere on the side of the stage for their turn.