On February 21, over 200 Secondary students at YCIS Shanghai Gubei Campus participated in the Annual Chinese Speech Competition, themed with: “Beauty in Your Life.”

Fifteen finalists had a spirited competition on the stage. Original views, high-level thinking, and fluent Mandarin impressed the audience. The Chinese as a First Language winners were: Year 7 Dorothy May, Year 9 Frances, and Year 10 Cathy. The Chinese as an Additional Language (CAL) winners were: Year 8 Shing Chung and Year 10 Reiren. Congratulations to the champions and all of the finalists!

The students were all very happy to have the opportunity to express themselves in Chinese. Year 7 Joanna commented that, “This year’s Chinese speech competition was excellent, from the highly skilled first language competitors to the storytellers of CAL. It was a great opportunity for the stu­dents to show off their skills, and the audience had a wonderful time enjoying the stories pre­pared for them.”

Year 9 Frances summarised the event with her words:“The Annual Chinese Speech Competition is a fantastic opportunity for students to show­case our public speaking talents, and to express our opinions to our peers. It is an event that we all look forward to each year, and all of us have put much effort into perfecting our Chinese skills, and making it the finest exhibit of our presentation abilities. My fellow contestants all did exceedingly well. By watching them I saw where I might be able to improve for next years’ competition. It is through this continuous reflection and refine­ment that we grow to reach our full potential. At the end of the day, winning is not the ul­timate goal. Indeed, placing number one in the competition is the intention, however, we have all gained and learned something new, whether that be new perspectives, or new skills to devel­op from. This is what I believe is the true ‘mean­ing’ of this competition.”