Chinese – the language and culture of the world

Finalists of the HSBC/British Council speaking competition and Chinese experts are interviewed by Radio 4 to discuss the language, the country and its undeniable impact that it will have on the world in the future.  Not only do they discuss the appeal of Chinese to forward-thinking students, but also its accessbility as a language (especially if begun when young!), the appeal, scope and depth of its culture and the changing landscape that is our global world.  China is to be ignored at our (the West’s) peril.

Please fast forward to 44 minutes in and enjoy!  This article will only be available for a short period of time!

HSBC/British Council Mandarin Speaking Competition 2012

Students rehearsing for the competition. They chose to perform 'The Butterfly Lovers' 《梁祝》

In November 2011 we were fortunate to discover our application to take part in HSBC/British Council annual co-organised Mandarin Speaking competition had been accepted.  or the rest of November and the early part of December a bunch of beginners got together to meet, plan and rehearse for the big day!

We had a group of five students enter: Jason Burgess (Y10), Lucy Elwood (Y10), Hector Lester-George (Y10), Eric Mame (Y11) and Gurpreet Singh (Y10) all hoping to win the big prize of a trip to China!  The students decided on dramaticising a section from the famous ‘Butterfly Lovers’, including a song and rap. 

As the day of the competition approached the students’ nerves were heightened but they all stuck to their guns and gave it their best shot.  Sadly though we didn’t manage to get through to the second round but that doesn’t bother me in the slightest.  I am horrendously of them, their courage and their resolve so don’t really mind.  After all!  There is always next year!

On the Underground...

 

 

The students strike an artistic pose!

 

The students pose with David Hanks, Xiaoxiao Liang (Cheri - on the left) and Rui Zhu (Julie - on the right) Our very own 梁祝!! ^_^

 

The group pose with their prizes from the Confucius Classroom (Eric's a little camera shy!)

 

[When I’ve figured out how to upload videos I’ll upload some!!]