St Aloysius Primary School of Region Six will meet Timehri Primary (Region Four), Vreed-en-Hoop Primary (Region Three) and Mortice Primary (Region Five) next Tuesday in the semi-final round of the annual reading competition.
The competition is being hosted by the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) in collaboration with the Demerara Lioness Club.
Yesterday saw the final segment of the preliminary round, in which four primary schools from Region Six — St Aloysius, New Amsterdam, St Theresa’s, and Fort Ordinance — competed. In the first round, St Aloysius succeeded with 86 points; 17 points more than New Amsterdam. St Theresa’s came out the winner in the match against Fort Ordinance, with 73 points (3 more than the rival team). In the final round the rivalry was so keen that St Theresa’s lost to St Aloysius by just one point.
The children were each given one minute to read a passage, after which they were required to read aloud before the judges and audience. They were not only judged on their reading skills, as in an attempt to test their comprehension and spelling abilities, they were required to answer six questions and spell two trick words from the passage.
A bit of nervousness was evident in the competitors at the beginning of the first round, but by the final round all shyness seemed to have vanished.
Additionally, the students all did exceedingly well in their reading, but only a few showed excellent comprehension skills. The best reader for the day was Learmond Braithwaite of St Aloysius Primary, who captivated everyone’s attention with his remarkable voice control as well as his understanding of what he had read.
Teachers were urged by the judges to encourage their children to not only read, but to ensure that they understood what they read as well as to think outside of the passage, in the event that they have to give their own opinions.
The preliminary round of the competition commenced on March 1 and continued through March 2 and 3. On the first day, the first round saw Timehri Primary coming against Providence primary, with the former outdoing the latter.
In the second round, Buxton Primary and Enmore Primary competed with Enmore being the winner. In the final showdown Timehri Primary proved to be the best with a total of 91 points.
The second day saw Vreed-en-Hoop Primary coming against Nismes Primary, then Den Amstel Primary versus Windsor Forest Primary. Vreed-en-Hoop finally emerged as the overall winner with 84 points.
On the third day Belladrum, Augustburg, Mortice, and Biaboo primary schools met in the Region Five leg of the competition. Mortice Primary, from Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, proved to be the best of the best in this round with 88 points.
The semi-final is expected to take place next Tuesday and the finals on the following day. The prize giving ceremony is scheduled to be held on March 11.
