The final of 2007 CCTV Cup English Speaking Contest of Anhui Normal University (ANU) was held on September 13, Thursday evening, in Multi-media Lecture Hall, School of Foreign Studies (SFS). It turned out a considerable success.

The CCTV Cup English Speaking Contest is co-sponsored by CCTV International and the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP). The annual competition, held successfully since 2000, aims to arouse public interest in English learning, while showcasing the language ability and bright personalities of a group of young hopefuls.

Starting from last semester, the activity had drawn wide attention on the campus. Students from every conceivable school had got involved in English public speaking, and many teachers from SFS had volunteered to coach those participants and help sharpen their speaking skills. The 19 contestants in the final had been singled out after a series of fierce competitions, consisting of 12 English majors, 5 non-majors and 2 from Wanjiang College.

The final had four items: the prepared speech, the impromptu speech, the question-and-answer, and a quiz. The title of the prepared speech was “Global Citizenship Begins at Home”, and the speech was to be delivered within 3 minutes. The impromptu speech was given in 3 minutes, the topic of which was chosen by the contestant 15 minutes before she/he began. Then a question was asked based on either the prepared or impromptu speech, and she/he answered the question in one minute. And finally 2 quiz questions were raised for the contestant to answer immediately.

Their performance was evaluated in terms of the content, the language and the presentation skills.

All finalists did a pretty good job in the prepared speech, since it had been practiced and rehearsed for a long time. Some contestants impressed the judges by their good presentation skills like a sense of humor, proper body language (gesture and eye contact), articulate pronunciation, convincing evidence and good logic in the impromptu. Others did not seem to be adequate enough to some tough topics. Most of them gave an instant and suitable answer to the questions posed by the question masters. The quiz item indicated that the contestants were not well equipped with general knowledge that covered a wide range.

Contestant No. 3 Shen Yijie displayed her superb speaking skills and came out top. Contestant No. 20 Kong Nannan was very fluent and used idiomatic English. Wang Mengxue from School of Economy Administration delivered passionate speech.

They three won the first prize and will represent ANU to participate in the provincial competition, which is to be held in October.

        Towards the end of the contest, Easten, the main coach, made a constructive comment on the performance of all the contestants. He summarized it using 6 letters “CCC” and “PPT”. “CCC” referred to their strengths in the competition: clarity, confidence and connection, while “PPT” their weaknesses in pronunciation, pausing and timing.

        The contest closed with a picture taking.

（英语系第三教研室   谢娅莉报道）