Seven students from TIS participated in the Tournament of Minds in Hong Kong on May 6th. The Tournament of Minds is a problem-solving competition for students in primary and secondary school that fosters the development of teamwork, critical and creative thinking, as well as problem-solving skills.
The students had six weeks to prepare a creative response to an open-ended, long-term challenge. The response had to be developed entirely by the students, with no outside assistance. This involved developing a script, creating props, and rehearsing. This year, the students participated in the Language Literature challenge which required them to create a scenario in which different fictional characters from a variety of genres would interact.
Below is an excerpt of the script they created:
Scene Two: Queen’s Garden
(QUEEN is already seated, ASSISTANT is standing next to the queen DOLITTLE enters with a large book and two animals.)
Dr. Dolittle: (Without looking up from his book) Good morning, Your Majesty.
Queen of Hearts: Hello old friend, thank you for coming. I see you’ve brought some wretch-I mean wonderful animals. To what do I owe the pleasure of their company?
Dr. Dolittle: Sadly, the three girls couldn’t come with me, for they went to all the fabulous places they were longing to see. Plus, Tommy is at school, so I brought my fellow animal friends Cat in the Hat and Runny Babbit.
(CAT and RUNNY start making animal noises)
Queen of Hearts: What are those animals saying?
Dr. Dolittle: Here, I brought some translator collars from Straight Arrow so people can understand them.
(DR. DOLITTLE puts the “collars” on the CAT and RUNNY, they don’t stop talking, just change language)
Cat in the Hat: (to RUNNY) Did you hear that Sophie was able to go to her husband in the North Pole?
Runny Babbit: Wo nay!
Cat in the Hat: Yes way! My cousin is student body president, it was counted in the toll.
Dr. Dolittle: Guys, guys! Where are your manners? The Queen is right here!
Cat in the Hat: It’s the Cat in the Hat, it’s as simple as that. I rhyme all the time.
(RUNNY does hand motions like switching position of letters)
Runny Babbit: I’m Runny Babbit… people say I (hand motions) talk weirdly… but I dearly clon’t.
Dan: (looks at QUEEN) Your majesty, we’re on a very tight schedule
Queen of Hearts: (to DAN) Let’s start now.
