Press Release
Peace Corps Volunteers and Partnership and Teaching NGO run Poetry Recitation Contests for English-speaking students all over Armenia this Spring
The 8th annual National Poetry Recitation Contest (nprcarmenia.com) is taking place in cities all over Armenia this spring, providing English-speaking students from forms 7-12 with an opportunity to compete for a place in the finals to be held at the American University of Armenia (AUA) on Saturday May 5, 2018.
The contest, which was founded in Hrazdan in 2010 by a Peace Corps Volunteer, is now run by Goris-based Partnership and Teaching NGO. “I am so glad to be working with P&T NGO. Their organization has been critical in managing the logistics of the competition and helping it grow”. says Michael Chen, who chairs the Peace Corps Committee that determines the theme of the contest each year. “We have 664 students registered this year—the biggest number ever—and we are running 10 regional contests”. Chen is a TEFL volunteer in Lori Marz.
The first two regional contests are on Saturday March 10, 2018 at the Vagharsh Vagharshyan Drama Theater, Goris, Syunik Marz and at the Debet COAF Smart Center in Lori Marz. The Lori contest will be the launch event for COAF’s new center. Contests take place on every Saturday in March and the first two weekends in April in Kapan, Gavar, Hrazdan, Gyumri, Masis, Sisian, Yerevan and Yeghegnadzor. Find details of all contests here : https://nprcarmenia.wixsite.com/nprc/register Everyone is welcome to come to listen to performances and cheer on the contestants.
“The theme of this year’s contest is What Makes Us Human and our students will be reciting a wide variety of poems in English “says Liz Barron, a Community Youth Volunteer hosted by P&T NGO in Syunik marz. “Many of the students are remarkably accomplished. I just heard an 8th form student reciting “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. It was really very moving”.
Artashes Torozyan, Executive Director of P&T NGO says “This contest helps Armenia’s brightest and best with their English, their critical thinking, and their public speaking skills. Thanks to nationwide sponsorship from the American University of Armenia, and Syunik sponsorship from the Cronimet Charity Foundation we can now reach schools in even the remotest parts of Armenia and transport students to their nearest regional contest. The students build a valuable peer network and gain a lot from working with native English speakers from the Peace Corps”.
