On the 25th of November 2014, Masaryk Grammar School hosted the English Cup, an annual literature competition already in its fourth year. This year saw a great deal of interest among students, with 67 eager pupils taking part with varying degrees of success during the three lessons set aside. Students were divided into two age groups, though both were given the same first task: composing poetry.
The task was to compose a calligram. This offered a chance not just to those students with “poetic souls“ but also to those with more of a flair for applied arts. Not all of the competitors managed to cope with this task; nevertheless, many successful and interesting pieces were composed.
The second task was different for the two groups. The younger students had to react to a given picture and respond to the question “Which door would you enter if you were the rabbit?“
Older students had to write a stylised piece in which they commented on the following quote: “Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age. The child is grown, and puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.“
Even though this was a very difficult task, there were still many students who came up with excellent compositions. The most successful competitors were announced on the 16th of December. A big thank you to all those who participated and subjected themselves to examination not only of their English skills but also of their literary prowess. See you next year.
Mgr. Lenka Čermáková (competition organiser)
English Cup results
1st category – “The Rabbit“
1st place – V. Knížek (KIA)
2nd place – P. Kaucký (KIA)
3rd place – T. Jančová (KIA)
- Calligram
1st place – E. Pohořelá (KIA)
2nd place – M. Ondruszová (1. B)
3rd place – Š. Havlová (KIA)
2nd category – Quote
1st place – V. Milota (SPA)
2nd place – K. Hrdonková (SXA)
3rd place – E. Králová (SPA)
- Calligram
1st place – Z. Káčereková (SXA)
2nd place – M. Růžičková (SPA)
3rd place – V. Milota (SPA)
Selected works from the 4th English Cup
I´m going to grow up eventually
Maturity is overpriced. That is a fact I have on my mind. There are many risks of growing up – for example, you might end up as a boring old geezer. Who would voluntarily like to end up this way? This is why I never want to grow up.
When you are born, you are born free – you can basically do whatever you want. You can crawl, you can sleep as long as you want to, and when you are hungry, you just cry for a while, which is something like a magical spell used to summon a pair of breasts to feed you. If it only were so easy in the grown-up world.
However, once all your innocence, your dreams and your easy-goingness – it is all crushed and taken away by becoming a member of an adult society. There are many things ruining and killing your childhood. For instance – science! I was much happier when I had no clue how airplanes fly. I considered it magic. Now I´m fully aware of aerodynamics and buoyancy force. Not so interesting after all.
But the worst thing about growing up is, that it seems inevitable. I´m afraid, that one day I´ll wake up to an everyday adult routine, without any big dreams, without a joy from the little things. I´ll wake up as another empty vessel contributing to society. But so far I still dream about my big future and I enjoy the little things and the loving care of my parents, but I feel I´m not a child anymore.
I don´t ever want to grow up. But I will. I will crawl only when drunk, I won´t sleep as much as I would want to and if I see a pair of breasts, I´ll consider it a lucky day.
Vojtěch MILOTA, septima A
Child
That´s the thing with people, every single child is longing to be an adult and every single adult is longing to be a child. When you grow up, things are going to be more complicated, nobody´s going to tell you, what you should and shouldn´t do, nobody´s going to take the same care of you as your parents did. But even with all these “adulty” things you can still remain a child and let me tell you, it´s the best you can do in life.
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies? From my point of view the older you get, the less of a child you can find in yourself. When you´re 20, you´re desperately trying to finish school, find a job or a partner for life and with all these worries a part of a child in you dies. When you´re 30 you´re looking after your kids, trying your best to give them everything you can offer and even more and again a part of that little child, still remaining in you dies. When you´re 60 you´re looking back at your life regretting your bad decisions enjoying the good ones and wishing to live again or longer. If you still don´t understand what I mean, I´ll sum this up with Picasso´s quote: “It took me four years to paint like a master, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” You probably think I´m mad because I wrote a quote about painting and the whole paper is about life, but think about it for a second. Life IS art.
Karolína HRDONKOVÁ, sexta A
Old children rule the world
I really don´t like the kind of people, who always say something like “You behave like a child!” or “It was really childish from you…” and so on.
