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Deputy PAO pinning a winner with a symbol of the U.S. and Cote d’Ivoire friendship

Budding Genius Competition for the American Corner’s Patrons

On October 6, 2007, the American Corner CIRES in Abidjan hosted a competition on the theme: “Toward a better understanding of American culture”. Dubbed: “Budding Genius”, the program is an annual cultural competition, which opposes members of American Corner on various subjects including American history and culture.

This year’s edition brought together about 150 spectators including patrons of the American Corner, students, American diplomats, members of local English and VOA Listeners clubs. Two groups took part in the final after preliminaries that opposed six groups.

The objective of this program is to give American Corner patrons the opportunity to evaluate their English speaking skills. More importantly, the program offered them the opportunity to test their knowledge of the American culture and history. Questions focused American geography, history, legal system and Presidents. Ten U.S. diplomats – including the Deputy Public Affairs Officer, Etta Toure – were either quiz masters or members of the jury during the competition.

At the end of show, both groups received books, pamphlets, online series and magazines in English. Mrs Toure donated a brand new video projector, an American flag and other English teaching materials to the American Corner. Many participants requested that the “Budding Genius” should be taken to various schools in order to encourage students to take English as a main subject and to introduce them to the American culture and history.