"The pole is long, the bench is wide, and the pole is tied to the bench..." A familiar children's song came from the corridor of the first grade at SHSID Puxi campus. The voice was clear, and the speed was fast. It turned out that the Grade one students were in a tongue twister competition. After a month of learning Pinyin, the Grade one students and Pinyin letters became good friends. They mastered the correct pronunciation skills, and were able to speak fluent Mandarin. On this occasion, an exciting tongue twister competition gave them the perfect stage to perform.

As a special language art, tongue twister has a great role in promoting children's language and thinking development. At the same time, tongue twisters are also an important part of Chinese language and culture. It is short and concise, humorous, and requires a high degree of cooperation between the lips, tongue and mouth. After three weeks of preparation, the students were fully prepared and ready to show their skills. Everybody has one minute to read the tongue twisters. The child who reads the most tongue twisters in the allotted time wins. With the sound of the "start", the confident young players quickly entered the stage and read each tongue twister fluently. Even if there was some lag, they quickly adjusted. Some powerful students could even memorize the recited tongue twisters, and thus achieved better results. Some children who did not perform their best due to nervousness were also encouraged by their peers and fully enjoyed the competition.

This competition not only allowed the children to fully display their excellence in the competition, but also cultivated their self-confidence and courage, and created an atmosphere for the children to learn to speak confidently.

Written by Thea Chen

Pictures by Grade one teachers

Edited by Serene Yang, Niall Keenan