On 9th November 2016, Nottingham Confucius Institute held its 8th ‘China and Me’ Mandarin Speaking Contest at The University of Nottingham’s Siyuan Centre, Jubilee Campus. 15 Mandarin learners from different countries, including the UK, Italy and Venezuela among others, came to take part in the competition.
The event began with a speech made by Dr Chen, the acting director of NCI, followed by the speaking contest itself, which was split into Beginners and Advanced levels. The Beginner’s Level contest was won by a group of 3 students led by Sofia Ben, who despite having only been learning Mandarin for 4 weeks surprised the judges with an excellent conversational performance. The Advanced Level contest was won by Marian Cecilia Ramirez Nino, who gave a thought-provoking speech followed by a wonderful performance of Shanghai Opera.
Both the participants and judges found the contest to have been a truly enjoyable event. After the winners were announced, an excited Marian said she never thought she would win but was very happy. Another participant said it had been a really good opportunity to learn Mandarin, and that although he didn’t win it had still been an incredibly rewarding experience for him.
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诺丁汉大学孔子学院成功举办第八届”中国和我”汉语演讲比赛
第八届“中国和我”汉语演讲比赛于当地时间11月9日下午在诺丁汉大学思源中心A18会议室成功举办。来自英国、意大利、委内瑞拉等不同国家及文化背景的十五位选手共聚一堂，带来了一场汉语言的视觉盛宴，其中包括初级组五位选手以及高级组的十位选手。
孔子学院英方执行院长陈健教授为此次比赛致开幕词，感谢选手们的积极参与，希望大家好好享受比赛。本次比赛共分为两组：初级组和高级组。初级组的选手做了充分的准备，从发音到内容都让人很难想象他们只学习了4个星期的中文。对于高级组选手来说，则更是高手过招、各显神通。最终，经过评审团的认真打分和评议，初级组Sofia Ben的三人小组凭借其流利的汉语表达，有意思的日常交际情景，在初级组选手中脱颖而出；高级组的Marian Cecilia Ramirez Nino更是凭借着融入中国文化时对自己的根属于哪里的哲学思考与精彩的沪剧演唱摘得高级组比赛的桂冠。
在比赛间隙，孔子学院还为大家奉上了精彩的葫芦丝、傣族舞蹈等中国文化表演。其中，我们还邀请了一位特别嘉宾来到了现场，即诺丁汉孔院第七届中国与我演讲比赛获奖选手，汉语桥中国总决赛选手杰米，杰米不仅为大家带来了最新原创作词的中文嘻哈歌曲，还跟现场所有的汉语学习者一起分享了学习汉语的心得体会。
整场比赛在紧张激烈而又热烈友好的气氛中接近尾声，比赛选手、现场观众和评委们互相交流，久久不愿离开。诺丁汉孔子学院中国与我演讲比赛又一次取得圆满成功，选手和观众们都表示非常感激这个汉语学习和交流的平台，希望来年再相聚在中国与我演讲比赛的现场。
Posted on Monday 21st November 2016