Three Senior School Students Recognized in Chinese Speech Competition

The students, each of whom has a varying level of experience with the language, learned about the contest through Senior School Mandarin teacher Mrs. Jing Zhou who supported them through the application process. To participate in the competition, they were asked to submit speech videos that were approximately three minutes or less depending on the category and were judged by professors from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Daniel earned two awards – an Excellent Speech Award for his presentation on introducing a Chinese movie “I Belonged to You” (从你的全世界路过), and he received the Best Talent Show Award for a video of him performing Chinese yo-yo. Aysu's presentation on a Chinese idiom story “对牛弹琴” and Madeleine’s presentation on introducing "One Memorable Birthday Party" both won Excellent Speech Awards.

Madeleine, who has taken Mandarin since fourth grade and is currently in Chinese III at Sewickley Academy, shared, “I edited and practiced an essay about my 15th birthday party that I had recently written for Chinese class. I enjoy Mandarin because my father lived in China for four years, and it helps me feel closer to him after he passed away several years ago.” She continued, "I also enjoy how challenging Mandarin is because the characters and grammar are very different from English.” She was excited to find out she had won because she knew her dad’s family, who also had lived in China, would find the news just as exciting. Having never been to China, she looks forward to visiting the country in the future.

Although this is Daniel’s first year taking Mandarin the Academy, he had an immersive experience with the culture and language, having lived in Shanghai at a young age. “I liked the opportunity to challenge myself outside the classroom and further practice the language, and I enjoyed participating in the talent portion too, and it was fun,” he said. “Learning Mandarin has been enjoyable because it provides the opportunity to be able to communicate with millions of people around the world. Not only is this opportunity helpful, but the study of the language itself is also quite interesting when looking at the history of the characters and their origin,” he explained. Daniel is very grateful and appreciative to have been recognized. “I could not have done it without the support of my family and Ms. Zhou,” he said.

Aysu has taken Mandarin since sixth grade, so this is her fifth year studying the language. “What I like most about Mandarin is that if you think about all the concepts, all of it makes sense, from the construct of the characters to the way sentences are structured,” she said. She found out that she was recognized during a Mandarin zoom meeting. “I was pleasantly surprised by the news, and I am grateful to Ms. Zhou and my mother for giving me advice while preparing the speech,” she said.

Mrs. Jing is very proud of her students. “Congratulations to these students for their hard work and accomplishments,” she said.