In all of these cases I´m quite happy, when I can say “Thank you.” I don´t think that to be a child is something you should be ashamed of. No matter how old you are.
To be a child at the age of thirty or seventy doesn´t really mean wearing nappies and play with the dolls. In fact it means that you never lose your imagination and your creativity exceeds the boring adults. I always stand up for the people, who don´t go around the puddle, but jump into it to prove that the water will splash out. It doesn´t matter that their shoes were bought two days ago. The other “adults” look down on them and say words like “crazy”, “strange” or “poor man” without realizing that the “poor man” is happier than they can even imagine.
However, I don´t want to judge these “adult” people because I´m sorry for them. They just go around playgrounds sighing and saying “if I were younger…”. Why don´t they just swing themselves?
All in all I would rather be the “old child” than a boring adult and I also believe that once our whole planet could be one big playground. With about 7 billion happy children on it.
Eliška KRÁLOVÁ, septima A
The Rabbit
If I were the rabbit and had to choose a door, I would choose the door in the middle because the middle way is always the best. So if I entered the middle door, I would find a great, never ending carrot behind it.
I would take it and eat a part of it with friends because what is a carrot for when there is no one to share it with? But I would also be very curious and I would try to enter all the doors because I suppose that there is something behind every door in the world and there are no dragons so strong that you cannot defeat them and take their carrot.
But there is not just a carrot in the world there is also a salad and cabbage and glory so I suppose I wouldn´t be forced to choose just one door and that every time you enter a door you find another behind it.
I don´t know the rules of this fairy tale but I know that if I were a rabbit I wouldn´t run away. I would enter the door!
Václav KNÍŽEK, kvinta A
If I Were a Rabbit
Only a thought of being a rabbit is quite ridiculous. But being an armed rabbit? Even worse. Why would a rabbit be armed? Rabbit is known for his quickness and his speed, I would say that with armour he is even more in danger than without it. If I were a rabbit standing in front of three doors which one would I choose to enter?
The first door is made of wood and adorned with gold. The second door is made of wood as well and surrounded by a stone crescent. The last door is made of metal. Iron perhaps. They all seem not to have ever been opened. So untouched by reality.
But I have to make a choice. My time is running out. The rabbit grows in patience. Which one? I nearly hear his alert voice. And then I decide. The middle door. I´d say that many people would decide for that one.
Even before I end my thought the rabbit steps towards the door. His white paw is touching the door handle. The door is opened. And there is no way back. Why? I don´t know. The rabbit knows. We´re in. Well the rabbit is, I´m only a shadow. I exist only in the rabbit´s mind. And he in mine. The blinding light that was waiting behind the door makes the rabbit close his eyes.
Light. Only light and infinity waiting behind the door.
Přemysl KAUCKÝ, kvinta A
If I were this rabbit first of all I would have to find out, who I really am. Am I good? What is my personality like? Well, I wear armour. So I might be a warrior. I am a white rabbit, so I guess, I am kind-hearted. There are three doors, which one would I choose? Firstly, I would look at them very carefully.
The door on the left is too beautiful. It is made from some expensive wood and there are lots of gold ornaments. If I entered it, I would be in some really sick place. The door looks gaudy. I think, people behind the door wouldn´t be kind. They would be proud.
The door on the left side is grey and I think it is not easy to get inside. It looks like the door to some safe. If I went there, what would I see? A lot of money. Maybe a room full of money. And there might be an owner. I can imagine a fat, selfish man swimming in his gold.
The door in the middle is different. It looks like a door to some family house. I would see parents with children. The door looks poor. Maybe they have nothing to eat, but they still love each other.
I am a warrior. I want to make the world better. I want to help them. So I am entering the door in the middle.
Tereza JANČOVÁ, kvinta A
Zuzana KÁČEREKOVÁ, sexta A
Michaela RŮŽIČKOVÁ, septima A
Vojtěch MILOTA, septima A
Eliška POHOŘELÁ, kvinta A
Michaela ONDRUSZOVÁ, 1. B
