English competitions draw 500 finalists

Tsinghua University physics student will represent China in London

A three-day English public speaking competition this past weekend has helped boost Chinese students' zeal for public speaking in English.

The 24th China Daily "21st Century-Coca-Cola Cup" National English Speaking Competition and the 17th China Daily "21st Century-VIPKID Cup" National High School and Primary School English Speaking Competition concluded in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on Sunday.

More than 500 contestants broke into the finals to orate their ideas and stories after six months of screening and preliminaries across the country, involving tens of thousands of passionate English learners. Launched in 1996, the competition evolved from a single contest for college students to a comprehensive one that includes contestants all the way down to kindergarteners. The competitions have been regarded by educators as a good platform for improving young Chinese people's ability to tell stories in English.

Chen Yixian, a Tsinghua University student, was the champion in the college group and will represent China in the International Public Speaking Competition hosted by the English-Speaking Union in London in May.

"The competition helped build up my confidence and, as I major in physics, I hope to deliver a speech about my scientific projects for the world in the future," he said.

Duncan Partridge, director of education of the English-Speaking Union, said he had witnessed a boost in Chinese students' oral confidence in recent years.

"The most important part of the competition is the impromptu speech and the Q&A session," said Partridge, who was a judge for this year's competition.

"The competition is a really good way of preparing competitors for interactions when they go into international business or other real-life situations."

Zhang Yanping, a professor of English at Ningxia University, first started to coach students for the competition in 2006, and has brought her students to the national finals three times.

"Although they didn't win first place, I clearly saw their growth after participating in this event. It broadened their horizons to a bigger world and helped them make brilliant friends," Zhang said. "And they all come back more determined and motivated to study."

Shi Yiran, a student from Beijing No 4 Middle School, said, "This year's topic prompted me to examine Chinese culture, and express my findings to the world."

In her speech on the topic of her Chinese cultural hero, Shi shared the story of how she rediscovered the charm of the Monkey King, the protagonist of Chinese classic novel Journey to the West.

"My grandfather told me the story of the Monkey King when I was very little, but it lost its attraction to me as I grew up," she said. "However, while I was talking about Harry Potter with a British friend, I found the similarity between the two, and started to see the Monkey King as my Chinese cultural hero."

Xu Xiaofei, senior vice president of VIPKID, an online education platform that provides Chinese young learners one-on-one English tutoring with native speakers, said such public-speaking competitions are also helpful for children studying English. "It gives them a stage to showcase what they learned at home, a chance to interact with their peers. It helps build an all-around character for children," she said.

Wang Xingrong, senior director of communications, Coca-Cola China, said the company has set up a Coca-Cola China Power of Care Special Award this year for contestants.

She explained that the award was established "because we see not only strong language proficiency among the students, but also their ability to care about and empathize with others ... They articulate their care for the nation and world on this stage, and that needs recognition, too".