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G8: "People, Years and Life" Chinese Speech Competition

December 12, 2022

Life is a wonderful journey. Even though there are situations you can’t change, there is one thing that you can control, that is, how you choose to deal with those situations. On the afternoon of December 8th, the Chinese Speech Competition with the theme of "People, Years and Life" was held as scheduled in the B1 lecture hall of Zhen Tao Building. In the past few weeks, every eighth-grade student drew different topics and gave a speech in their Chinese class respectively. Then, the top performance from each class progressed to the second round. Finally, sixteen students from native and non-native Chinese classes entered the final through rounds of selection.

The finalists were all passionate and eloquent. The theme of the speeches included current affairs (involving AI poetry, social capital, online buzzwords and other social hot topics), "my grandparents" and "I have been learning Chinese over the years". By reviewing grandparents’ stories and reflecting on the running logic behind the hot spots, they showed the vitality and responsibility of the newcomers of the times.

Starting with the speeches given by four students of S level, Iris 8(6), Ina 8(6), Zimo 8(10) and Ethan 8(8) received waves of applause with humorous and audience interaction. Iris tried to answer the question “why are you speechless? because of online buzzwords”. Ina talked about "know earlier" and called on everyone to grasp the present and not indulge in regret. Zimo compared online buzzwords and messages in classical style, which provided a novel angle to understand how language evolves. Ethan analysed the essence of the inner volume and tried to crack the inner volume, showing his insight into daily life.

Next, Amanda 8 (12) started with the first current affairs speech of H Level. She discussed the erosion of language by internet buzzwords and sounded the alarm for everyone from a linguistic perspective. The second was Liris 8 (5). She observed that vulnerable groups in the "information age" faced many inconveniences and difficulties, and put forward feasible improvement plans. Carina and Yoyo from 8 (10) discussed "AI poetry can/cannot become or replace real poetry". By comparing AI poetry to human literature, Carina drew conclusions such as the confusion of AI poetry logic, lack of emotion, and mediocrity of content. Yoyo analysed the deep meaning of this topic from the reader's perspective, with a unique vision. Sophie 8 (12) introduced the theoretical concept of social capital in a simple way with the title of "determined ceiling".

Then, Alison 8(9), Kai 8 (5) and Teresa 8 (7) vividly told the story of their grandparents. Alison reviewed his grandmother's growth from "the little girl who picked up cinders" to a professional woman. Kai started with his Grandma's busy day as a radio producer and enthusiastically praised Grandma's professionalism. Teresa told the story of her Grandpa's"pursuing the Chinese dream for a lifetime with a Chinese heart" after all difficulties.

Finally, four students from non-native Chinese class -- Aeryn 8(6), Hannah 8 (10), Matthew8 (4) and Owen 8 (1) -- talked about the "sour, sweet, bitter and salty" they tasted on their way of learning Chinese. Although there are all kinds of embarrassing and difficult moments along the way, it is undeniable that the growth and joy gained along the way made the efforts worth it!

After the exciting award session, the Chinese Speech Competition came to a successful end! Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to the participants and teachers who have worked hard for this event. We hope that our students can keep wandering happily in the sea of Chinese!

Written by 8(7) Teresa Zhao

Pictures by Sl Photography Group

Supervised by Sally Gibbs

Edited by Serene Yang, Niall Keenan