Describe your experience participating in a singing competition.

Last Saturday, I took part in a singing competition organised by the

management of a shopping mall. A total of 32 contestants participated in the
contest.

As it was my first participation, I was really excited about it. Before the
contest, I had a fortnight to prepare and practise. After choosing my favourite
song to compete, I practised singing the song every day diligently. I also sang
in front of my family members and friends. In order to improve, I asked for their
advice, comments and suggestions. They were of great assistance to me. With
their help, I was able to improve tremendously.

Two weeks later, the day of the competition arrived. My family members
and friends accompanied me to the shopping mall. When we arrived, most of
the other competitors were already there. Not long after, the contest
commenced. I was the twenty-first competitor. The majority of participants who
sang before me performed well. Upon seeing their fine performance, I was a
little nervous and suffered from a slight stage fright.

When it was my turn to sing, I walked up the stage. While I was facing the
audience, I was afraid as never before had I sung in front of such a large crowd.
I lost my self-confidence. When I was about to give up and leave the stage, I
saw my family members and friends. Grinning amiably at me, they clapped and
cheered loudly to encourage me.

“You can do it, Waverly!” shouted my best friend Mia.

The encouragement and reassurance that they provided me rekindled the

spark of self-confidence in me. I decided to take the bull by the horns and give
it a try. Surprisingly, I sang sweetly. After my presentation, everybody
applauded. I was grateful for the applause. Before leaving the stage, I said
‘thank you’ and took a bow.

After all the contestants had sung their songs, the master of ceremonies
announced the winners. When my name was announced as the second-prize
winner, I was on cloud nine. My family members and friends were extremely
proud of me. They were overjoyed at my success too. I was awarded a cash
prize of RM2,500 and a framed certificate of participation.

I am glad to be able to participate in the contest for I had learnt a lot from
the experience. I was able to improve my singing skills. I also learnt how to face
the audience bravely and confidently. I am deeply indebted to my ‘team’ for
their encouragement and support. I hope to be able to participate in more
singing contests in future so as to further improve myself.
My experience of story telling competition in school

Here I am sharing the experience of a story telling competition that was

held in my school. I really enjoyed so much that I was absorbed telling a story
on the stage and at the same time I secured second prize for the competition.
My experience was really delightful by learning many points that are essential
for a story teller.

Every year in my school competitions for drawing , singing, elocution and

writing was held. But this year our principal decided that one interesting event
should be held in our school so that every student and teacher becomes engaged
in an activity and also enjoys the day. So in the morning during the assembly,
our principal announced that every student should narrate a short story in the
class on the following Saturday. Then four students from every class should be
selected and a final competition will be held in the school auditorium. Every
student was excited to narrate a short story that they always liked. Some loved
stories of Aesop's Fables while some students loved stories of Panchatantra. I
always liked the short stories and was always fond of the story 'Little Red Riding
Hood' since two years. My grandmother always narrated me this story with
enthusiasm. So I chose to narrate this story for the story competition.

I rigorously prepared for eight days by narrating the story once in a day.
As I chanted this story several times, I really developed interest in it day-by-
day. I also viewed the beautiful pictures of the story so that I can feel
enthusiasm. On the day of story-telling competition, I was really excited to tell
the story. I only recalled the pictures that I viewed from the book and the words
that I read from the book. I began telling the story with great vigor. Visualizing
the sweet innocent face of 'Little Red Riding Hood', I began describing various
scenes of the story. Then with flow of expression, I began expressing

Among 20 participants, I was instructed to sit down in the first row to

appear on the stage. Three judges sat down on their chairs before me. They
were provided with a large printed sheet that comprised on names of the
participants and basis for evaluation. Just before the competition, I viewed the
large sheet and read the basis for evaluation. The participants were rewarded
with marks on the basis of their choice for story, facial expressions, language,
body language and confidence. So I tried my best to look confident and
performed five-minute breathing exercise as taught by my mother. I looked
around me and saw that the other participants were nervous. They were reading
the book to prepare for the story competition. The principal announced on the
stage about the story-telling competition and wished the participants good luck.
Then the literature teacher came on the stage to announce the names of the
participants. The first participant was my friend who was preparing his best for
the story. He began chanting his story " The Shepard boy and the Wolf" with
great vigor and vivid voice. Then he ended up the story by narrating the morale
of the story. Consequently participants were announced and they began
chanting stories such as 'Lion and the Mouse', ' The wind and the wizard', " Hare
and the tortoise" and so on. Now my name was announced on the stage and I
felt anxious and also enthusiastic to enter the stage.

I entered the stage and viewed several students looking at me with great
contempt. Few students were simply giggling and tried to make funny comments.
I was determined to ignore students who were not interested and looked at the
students with great confidence.

I began visualizing the beautiful pictures from the book and the sweet
innocent face of "Little Red Riding Hood' and began describing the scenes. With
flow of expression, I started narrating about the girl and how she entered the
jungles to visit her granny. And also explained enthusiastically, how the wolf
entrapped her by speaking to her in a fruity way. Then with continuous rhythm
flowing from my heart, I began chanting the latter part of the story about the
wolf that swallows her granny. Also boldly I mentioned that because the girl did
not listen to the words of her mother and spoke to her stranger, she fell in
trouble. Then finally I explained the last scene of the story mentioning how the
woodcutter threatened the wolf by showing an axes to release the grandmother
from his body.

In this way I ended up the story by mentioning the moral of the story.
'Always obey the words of the elders, because they are experienced'.

Everybody applauded me and the name of the next participants were

announced consequently. At the end of the session, the names of the winners
were announced. My friend won the first prize and I won the second prize. The
third prize was also won by my friend who chanted the story of 'Lion and the
Mouse'. I was delighted to win the second prize, but yet I approached a judge
and asked that I was expecting first prize. Then the judge patiently said that my
friend who won the first prize had a clear voice and tone than me. But the judge
said that my overall performance was really commendable. I went home and
told my family members that I secured second position and they were all
delighted.