The Goethe Centre of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, with the support of the Goethe-Institut in Prague and the South Bohemia Region, organised the 8th year of the successful South Bohemian Bookworm competition. This competition is intended for all pupils of primary and secondary schools and grammar schools who want to show their skills in reading from German books in front of an audience and a jury of several experts. The aim is to get children reading, to teach them correct pronunciation and to make German teachers aware of new books on the market. The most skilful 'read-alouders' from the school rounds made it to the regional finals, which took place on 20 April 2023 at the USB Goethe Centre, and we are happy to say that their performance is getting better every year.
This year's edition of the South Bohemian Bookworm was very popular. More than 20 schools from all over the South Bohemian Region took part in the competition. A total of 45 pupils represented their schools in six categories. The first four categories take into account the type of school and the age of the pupils. The fifth, special category is for those who come from bilingual families or have lived in a country with German as an official language for more than half a year. In the sixth category, creative people who had the opportunity to present the stories of mythical heroes, whether in a play, film, music or art, put their talents to good use. All the contestants were rewarded for their diligence and courage with small gifts and each of the participating schools received a copy of the book from which they read in the school library as a thank-you for supporting their pupils. This year we read from the book ICH, ZEUS, UND DIE BANDE VOM OLYMP by Frank Schwieger, which was also published in Czech by Albatros in 2018 in a translation by Leona Holubová.
By choosing the book we wanted to thematise not only the ancient Greek myths and legends, which belong to the treasures and some kind of imaginary building blocks of our European civilisation but also the diversity of various human qualities that distinguish the main characters of these compelling stories. Each one of us has a variety of different character traits – just like the greatest mythical heroes we still read about today. And in that way, they are actually very much like us. Realising what we can achieve, either alone or in collaboration with others, takes us further. It's up to each individual to decide what they can or cannot do in the moment. And so, each of us can actually be a unique hero today.
This year's contestants can also be called such heroes: their performances were evaluated by a four-member jury, which focused on interpretation and expression, reading technique and pronunciation. The latter was evaluated by our colleagues, native speakers working at the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Arts of the University of South Bohemia, while the artistic side of the presentation, interpretation and expression was supervised by professionals from the field of acting, moderation and voice work. After the evaluation of the individual performances, one winner emerged from each category, who received a beautiful book prize.
This year, the finalists also had the opportunity to participate in the competition for the Audience Award, which was held in parallel with the final, on Facebook. The members of the theatre group from the Biskupské gymnázium J.N. Neumanna in České Budějovice, who portrayed Odysseus' return to his native island, scored the highest number of 'likes'.
The German reading competition takes place in parallel in Pardubice and Olomouc, where it is also organised under the auspices of the Goethe-Institut by the Goethe-Zentrum in Pardubice and the German Library in Olomouc. At the end of the school year, the South Bohemian bookworms will travel together to the Goethe-Institut in Prague, where they will meet together and learn about the activities and projects of this extraordinary international cultural and educational institution.
The South Bohemian Bookworm is an extraordinary event that contributes to making the teaching of German in Czech schools more attractive. The main goal of our institution is to search for and find topics that connect us with our German and Austrian neighbours and thus awaken interest in current affairs, culture, history and mutual understanding on both sides of the border. Within the framework of its own project, the Goethe Centre for German and Czech Language Competence Centre, the USB Goethe Centre offers Czech-German educational programmes, also accredited by the Ministry of Education, to all interested parties, and cooperation with educational institutions across the South Bohemian Region, Upper Austria and Lower Bavaria is continuously being established or developed. More information www.goethecentrum.cz
