Kansas City Chinese Speech Contest
For Youth, University Students, and Adults
Information and Registration Form
Sponsored by: The Confucius Institute of the University of Kansas
In Partnership With
The Center for East Asian Studies of the University of Kansas
And
The Kansas City Chinese American Association
Preliminary Competition by Video Submission DUE:
Friday, January 20, 2017 11:59PM
Finalists will be invited to a Final Competition on:
Saturday, January 28, 2017
9:00am to 11:30am, Awards Ceremony at 12:00pm
Johnson County Community College
Please join us in our annual Chinese speaking competition, sponsored by the Confucius Institute of the University of Kansas. Yearly, we partner with area organizations to offer learners and heritage speakers of Chinese an opportunity to showcase their skills. Our competition welcomes all levels of Chinese language learners and heritage speakers (in separate competition categories), and will feature Certificates and Prizes for participants!
Eligibility:
Students currently enrolled in a Chinese program in any K12 school, university, or Chinese weekend school (or homeschool Chinese program), and adult learners are eligible. All contestants must be recommended by their respective Chinese language teacher (can be parent/homeschool teacher).
Please email the form below (can be in the body of an email) as instructed. Contestants should then submit a video entry by uploading it onto YouTube using the “Unlisted” privacy setting, then email the link to your video to ciku@ku.edu.
Here is a link to the YouTube help page on Unlisted videos: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/157177?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
In your email with the link, please include the following text:
By emailing the link to my “Unlisted” YouTube video, I hereby give permission for Kansas City Chinese Speech Contest judges to view and judge my speech competition entry.
The top contestants in each division will be invited to compete in the finals at Johnson County Community College on January 28, 2017. Prizes and Certificates will be awarded!
Technical Requirements:
Please record your video in MPEG-4. Do not add background music or other sound effects; Do Not Use: PowerPoint, props, or other visual aids; Outdoor or indoor backgrounds are acceptable. A quiet environment, with as little ambient noise as possible, is recommended. Video camera angle must show the speaker’s head and shoulders (or from the waist up).
All speeches should be memorized and delivered in Mandarin Chinese without notes, printed materials, or PowerPoint. The contestant should compose his or her original speech. Speeches may quote other authors’ works but the majority of the work should be original (do not read a piece of poetry written by another author). The contestant’s teacher may check the accuracy of the speech and suggest edits consistent with the student’s level of training.
*NOTE: It is the responsibility of the contestant’s teacher to place each student in the most appropriate category commensurate with the student’s training. The organizing committee, however, reserves the right to disqualify a contestant who provides false background and training information.
Divisions, Topics and Time Requirements:
Division I: Grades 1-5
- Students who have had fewer than three years of Chinese language study
Themes (choose one) for Division I: Group a: “All About Me/ One of My Family Members /One of my friends/My pet”
Video length: up to two minutes
- Students who have had more than three years of Chinese language study
Themes (choose one) for Division I: Group b: “All About Me/ One of My Family Members/My pet/My favorite activity”
Video length: up to two minutes
- Heritage speakers*
Themes (choose one) for Division I: Group c: “My friend/My family/My favorite story/How my family celebrates a traditional Chinese Festival/ How my family helps the environment”
Video length: up to two minutes
Division II: Grades 6-8
- Students who have had fewer than three years of Chinese language study
Themes (choose one) for Division II: Group a: “All About Me/ One of My Family Members/My pet”
Video length: up to two minutes
- Students who have had more than three years of Chinese language study
Themes (choose one) for Division II: Group b: “All About Me/ One of MyFamily Members/My pet/My favorite activity”
Video length: up to two minutes
- Heritage speakers*
Themes (choose one) for Division II: Group c: “My friend/My family/My favorite story/How my family celebrates a traditional Chinese Festival/ How my family helps the environment”
Video length: up to two minutes
Division III: Grades 9-12
- Students who are enrolled in high school Chinese 1 or equivalent
Themes (choose one) for Division III: Group a: “My friend/One of my family members/My pet/A person I admire”
Video length: up to two minutes
- Students who are enrolled in high school Chinese 2 or equivalent
Theme for Division III: Group b: “Chinese food/A day I will always remember“
My favorite season”
Video length: up to three minutes
- Students who are enrolled in high school Chinese 3 or 4 or equivalent
Theme for Division III: Group b: “My visit to China (past or planned)/My hopes for the Year of the Rooster, My favorite Chinese fable or legend/Comparing Chinese and American high school life”
Video length: up to four minutes
- Heritage speakers *
Themes (choose one) for Division III: Group d: “/My favorite Chinese fable/ legend/My visit to China (past or planned)/How my family celebrates a traditional Chinese Festival/How I plan to make the world a better place”
Video length: up to four minutes
Division IV: University Students
- Students who are enrolled in university-level first year Chinese
Themes (choose one) for Division IV: Group a: “My friend/My family/My pet/My favorite… (person, hobby, sport, music, movies, etc.)”
Video length: up to two minutes
- Students who are enrolled in university-level second year Chinese
Theme for Division IV: Group b: A most unforgettable day
Video length: up to three minutes
- Students who are enrolled in university-level Chinese – third year and above
Theme for Division IV: Group c: “My hopes for the Year of the Rooster/How I plan to make the world a better place/My visit to China (past or present)”
Video length: up to four minutes
- Heritage speakers *
Themes (choose one) for Division IV: Group d: “My visit to China (past or planned)/How my family celebrates a traditional Chinese Festival/ How I plan to make the world a better place”
Video length: up to four minutes
Division V: Adults
- Adult language learners at the intermediate level or above
- Heritage speakers *
Themes for Division V (choose one):
“All about me/My family/My dreams for the Year of the Rooster/ My visit to China (past or planned)/ What I like about Chinese Culture”
Length: up to two minutes for group a;
up to three minutes for groups b;
up to four minutes for group c.
*Heritage speakers are those whose home language is Mandarin Chinese or who live in an environment where Chinese is spoken.
FORM: Year of the Rooster 2017 Kansas City Speech Contest for Youth Registration
Contest Name
Family/last name: Given/first name:
Name in Chinese, if any:
Age:
Grade:
School:
Weekend school or homeschool program (if different from main school):
Home address:
Email address:
Phone:
Chinese teacher’s name (can be parent of learning Chinese at home):
Chinese teacher email:
Chinese teacher phone:
Heritage speaker? Yes/no
T-shirt size (please specify youth or adult):
Recommended Division/category:
Additional Comments:
Please email this form to ciku@ku.edu. (Either print the form out, scan, and email it to CIKU, or simply copy and paste the questions, with your responses, into an email message.)