Mandarin Speaking Competition

^{Congratulations to Eddy (DG/Year 12) who has made it through to the final of the British Council Mandarin Speaking Competition 2021!} 

Eddy took part in the virtual heat competition at advanced level and had to give a two-minute presentation on his favourite province in China, Sichuan. “I spoke about the Sichuanese dialect, and some interesting parts of Sichuanese culture such as the Long Spout Teapot Performance and Sichuanese cuisine,” Eddy explains.  “I was asked two questions on my presentation in Chinese and then had to translate two sentences from English into Chinese. Finally, I did an impromptu speech, where I was given a minute to prepare and a minute to talk about the topic ‘going to university’ in Chinese. I really enjoyed the competition, as it gave me a chance to put what I’ve learned into practice and to show my keen interest in Chinese culture. I have enjoyed preparing for the competition as it has definitely helped me improve my Chinese skills and deepen my knowledge of Chinese culture.”

The judges marked Eddy highly in the assessed areas of communication, fluency, usage and pronunciation, which is testament to the hard work he has put into his Mandarin studies, as well as into this competition specifically. He is a credit to Christ’s Hospital and we wish him the very best of luck when he competes in the final on 5 and 6 May!

We were also very pleased to be represented in the competition by another pupil, this time at intermediate level: Upper Fourth (Year 10) pupil Manuela.

The British Council’s Mandarin Speaking Competition took place digitally this year, in a series of online events. The competition provides a great opportunity for secondary school students to practise and improve their Mandarin language skills. Taking part in the competition increases students’ motivation for learning the language, raises confidence for oral examinations and inspires students to discover more about Chinese culture. In past years, a trip to China was the prize for the winners of this competition. Unfortunately, that will not be possible this year, due to Covid-19, but there will be an alternative prize.

For more information on the competition, please visit:

British Council Mandarin Speaking Competition 2021 | British Council