Speaking Contest

It was my privilege to be a judge at a Wuxi Middle School Speaking Contest. Apparently, this contest was the final for all the Middle Schools in the Wuxi, China area. I watched and judged sixty three students make 90 second speeches about their favorite hobbies or hobby. So much did I see and so tired do I feel that I can only leave you with a list of observations:

• I was very impressed with all the students. I could see that all the students had practiced a great deal. Most exhibited great poise. Only a few times did I see any students show any signs of nervousness.
• I gave the best marks to student #1. I wonder now if she really was the best, because having judged these contests before, I had low expectations and I was blown away by the quality. She had tremendous poise and sounded like the better English-speaking Chinese personalities I would see on CCTV 9. I would have given her perfect marks in any other competition but she was the first and I had no idea if she was ahead of the pack or just average. But I don't think anyone topped her.
• One student said that the great Chairman Mao said that if you wanted to learn English, you should read the Bible. The Chinese judges (I was the only Foreign judge) stirred, looked at each other and asked if Chairman Mao had ever said such a thing.
• Another student talked about her friend the Calligraphy brush.
• The basketball players in the NBA were said to try hard with their team mates to win games. The student making this speech brought to mind the Basketball Jones song by Cheech and Chong. This girl had never heard of the notorious Portland Trail Blazer team that was said to be full of criminals.
• A student told the audience that watching TV was her hobby. TV, she said, was a source of Knowledge and news about the world. She found out about the Wenchuan Earthquake because she was watching TV.
• The Wenchuan Earthquake made it into several speeches which were supposed to be about hobbies. A boy who said he love to draw wished aloud that he could make drawings for the Earthquake victims so they would never give up.
• Many speeches asked the question "Can You guess what my hobby is?". Because there was a time limit, none of the students could make a dramatic pause. So the question was answered too quickly.
• Some of the speeches were very Nationalisitic. One student talked of China become the greatest power in the world.
• A parent or official from Tian Yi Middle School came to me before the contest used my name and told me he remembered me from my visit to his school. I asked him how many of his students were in the competition. He told me two, including his son "number thirty six."
• So many students ended their speech by either saying "That's all" or "Thank you for your listening!" Another common mistake was with verb-subject agreement.
• Chinese school officials place a great premium on English pronunciation than we do. But that is because their language is unforgiving when it comes to pronunciation.
• Other hobbies mentioned in the contest included playing the violin, travel, reading, surfing the Internet and Art appreciating.
• Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech was only referred to once today. I have been to contests where at least three or four students would try to read the entire speech.
• I suspect that many of students were coached by their parents to make these exaggerated gestures of either emphasizing the number one or using two arms to make a big circle.