STUDENTS from Christopher Whitehead put their linguistic skills to the test in the final round of the British Council’s Mandarin Speaking Competition in London.
Now in its sixteenth year, the Mandarin Speaking Competition is organised by the British Council and aims to build interest in Chinese language and culture. More than 100 schools took part in the first round in December before pupils from 43 UK secondary schools participated in the final round at the Victory Services Club in London.
Christopher Whitehead pupils competed in both the Individual Language Ability and Group Performance section. FinalistBevan Calleia-Ferreira, year 8, gave a two-minute speech in Mandarin, provided unseen spoken translations and answered some additional unexpected questions in the language. Group finalists Jessica Rowberry-Mudd, Caitlin Dove, Emily Barklam (Year 9s), Kayla Witherall and Lucie Shorter (Year 8s)) performance was a five-minute drama in Mandarin on the topic of ‘being homesick in China’. It also included a traditional Chinese dance.
The school is part of the Mandarin Excellence Programme, a flagship government language programme that this year will see 5,000 pupils from 76 schools across England on track to fluency in Mandarin Chinese. The programme is funded by the Department for Education and delivered by the UCL Institute of Education and the British Council.
Pupils spend an average of eight hours a week studying Mandarin to help them reach a high level of language ability.
Sam DeAbreu, associate assistant headteacher, who leads the programme, said: “Mandarin is increasing in popularity and uptake at our school and the students gained a huge increase in confidence when using their Mandarin to prepare for the speaking final. The competition has provided them with the opportunity to put their language skills to use outside of a classroom setting and they are being inspired to continue studying languages to a higher level.”
As the most spoken language in the world, Mandarin is recognised as a valuable skill for young people in the UK to acquire.
Shannon West, Principal Consultant Schools – Modern Foreign Languages at the British Council, said: “Reaching the final round of this competition is a huge achievement and testament to the effort that the pupils have put in.
“Mandarin is one of the languages which matters most to the UK’s future prosperity and it’s vital that more young people have the chance to learn.”
