Huang Juan, a 21-year-old Shenzhen University student, won first prize in the final of the spoken English competition of the Speak·Shenzhen campaign*, held at the Children’s Palace on Sunday.
Tang Dexin, a 16-year-old student at Nanshan Foreign Language School, won the English singing contest with his performance of the song “Only Love” by U.K. band Trademark. Wu Xinyin and three other students from Shenzhen Foreign Language School won the top prize in the movie dubbing contest* after providing the voices for the Disney animated film “Beauty and the Beast.”
Co-organized by the Shenzhen Daily, the contests were part of the city’s annual Speak· Shenzhen campaign and the city’s seventh reading month. Sixty individuals* or groups screened* from three preliminary* rounds competed in Sunday’s finals in the speech, singing and movie dubbing contests.
Huang’s five-minute speech on how deeply she loves the city earned her first place.
“Shenzhen is a home away from home for me after being here for two years,” she said. “People who were born in this city may tell you that they are 100 percent devoted to the city, but I want to say the depth of one’s love is not always linking with the time length.”
The contestants’* fluency* in English accounted for 60 percent of their scores, with stage performance and presentation contributing 20 percent each.
Meagan Seitz-Smith, a U.S. English teacher from Longhua Middle School, accompanied five groups of students to the finals.
“They had prepared for the competition for 1 1/2 months. It’s good to see them keep progressing through the event. Today’s performance won’t improve their English level, but the preparation did.”
More than 1,000 contestants who participated* in the preliminary rounds included students, white-collar workers, teachers and freelancers*, with their ages ranging from 12 to over 60. But most finalists were students.
The awards ceremony* will be held at the Press Tower on Saturday, when several foreigners will also tell their stories about their lives in Shenzhen.
