Submitted by urci on
Winter in Regina, Canada is cold. Yet it cannot stop the enthusiasm of Canadian students to participate in a warm speech contest. On March 13, 2014, the Confucius Institute at the University of Regina held a “Chinese Bridge” mandarin speech contest in the Regina region. 3:30 pm, the Global Learning Center at University of Regina was packed with over 60 audiences. 11 students registered for three different level contests. A panel of 5 judges from the Confucius Institute, department of political science, Chinese program was invited. Ms Li Liu, operational director of Confucius Institute extended warm wishes to the success of contest. When the contest begins, all students deliver speeches in turn, each with its unique topics and stories. Some review the interest experience of studying Chinese, some describe the convenience and surprise of learning Chinese. Some show their passion about Chinese traditional culture. Diversified contents in the speeches made the competition a truly relaxing language show. The amusement and fun win lots of applaud among the judges and audiences.
Prof. Chao Jianxiong, the Chinese director of Confucius Institute, on behalf of the judge panel, announced the contest result. Prof. XueDong Yang, Canadian director, Prof. Yuchao Zhu, from the Department of Political Science, Lily Wang, Chinese program coordinator, Ling Jiang, the executive assistant of Confucius Institute were there to extend congratulations. After the contest, three students: Kelsey Waldo, Shawn Paisley and Jeony Hyun An were selected to participate in the “Chinese Bridge” mandarin speech contest in Halifax, Canada, on behalf of University of Regina.
On March 21, Air Canada morning flight from Regina to Halifax was cancelled. The three contestants managed to board on WestJet Airline at 7:30 pm. They fly to Halifax via Toronto overnight, and taxied to the site at Saint Mary’s University just to catch the speech contest on time in the next morning. Lucky enough, Kelsey Waldo won the first prize in level one competition; Shawn Paisley won the second prize in level three; Jeony Hyun An got the first prize for the class of level three and above, and she will continue to compete in China, on behalf of the Chinese language learners in eastern Canada. Congratulations!
