Alex Lacueva’s 1st Literary Contest

Martin’s Ways organises a literary contest in English for all of its students. This literary contest is named after one of our most brilliant students, Alex Lacueva, 13,  whose inspiring texts triggered in us the idea to do a contest to promote English literature among our students. Here are all the details about it and a registration  form for all of you to register and participate!

Genre: Narrative

Contestants

•  Participants will only be students of Martin’s Ways, current or old ones. Those who are current students will pay nothing to participate. Old students will pay 10€ fee to be able to join the contest.

Rules, Terms and Regulations

• Students will use a pen-name, not their real names.

• Every student will have to do a placement test if they haven’t done it this season. If they have, they will have to register their scoring in the registration form. Otherwise they will do one and write scoring in the form.

• Contestants must send us a picture together with the registration sheet and form (to attach in the corresponding square).
• Contestants or contestants’ parents (in case of under-18 students) authorise Martin’s Ways in registering the publication of the texts in our web and social network and also to do advertising of their writings and pictures.
• By participating, our students make a compromise of writing the text on their own, without the help of anyone. In any case of doubt, only Martin’s Ways teachers are allowed to do a certain revision of the text.
• Texts will have to be submitted before the deadline established by Martin’s Ways below, and no texts will be accepted beyond that date.
• No texts will be accepted that exceed the extension marked by Martin’s Ways.
• The jury will be formed by Martin’s Ways teachers and will decide on the winner according to the maturity of the text (in relation to the age of the contestant, of course), the coherence with the first line given, the grammar and vocabulary accuracy and its originality.
• Martin’s Ways has the right to cancel the contest in case of less than 10 participants in each category (5 kids, 5 adults) as well as the right not to consider texts which are offensive in any way.
• Texts will have to be written digitally (not manuscript), with Arial 10 font and 1.5 lines spacing.

Categories

• 1. Adults category: (all levels, from lower intermediate…); Extension: Up to 5 pages. Contestants will have to continue writing after these lines: “It was a cold winter night. I was walking home after the party and the town was deserted. I could only hear my steps and my heartbeat. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there she was… ”
• Kids Category: Two, lower intermediate and from upper intermediate…). Extension: Up to 3 pages.

• 2.Kids, lower intermediate category: Contestants will have to continue writing after these lines: “Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a bear. Her name was Ayashe and she was very shy. One morning, she woke up by the river and discovered something terrible: she was invisible!”

• 3. Kids, upper intermediate category: Contestants will have to continue writing after these lines: “I have always believed in magic. That is why I wasn’t very surprised when, this morning, I turned my mom into a chair.”
• Free category (all ages): Extension: Up to 3 pages in kids; 5 in adults. Apart from these story lines, contestants can also choose to start their own story. That is the “free” category, available to students from all ages. However, we strongly recommend our students to follow the stories that are set above. It will be easier for us to correct and judge if there is a common ground to all stories from a category, and then of course it is easier for the students to keep to the tenses given, past simple in the three cases, which is the basic tense to story writing and one of the easiest to command for our students.

Prizes: A diploma and medal will be given to award winners. Gold medal, Silver medal, Bronze medals in each of the 3 categories. Adults: Winner: 2 Books and 2 DVD films of their taste. Second: 1 book and 1 DVD Film of their taste. Third: 1 book of their taste. Kids: Same in all 2 subcategories but winner will also win free stay in MW’s Summer camp, one week, in July. The contestants will have to write in the registration form their 3 favourite books which they haven’t read before/they would like to have and the same with their 3 favourite films.

Dates:

• Awards event: It will take place on May 5, Friday, hour and place still to be determined.
• Writings delivery deadline: April 7.

Writings Delivery: Martin’s Ways will give students 2 opaque envelopes so they insert  in one of them their writings (envelope will have written on it the corresponding level, category or subcategory associated); on the other one their pen-name associated with the student’s real name. They will have to give writings to teachers before deadline dates.

This text, written by Alex Lacueva, is what inspired us so much. That’s the reason why we would like to share it with all of you. 

Schools don’t prepare students for life in the real world

Year after year, parents are concerned about their children’s education with reference to a good academic education. Parents and teachers ask themselves if they are doing enough for them.

On the one hand, parents think that education is the responsibility of the teacher, at school timetable. On the other hand, parents are working all day an don’t help them enough.

I think education is the teachers’ job and manners are parents’ job.

Nowadays, parents allow their children to spend too much time watching TV or playing video games. Teenagers get their parents to buy them mobile phones, when they are eight or nine.

Furthermore, children normally break their promises to their parents or teachers, that they will work harder. They’re not interested in the subjects. They are living in a virtual reality, I think.

To sum up, students, parents and teachers, should work together to get responsible and good students.

In my opinion, responsible students, are always interested in improving their lessons.
Alex Lacueva