
On 28 May 2017, the 7th Netherlands Mandarin Recitation/Speech Competition (European Invitation Contest) was held in the public library of Amsterdam. Following previous six successful Mandarin recitation competitions in the Netherlands, the event was organized by the Dutch Chinese Education Association to promote Mandarin learning and to enhance communications among Chinese schools in Europe. Besides Chinese schools in the Netherlands, the Association also sent out invitations to other Chinese schools in Europe. It aims to broaden the horizons of all participants with a larger platform.
There is no limit for the subjects and the participants are free to choose their topic. The purpose is to stimulate their enthusiasm in Chinese reading and improve their Chinese proficiency while preparing for the competition.
Same as in the past, a special panel of judges from China was appointed by the organizing committee for this year’s competition.
Competition groups:
Children group 1 (6 – 9 years old)
Children group 2 (10 – 12 years old)
Teenagers group (13 – 18 years old)
Foreigners group (both parents must be non-Chinese)
Competition contents: there is no limit for the subjects but the recitation/speech should be no more than 5 minutes.
Score criteria: pronunciations (4), speech expressions (3), skills (2), deportment & overall impression (1). The full scores are 10.
Lila Mansourian, a participant from Chinese Institute Geneva Foundation (CIG), won 1st prize for the foreigners group. She won the championship on her first try and earned a great honor for CIG. We owe a big round of applause to Lila, and also to her teacher, Mrs. Qin XU, for her excellent teaching and guidance.
CIG participated in this competition for the first time with 4 students, Ruixuan YANG, Yun CHEN, Hao CHEN and Lila Mansourian, respectively in children group 1, 2 and foreigners group. Our participants recited famous proses or articles prepared by their teachers or parents. The success attributes to a joint effort with our students, parents and teachers. The success also encourages all CIG teachers to make persistent efforts in overseas Chinese education. We are determined to build a better platform for Chinese students and foreign students who are interested in Chinese culture to improve their Chinese proficiency, and to know more about China. We believe that every contribution of effort will reward as gains.
The winners of the championship gave their performance once again for the judges and audience after the award ceremony.
CIG also won award for “Excellent Team”. Our representative for parents, Mrs. Hong ZHU, accepted this award and made a statement of appreciation.
Finally we would like to express our special thanks to the Dutch Chinese Education Association for their kind invitation and considerate arrangements for such a large competition with 83 participants, 4 groups, and 2 venues. The organizing committee also kindly sent out dinner invitations to all European participants as well as their families and friends.