The annual German declamation competition took place on October 10th in the Adamson Centre, and as usual many talented Germanists and presenters gathered, all competing for various prizes, ranging from the very substantial German Hammer Grammar book to copies of some of the most notorious German films. The evening started with Herr Roehrborn introducing everyone to the competition and to the adjudicator – a native speaker of German who had travelled all the way from Norwich to hear and judge our performances.
The Sixth Form opened the competition with four different presentations of Dann gibt es nur eins – an emotional wartime poem by Wolfgang Borchert that involved the speaker addressing and encouraging different people in Germany to say no to the war effort.
The Fifth Form, on the other hand, recited a more pastoral poem by Rainer Maria Rilke – Das Karussell – describing a kaleidoscope of images that can be observed on a carousel.
Lastly, the floor was handed over to an enthusiastic bunch of relative novices – the Third and Fourth Form – who were certainly exciting to listen to, and who performed to an incredibly high standard.
As the winner of the Sixth Form contest and a jubilant owner of the aforementioned German Hammer Grammar book, I would like to sincerely thank all the German department staff for organizing such a wonderful event which allowed us all to teleport somewhere to Germany on an English evening in order to think and present in the same manner as native speakers.
Danila Mikhaylov (C)