This morning we have witnessed the last session of the 2011 “FLTRP Cup” English Public Speaking Contest and, in a few minutes, the final results of the Competition will be announced, a moment, I believe, all the contestants and the audience have been expecting anxiously.
Since the 2011 “FLTRP Cup” English Public Speaking Contest was officially launched on May 12, about a million contestants from all over the 30 provinces, municipalities directly under the central Government and Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan have participated in various preliminary sessions at the university level and semi-finals at the provincial level. Finally, 89 winners entered the final contest and began to compete in Beijing early this week. It might be hard for anyone who is not in the circle to fully appreciate the painstaking efforts that the contestants, their coaches and their supporting teams have put forth in the last few months. The comment made by Fu Xinkai（傅心恺）from Nanjing University, one of the winners of last year’s “FLTRP Cup” English Public Speaking Contest, might be a true-to-life depiction of what is in the minds of all participants: “We come to this competition not to defeat but to appreciate, not just to compete but to make our voice heard and to learn and share. This is the true spirit of competition.”
This is the 10th year that Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press was involved in a national English public speaking contest, first co-sponsored with CCTV under the title of “CCTV Cup”English Public Speaking Contest, from 2002 to 2009, and then in 2010 renamed it as “FLTRP Cup” English Public Speaking Contest, with the cooperation of The Advisory Committee on the Teaching of English for English Majors and the Advisory Committee on the Teaching of English for Non-English Majors, both under the Ministry of Education.
Even for Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, one of China’s top-ranking publishers in the field of foreign language teaching, it is not easy to sponsor such a national contest for 10 years, which is highly expensive and time-consuming. Apparently, FLTRP does not regard the English public speaking contest as a mere business activity, but as a channel to strengthen her link with students, as a means to repay her readers, and as an effective way to promote the teaching of English in China—a promise FLTRP solemnly made when she was founded more than 30 years ago. After 10 years’ hard work, “FLTRP Cup” English Public Speaking Contest has long become the most influential competition among college students in China.
Probably it is impossible to figure out exactly how many students have participated in the “CCTV Cup” and “FLTRP Cup” English Public Speaking Contests in the last 10 years, but obviously millions of participants at various stages have benefitted the most from the contest. For most contestants, it may not be of vital importance to win a place in the competition, nor to be rewarded with a summer trip to the United States or some Asian countries. The most important of all, I believe, is the experience of attending such an important event itself: voicing your own ideas on related topics, presenting the best part of yourself before the audience, and getting to know contestants from other parts of the country, from whom you may have a lot to learn. Therefore, participating in the “FLTRP Cup” English Public Speaking Contest is basically a learning and sharing experience, and part of the expected outcome of such an experience is to acquire a better knowledge of yourself: to know what you can do, your strong points and weak points, and the proper way that you are able to further improve yourself, as a speaker, a presenter, and a communicator.
In the last 10 years, I have been asked several times to serve on the panel of judges at the “CCTV Cup” English Public Speaking Contest. But my involvement with similar student activities can be traced back to the late 1980s when I was the head of the English Department, the then Xi’an Foreign Language Institute, after I returned from the United States. I remember serving as the director of the organizing committee of the first Sino-American College Students Debating Contest in early 1989, collaborated with members of California State University system. When I compared those earlier student activities with what we have witnessed lately at the 2011 “FLTRP Cup” English Public Speaking Contest, I found something quite interesting. In the 1980s and even early 1990s, the attention of the judges at either speaking contests or debating contests was focused on contestants’ language skills, and priority was given to speakers’ pronunciation and intonation, their flow of speech and accuracy of their expressions. But today, these criteria—that is, basic language skills—have long become a must for those contestants entering the final sessions of such a national contest. And the attention of the judges at semi-finals and finals is directed mainly to the content of the speech, the creativity and the speaking technique of the contestants, which includes a clear and powerful statement, convincing and logically developed argument, appealing gestures and even effective and pleasant facial expressions. This difference, I assume, is a clear indication of the astonishing progress that the teaching of English in China has achieved in the last 20 or so years. Therefore, all the contestants at today’s finals, no matter what place you may win at this contest, should feel really proud of yourself.
With the innovation made in the format of the finals at the “FLTRP Cup” English Public Speaking Contest, I believe that all the contestants at Phases 3 and 4 of the finals have already learned quite a lot about their own performance through the feedbacks of our two distinguished commentators. Here I have no intention to repeat or summarize the complimentary or disapproving comments you have already heard, but I would like to offer a little advice of my own, something that Contestant No. 82 mentioned in his extension speech in Phase 3 yesterday and our two commentators discussed briefly among themselves. With due respect for both commentators, I’ve come up with a different idea from my experience of teaching writing to both American and Chinese students. It seems to me that either in your preparation for your speeches or even in your daily training in English not enough attention has been given to the logical development of an English speech, that is, the way natives of English organize their thoughts and express their ideas either orally or in written form. In rhetoric this logical development of ideas is very often termed as the English thought pattern. Unlike natives of Chinese, English-speaking people usually come to the subject of their speech directly with a clear statement, followed by well developed supporting details, and finally concluded with a restatement of their argument. Since the target audience of our speeches in English is English speaking people, it is certainly advisable to adopt the English thought pattern in our speeches and writings as well, just for the purpose of better communication with the intended audience.
As Director of the Advisory Committee on the Teaching of English for English Majors under the Ministry of Education, in which I have worked 24 years, I have often been asked the question about the future of English language teaching in China. Although an extended discussion on such a topic is quite beyond today’s concern, I can assure you, from my contact with the Ministry of Education and with various universities all over the country, that we can anticipate a prosperous future for the teaching of English in China as long as our country continues to open its door to the outside world and remains to be a full member of the global community. Naturally, improvements, some of which might be extensive and even fundamental, should be put into effect, but teachers and students of English in China should first have a firm understanding that English, just as Chinese, sociology, political science, physics or chemistry, is a specialized field of study in Chinese universities and colleges approved by the Ministry of Education, which requires systematic training in language skills as well as in quite a few related subjects. What English majors should do in their undergraduate or graduate programs, in addition to acquiring an excellent grasp of both English and Chinese languages, is to constantly enlarge their range of knowledge at least in a few of the areas such as literature, linguistics, philosophy, religion, economy, history, to name just a few, and to train themselves into qualified graduates for this multi-cultural world.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to extend sincere thanks to the hosts of the finals, our distinguished commentators, question masters, challengers, my fellow judges, those who have been working very hard backstage, and most of all, all the contestants at various phases of the competition, without whom it is impossible to make such a national contest a great success.
I’m sure you would all agree with me when I say that this year’s “FLTRP Cup” English Public Speaking Contest is an existing and memorable experience for all participants, and we are now looking forward to the 2012 “FLTRP Cup” English Public Speaking Contest probably right here December next year.
Thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation during the contest. See you next year.
