English Speaking Competition - Afls News

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English Speaking Competition

The campus in June is filled with youthful vigor and intellectual brilliance. On the afternoon of June 7th, the school-level final of the 2025 ‘Hongcheng Cup’ English Speech Contest of our school was grandly launched in an atmosphere of great excitement. As an important showcase platform for demonstrating the internationalization of Anqing Foreign Language School's education, this competition is aimed at ‘promoting learning through the competition and enhancing practical skills through the competition’, aiming to stimulate students' enthusiasm for learning English, improve their language expression and critical thinking abilities, and create a rich atmosphere for cross-cultural communication. Meanwhile, the event was meticulously planned by Anqing Foreign Language School's International Department in collaboration with the English teaching and reserch group, which presented a splendid English feast to all the teachers and students of the school.

In the first place, during the preliminary round, a total of 192 entries from students in Grades Four to Six of the Primary School Department, the Junior High School Departments of both the east and west campuses, and the Senior High School Department were submitted. After a fair evaluation by the foreign teachers and the English teaching team, 18 contestants won the first prizes in the preliminary round with their outstanding performances and advanced to the final, among whom, some called for action with an environmental protection theme, some touched the hearts with their life stories, and some looked to the future through technological development. Evidently, language is a bridge, and their speeches were allowing the world to hear the voices of Chinese youth.

In the second place, the final was held through a live speech format, with teacher Xuan Yan from the Senior High School Department serving as the host. Before the official start of the competition, Xuan Yan introduced the composition of the judges, read out the competition rules and scoring criteria, ensuring the professionalism and authority of the event, after which the contestants took the stage in the order determined by the draw, and delivered their impromptu speeches on the topics of their own choices.

In the third place, eighteen contestants delivered wonderful speeches on topics such as technological development, cultural inheritance, and environmental governance. Moreover, although the contestants in the Primary School Division were young, they had a steady stage presence, whose clear pronunciation combined with lively body language, thus winning rounds of applause. On the other hand, the speeches in the Junior and Senior High School groups were more of a forum for exchanging ideas than a competition. In the meantime, in the technology section, students explored how technological innovations would shape the future society; on the environmental issue, they put forward bold ideas for sustainable development; in the health field, they referred to their own growth experiences to discuss practical methods for achieving a balance between body and mind.

In the fourth place, after the competition, the English teaching and research group's teacher Yao Fengling gave a professional evaluation first, who fully affirmed the incredible performances of the contestants from three aspects: language application, content depth, and presentation skills. She said emotionally, ‘From you all, I have witnessed the boundless potential of Chinese teenagers in spreading Chinese culture through English.’ Subsequently, foreign teacher Tim provided a commentary from an international perspective, who particularly praised the contestants' accurate pronunciation and critical thinking, suggesting that students should pay more attention to body language and interaction with the audience. Therefore, the comments from the two teachers were both highly professional and full of warmth, providing valuable improvement suggestions for the contestants.

Last but not the least, after a fierce competition, the result of the game was finally determined. Specifically, the judges listened carefully to each contestant's speech, giving professional scores based on multiple aspects such as the contents of the speech, language expression, stage presence and demeanor, and time management. Finally, five special prizes, six first prizes and seven third prizes were awarded, with the winners’ outstanding performances highly commended.

In a nutshell, not only did this English speech contest demonstrate the solid English proficiency and positive spirit of the students from Anqing Foreign Language School, but also enabled them to learn from each other and make progress together during the competition. More remarkably, the grand event is both a concentrated display of the English teaching achievements of Anqing Foreign Language School, and a vivid manifestation of Anqing Foreign Language School's quality-oriented education. Thus, it’s believed that in the days to come, students will continue to cherish and pursue English, who will keep exploring and moving forward on the path of learning English. Furthermore, with this bridge of English, students will connect the world and convey the voice of China, writing their own wonderful chapters!