2013 DFW Youth English Speech Contest Successfully Held in Plano

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The 2013 DFW Youth English Speech Contest was a great success. The contest was held from 8 am to 12 pm on Saturday, September 14, 2013 at Collin College Living Legends Conference Center at the Spring Creek Campus. The purpose of the event is to foster self-confidence, promote interest in public speaking, provide an opportunity for youths to enhance their speaking skills by competing, and recognize the best to encourage all.

95 student participants from Grades 1 to 12 competed in the contest. More than 200 parents attended and 60 volunteers supported the event. The contest committee made tremendous effort to ensure that the contest was fun and fair to all contestants. The participants were divided into 11 groups to compete. The contest judges were experienced and trained members from Toastmasters International. During the contest, students showed their talent and creativity through all kinds of topics ranging from summer vacation, travel abroad, success and so on. These well prepared speeches brought waves of laughter and applause in the conference center.

The speech contest is not only a competition but also a great opportunity for the students to learn and improve. They have exceled to a higher level of confidence and the skills that they practiced and learned will be extremely valuable for their future career and life. The contest committee members are so excited to see the quick growth of all the students from last year’s contest.

Mr. David Hill, the Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking Finalist, spoke at the award ceremony and interacted with the participants. The student participants were excited to learn about Mr. Hill’s successful stories of public speaking and actively participated in the question and answer session.

The contest was hosted by the Texas Dragon Toastmasters, and was sponsored by Chinese Institute of Engineers/USA – DFW Chapter, Oncor, Texas Instruments and AT&T. Cindi’s New York Deli and Bakery kindly provided delicate breakfast and snacks for the event. The contest committee felt honored to have the opportunity to contribute to the community through this well planned and organized event and looking forward to the contest again next year.

1st and 2nd Grades:
1st Place: Shobana Ravi
2nd Place: Katie Zhao
3rd Place: Kevin Wang
Honorable Mentions: Kapil Taspa, Audrey Perry

3rd Grade:
1st Place: Advika Varadharajan
2nd Place: Jeffrey Xu
3rd Place: Sally Lin
Honorable Mentions: Diya Singh, Nikhi Jain

4th Grade:
1st Place: Charles Hou
2nd Place: William Yue
3rd Place: Zachary Tian
Honorable Mentions: Evan Lai, Charlie Zhang

5th Grade (Group D):
1st Place: Jennifer Xiong
2nd Place: Anagha Gouru
3rd Place: Weston Lu
Honorable Mentions: Jennifer Su

5th Grade (Group E):
1st Place: Shengyuan Wang
2nd Place: Rakshak Ravichandran
3rd Place: Rachel Zhang
Honorable Mentions: Abraham Tsai, Allison He

6th Grade:
1st Place: Sophia Li
2nd Place: Cedric Zhou
3rd Place: Sophia Xu
Honorable Mentions: Connie Xu, Saisrinivas Gudivada

7th Grade:
1st Place: Alice Hou
2nd Place: Kendra Huang
3rd Place: Aniket Matharasi
Honorable Mentions: Annie Lu

8th Grade (Group H):
1st Place: Christina Yuan
2nd Place: David Sun
3rd Place: Mathew You
Honorable Mentions: Swetha Berana

8th Grade (Group I):
1st Place: Anjika Bhalla
2nd Place: Steven Xu
3rd Place: Kevin Li
Honorable Mentions: Tarang Sane

9th Grade:
1st Place: Carolyn Li
2nd Place: Lena Khanolkar
3rd Place: Jenny Zhu
Honorable Mentions: Emily Chen

10th-12th Grades:
1st Place: Jocelyn Lo
2nd Place: Cecilia Zhou
3rd Place: Sneha Karkala
Honorable Mentions: Star Jackson

2013 Youth English Speech Contest to be held on September 14

DFW Youth Speech Contest will be held from 8 am to 12 pm on Saturday, September 14, 2013 at Collin College Living Legends Conference Center, 2800 E. Spring Creek Pkwy, Plano, Texas. Students from Grades 1 to 12 are welcome to participate. The purpose of the event is to foster self-confidence, promote interest in public speaking, provide an opportunity for youths to enhance their speaking skills by competing, and recognize the best to encourage all.
The exciting DFW Youth Speech Contest is organized by Texas Dragon Toastmasters Club. It is sponsored by Chinese Institute of Engineers/USA DFW Chapter and Texas Instruments Chinese Initiative. Last year, more than ninety students from Grades 1 to 12 competed in the event and more than 200 parents attended the event.
DFW Youth Speech Contest committee makes extra effort to ensure that the contest is fun and fair to all contestants. The contest judges are experienced and trained members from Toastmasters International. We have invited Mr. David Hill, Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking Finalist to speak at the award ceremony.
Online registration is now open through September 7. For planning purpose, on-site registration on the day of the event will not be accepted. The following is the registration information.
Early bird registration: now through August 24, $10 per student
Regular registration: August 25 through September 7, $15 per student
Online registration is available at: http://www.cie-dfw.org/events/2013/speechcontest/. Please note that credit card is the only payment method.
If there are any questions, please feel free to contact us. Email address is dfwyouthspeechcontest@gmail.com. Our Registration Chair is Ms. Jacqueline Luo (469-236-8081) and our Contest Chair is Ms. June Lam (214-803-4091).

CIE Sponsored Event: 2013 North Texas TI Cup Chinese Speech Contest

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The CIE sponsored 2013 North Texas TI Cup Chinese Speech Contest was held in School of Management Building at UT Dallas on March 30, 2013 (Saturday). The event was participated by 145 primary and secondary school students from 19 schools in the DFW metroplex. Both American and American-Chinese students competed fiercely on the same stage under 5 divisions and 13 groups. The event received strong support from 65 volunteers and more than 10 local corporate and educational sponsors. The award presentation ceremony was participated by 160 parents.

