The Confucius Institute at Arizona State University successfully held the “Chinese Speech Contest for High School Students in the Phoenix Area”

The Confucius Institute at Arizona State University successfully held the “Chinese Speech Contest for High School Students in the Phoenix Area” In order to increase high school students’ understanding of Chinese language and culture,…

The junior Chinese competition started at 9:20 a.m., and the venue was already packed. In addition to participating students and instructors, there were also many friends and parents who came to cheer. Ms. Xu Zhiping, deputy director of the Confucius Institute at Arizona State University, presided over the competition and expressed her welcome and thanks to all participating students, instructors, parents and audiences. This game is exciting and full of fun. Ethan Czuppa and Tony Tipton from Tempe High School talked about their favorite Chinese fried dumplings in a relaxed and humorous tone. Their natural expressions, standard pronunciation and coherent dialogue won unanimous praise from the judges and the audience, and successfully took away the first prize trophy. Tayler Brunk and Aidan Liston from Boulder Creek High School won the second prize with a conversation about self-introduction and hobbies that won the favor of all the judges and teachers. The third prize went to Nahti Keo and Christopher Kobs, also from Tempe High School. The winning students in the Chinese elementary group took photos with the judges and the staff of the Confucius Institute. The competition in the intermediate group was also in full swing, and the entire venue was packed. As students who have studied Chinese for 2-3 years, the judges have changed their requirements accordingly. They expect students at this level to be able to memorize their speeches and retell their stories clearly at the competition site. At the same time, the contestants at this level also have their own characteristics in terms of language expression, thinking and cultural heritage. The students’ stories may contain rich emotions, or hide their philosophy of life, or they may have their own perceptions of life. This time, the contestants drew from a wide range of materials, and each alternative topic had a contestant speech. After more than an hour of competition, based on factors such as the structure of the contestants' speeches, the grammar of the speeches, the use of body language, the clarity of enunciation, the length of the speeches and other factors, three contestants stood out and won the first, second and third prizes respectively. May Cam Nguyen from BASIS Chandler uses rich body language to tell the story of a kitten and her brother who went fishing. Her clear pronunciation and rich facial expressions made everyone realize the vividness of the story, which left a deep impression on the judges and became a well-deserved first prize. The second prize winner was Mark McGrovern from BASIS Chandler. He was calm and composed and told the story of a little tadpole looking for its mother, expressing the eagerness of the little tadpole vividly. He speaks at a moderate pace, full of emotion and clear pronunciation, all of which earned him high marks. The third prize winner was Julianna Crozier from BASIS Phoenix. She brought a stuffed elephant and many other exquisite props to tell the story of the blind man touching the elephant. At the end, she also elaborated on the profound philosophical truth of considering the overall situation. The third game, the Chinese senior group competition, started on time. The contestants in this group have written high-quality speeches after many years of Chinese learning, which fully reflects their speaking ability, self-cultivation and comprehensive ability. Therefore, the competition in this group is also extremely fierce. The content of the contestants' speeches covered all aspects, with diverse and novel angles. Some focus on social phenomena, some explore human emotions, some study cultural comparisons, and some are full of imagination and exploration spirit. The contestants' speech styles are very different, but each has its own strengths. In the end, Catherine Chan from Seton Catholic came out on top and won the first prize. With a steady typhoon, she tells everyone the story of Xiaofang. She lets everyone understand Xiaofang's life and the ups and downs of her life from all aspects of her birth, schooling, work and marriage. Her sometimes deep and sometimes high voice matched the development of the story, tightly gripping the audience's heartstrings. The second prize winner was Della Tao from Basis Phoenix High School. She used a large number of beautiful photos to vividly introduce her second hometown, Hangzhou, to everyone. The wonderful experience of visiting her grandparents in Hangzhou every summer gave her more affection and understanding of her ethnic roots. Aaron Blecker from Chaparral High School won third place. He shared with everyone an experience of traveling in Beijing. I saw him introducing the beautiful scenery and architectural data of the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and the Summer Palace to everyone. Just when everyone was amazed at his sensitivity to numbers and those adventures in Beijing, Aaron's mother suddenly woke him up during his trip. It turns out that Aaron's amazing trip to Beijing was just a dream. While the judges and the audience couldn't help but laugh, they also hoped that one day Aaron's dream would come true.