Teacher or Judge?

Lately it's felt as though I spend as much time judging various competitions as I do teaching! Tonight we judged our third competition - the first 2 were English speech competitions, this one was an English Song competition. This time it was more than just Leslie, me, and one other person; we were part of a 6-person panel. I'm kind getting used to being a judge but it's still a rather weird feeling. Tonight's was especially awkward and hilarious! First, I do not and can not sing (besides to myself in my apartment when, of course, I sound just like a superstar). Second, it's really weird when some of our students are up on stage and we have to be impartial! Regardless, I played the role of an American Idol judge tonight (I'd like to think I was the nice one like Paula, the Chinese teacher next to me was being very harsh!).

To make the situation even funnier, we didn't recognize a lot of the songs on the list! Popular English songs in China are either A) 10-15 year-old songs or B) Songs NO ONE in America has ever heard of. Here's the night's playlist:
-If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys
-Crush on You
-Far Away from Home
-No No
-Drowning by the Backstreet Boys
-Skater Boy by Avril Lavigne
-Nobody's Fool by Avril Lavigne
-Tell Me Why
-Anything But Ordinary by Avril Lavigne
-It Is Your Chance
-Bring It All Back
-Hey Jude by the Beatles
-Whenever Wherever by Shakira
-Baby One More Time by Britney Spears
-Because of You by Kelly Clarkson
-Just One Last Dance
-Wanna Be by the Spice Girls
-Whistle Down the Wind
-When There Was Me and You
-Walk Away by Kelly Clarkson

Needless to say I had many middle school flashbacks watching the show :) OH China...