The 20th China Daily “21st Century·Coca-Cola Cup” National English Speaking Competition, sponsored by China Daily and undertaken by www.i21st.cn, was held in Henan University on March 22, 2015. Zhao Qimei, a junior student from SFL (the School of Foreign Languages) at Southeast University, entered the Top 18 List and won the second class national prize in the finals.
The “21st Century Cup” National English Speaking Competition, initiated by China Daily in 1995 and renowned as one of the highest-level national English speaking competitions, has been held in several major cities for 20 times, among which are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. 64 outstanding competitors selected from 19 divisions, who had been tested through Internet Trails, Campus Trails and Division Trails, eventually got the tickets to the final. The organizing committee had also invited a number of competitors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions.
Li Shanshan from University of Macau won the Championship, Fu Shuning from Tsinghua University the Runner-up, and Hu Qiang from Minzu University of China the Second Runner-up. Zhao Qimei from SFL at Southeast University won the second-class prize in the finals for her remarkable performance.
The final included three sections: prepared speech, impromptu speech and Q&A (the latter two sections accounted for 70% of the total score). The tutors of SFL English Speech and Debate Team had specifically guided Zhao Qimei for varied sections. After the competition, Zhao got the opportunity of seeking professional advice from the appointed interpreter of President Xi Jinping. Therefore, this competition offered an opportunity for our students to show their outstanding performance and to learn professional skills and experience.
From this competition, it is found that our students should be trained to be more knowledgeable, flexible, critical and creative. It is believed that with the accumulated experience from the past competitions, students from SFL will make better achievements in the future speaking competitions.
