If 'Star of Outlook' sounds funny and doesn't make sense to you, never mind, you're not alone. I have no idea what its Chinese name is, and if the English is a word for word translation, but, since it is an English speaking contest, it deserves a better name, or at least one that makes sense.
Last weekend were the finals of the Guizhou province, and many contestants arrived from all over the province. The event took place in Huaxi, a suburb south of Guiyang. The venue is situated in a park, and one of the local universities is next door.
Start was on Friday. Children of all ages came to register. The little ones had their parents with them, whereas most of the older ones didn't. Saturday and Sunday were the various competitions.
Since there were several hundred kids competing, there were four or five venues. The winners have gone to the next round, which is the Gran Finale in Beijing. There, they will compete against the winners from all other provinces and there will be one nationwide winner, who will get a scholarship to study at the best university in China.
This is a nationwide competition and runs almost a year. Start is either in September or October, and it ends in mid-June. There are many stages and levels to pass, and a lot of work to do, not only for the contestants, but also for the teachers, parents, and whoever is involved.
One of the tasks is a one-minute-speech. The children have to talk about a certain topic, such as 'my best memory', in front of an audience and a jury and get points for it. They can also perform something within the minute they're given. Another task is to form sentences or little stories out of two or three words given. Another task is to describe a photo. And another task is to answer one question the jury asks. Questions can be: What's your favourite subject? What's your favourite colour? What's your father or mother like? What will you do in your next holidays? Again, they have up to one minute to answer.
The thing with this contest is, that the schools know the possible questions and prepare the kids accordingly. The speeches on a specific topic are written by teachers or someone who knows good English, and the kids learn them off by heart. At my school, the director of studies writes them, and I correct them. Also there are little booklets with 5000 words the judges might pick. So basically, at least with the little ones, most of it is fake. Don't expect a seven-year-old to know what their speech is about. Chinese are masters at memorising and copying. There are many, many hours of training behind all that, and when they appear on stage, everything seems perfect. You're blown away if you don't know the details.
My task on Friday was to show my pretty face. We had a stand outside the building, and gave the people info about various things, and I had to speak to whoever wanted to talk to me, and get photographed with them. Since I was the only foreigner on site, I was the sight, the star of the day. Some kids, especially the little ones, were too shy to talk to me, or come anywhere near me. They were pushed by their parents, but the kids hid behind them. The older ones either giggled or were cool. It was an experience for people from smaller towns, who had never seen a white person before. They wanted many photos and even hugged me or stared at me for a while. Many mums wanted a photo, too.
On Saturday, I was supposed to be one of the judges, but I had to be replaced. Why? Because the high school girls made me compliments while on stage, forgot their speeches, took photos of me from the stage, and basically didn't do what they were supposed to do. I then was sent to another room where the primaries were. Some kiddies lost their words when they saw me, so I had to be replaced again. I then was sent out of the room to do admin stuff or just sit around.
On Sunday one of the things I had to do, was promoting my school by giving an one-hour-speech on travelling. The hall was packed with 300 something students, many parents and visitors. At the end of my speech, followed a photo session, which lasted for more than half an hour.
The television was there, and many journalists, too. Not sure what they reported, because I don't watch TV, and can't read the papers.
It was a tiresome, but fun event.
Cover of a booklet.
One of the venues
Our stand
Two of my colleagues
Four of my colleagues
One of the contestants with my colleague going through her speech
My colleague giving out info to some contestants
Having fun with my colleagues
My colleague, one of our students, and me
hihihihi
With two of the volunteers from the uni next door
The registration team (another part of it)
The registration team (another part of it)
Getting registered
The certificate the contestants get for participating
The trophies
Some of the contestants
At work
If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.
Last weekend were the finals of the Guizhou province, and many contestants arrived from all over the province. The event took place in Huaxi, a suburb south of Guiyang. The venue is situated in a park, and one of the local universities is next door.
Start was on Friday. Children of all ages came to register. The little ones had their parents with them, whereas most of the older ones didn't. Saturday and Sunday were the various competitions.
Since there were several hundred kids competing, there were four or five venues. The winners have gone to the next round, which is the Gran Finale in Beijing. There, they will compete against the winners from all other provinces and there will be one nationwide winner, who will get a scholarship to study at the best university in China.
This is a nationwide competition and runs almost a year. Start is either in September or October, and it ends in mid-June. There are many stages and levels to pass, and a lot of work to do, not only for the contestants, but also for the teachers, parents, and whoever is involved.
One of the tasks is a one-minute-speech. The children have to talk about a certain topic, such as 'my best memory', in front of an audience and a jury and get points for it. They can also perform something within the minute they're given. Another task is to form sentences or little stories out of two or three words given. Another task is to describe a photo. And another task is to answer one question the jury asks. Questions can be: What's your favourite subject? What's your favourite colour? What's your father or mother like? What will you do in your next holidays? Again, they have up to one minute to answer.
The thing with this contest is, that the schools know the possible questions and prepare the kids accordingly. The speeches on a specific topic are written by teachers or someone who knows good English, and the kids learn them off by heart. At my school, the director of studies writes them, and I correct them. Also there are little booklets with 5000 words the judges might pick. So basically, at least with the little ones, most of it is fake. Don't expect a seven-year-old to know what their speech is about. Chinese are masters at memorising and copying. There are many, many hours of training behind all that, and when they appear on stage, everything seems perfect. You're blown away if you don't know the details.
My task on Friday was to show my pretty face. We had a stand outside the building, and gave the people info about various things, and I had to speak to whoever wanted to talk to me, and get photographed with them. Since I was the only foreigner on site, I was the sight, the star of the day. Some kids, especially the little ones, were too shy to talk to me, or come anywhere near me. They were pushed by their parents, but the kids hid behind them. The older ones either giggled or were cool. It was an experience for people from smaller towns, who had never seen a white person before. They wanted many photos and even hugged me or stared at me for a while. Many mums wanted a photo, too.
On Saturday, I was supposed to be one of the judges, but I had to be replaced. Why? Because the high school girls made me compliments while on stage, forgot their speeches, took photos of me from the stage, and basically didn't do what they were supposed to do. I then was sent to another room where the primaries were. Some kiddies lost their words when they saw me, so I had to be replaced again. I then was sent out of the room to do admin stuff or just sit around.
On Sunday one of the things I had to do, was promoting my school by giving an one-hour-speech on travelling. The hall was packed with 300 something students, many parents and visitors. At the end of my speech, followed a photo session, which lasted for more than half an hour.
The television was there, and many journalists, too. Not sure what they reported, because I don't watch TV, and can't read the papers.
It was a tiresome, but fun event.
Cover of a booklet.
The registration team (part of it)
Easy (her English name), one of our admin ladies
If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.
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