The contest started at 1:00 in the afternoon. The contestants from kindergarten kids to high school students were divided into 9 groups. Students in each group competed for the first, second, third, and honorable mention prizes respectively. The Prize-Awarding Ceremony was held in the Auditorium Hall. Almost 400 students, teachers and parents gathered in the hall. This is not only a Chinese speech contest event, but also a communication platform for the students and parents.

This large Chinese speech contest was jointly organized by Dallas Modern Chinese School and the Confucius Institute at UT Dallas. The Consulate-General of China in Houston supported the contest. Ms. Gao Yanping, the Consul General, gave a congratulation letter to the competition. She encouraged the students to learn Chinese language well and to understand China in order to cultivate the flower and fruit of Sino-American friendship.

2012 CIE/Texas Dragons Toastmaster DFW Youth English Speech Contest

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CIE/USA-DFW and Texas Dragons Toastmaster successfully held the DFW Youth English Speech Contest on June 30, 2012 at Collin College Spring Creek Campus. The event was from 8 am to 12 pm. The purpose of the event is to foster self-confidence, promote interest in public speaking, provide an opportunity for youths to enhance their speaking skills by competing, and recognize the best to encourage all. More than ninty students in Grade 1 to 12 participated in the event, and more than 200 parents attended the event. The contest invited 25 professional speech judges to select the winners.

The event chair is Ms. Betty Wan. More than 50 volunteer contributed to the event, including 40 students from the North Texas Youth Honor Society. CIE appreciates their hardwork and effort!

Here is the list of winners of the contest:

First Grade:
First Place: Sehaj Bal
Second Place: Athul Mohanram
Third Place: Advik Ravichandran
Honorable Mentions: Shobhana Ravi, Kavyasri Ramaswamy Eswaramurthy

Second Grade:
First Place: Charles Hou
Second Place: Zachary Tian
Third Place: Jessica Lin
Honorable Mentions: Nethra Krishnan, Rishab Parthasarathy

Third Grade:
First Place: RakshakRavichandran
Second Place: Jennifer Xiong
Third Place: Jennifer Su
Honorable Mentions: Weston Lu, Annabelle Yang

Fourth Grade:
First Place: Sarah Chen
Second Place: Mariana Gil
Third Place: CedricZhou
Honorable Mentions: Sidney Wang, Austin Ma

Fifth Grade:
First Place: Annie Lu
Second Place: Aniket Mathavasi
Third Place: Emily Shen
Honorable Mentions: Koshma Eswar, Jimmy Qian

Sixth Grade:
First Place: Christina Yuan
Second Place: Ameya Chavda
Third Place: Stevie Elena Michel
Honorable Mentions: Kanika Kappalayil, Katherine Xiong

Seventh Grade:
First Place: Peter Huang
Second Place: Lena Khanolkar
Third Place: Jenny Zhu

Eighth Grade:
First Place: Neil Patel
Second Place: Jocelyn Lo
Third Place: Roland Yu

Ninth to Twelfth Grades:
First Place: Cecilia Zhou
Second Place: Titus Deng
Third Place: Jenny Jianing He

CIE Sponsored Program: 2012 DFW Youth English Speech Contest – Now Accepting Registration

The 2012 DFW Youth English Speech Contest is a CIE-sponsored event. It is a unique opportunity for youths to initiate, research, write, and deliver an address to public audience. Volunteers of Texas Dragon Toastmasters Club will organize the contest. Experienced, trained judges have been invited to aid in the critical judging of all levels of competition  Students in grades 1 to 12 are invited to participate. Please visit www.cie-dfw.org for registration information. For inquires, please contact dfwyouthspeechcontest@gmail.com.

CIE Sponsored Program: 2012 DFW Chinese Speech Contest

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第二届北德州中文演讲比赛，在家长，裁判老师和邀请来宾的热烈掌声中，在参赛学生手捧金光闪闪的奖杯的笑脸面前，于3月24日圆满地落下帷幕。这次由达拉斯现代汉语学校和北德州青少年协会联合主办的比赛，得到了达福地区11所中文学校的大力支持，有近140名学生报名。为了鼓励来自非华语家庭的学生学习中文，特别设立了中文是“二外”的比赛组。根据去年首届演讲比赛的成功经验，整个比赛程序和对演讲裁判评选的标准，完全按照演讲大师国际会员组织(Toastmasters International)的评比规则。比赛委员会特别邀请了在Toast Master演讲社有十分丰富经验和权威的主裁判 Grace Tyler作本届比赛的主裁判，她不仅为担任裁判的老师在赛前给予详尽的专业培训。又在赛前为裁判，记时员和所有参赛学生和家长介绍比赛规则。为了做到裁判评比公正，在分派裁判时严格把关，完全同自己班级学生回避。

比赛从Pre K到高中12年级按年级分组。在各年级小组比赛中，小选手们的演讲有声有色，不仅中文讲得流利地道，还能用肢体手势来表达语言和情感。从自选的题目中反映出同学们丰富多彩的生活，学习,和对周围事物的观察思考能力。例如获学前班组第一名的何升腾同学的选题是“林书豪”，获六年级组二等奖的侯孟翔讲的是“一元钱换来的22个谢谢.”选手们个个都很有实力，演讲水平不分上下，竞争十分激烈，他们的风采和魅力，如明星闪烁，令裁判老师赞不绝口。经过近2小时的小组内精彩的演讲，名次不分上下的比赛，裁判评分，总裁判最后裁决，共评选出45名前3名优秀选手。

用中文演讲，对在美国长大的华裔家庭的孩子并非易事，更不要说对没有中文环境的非华裔学生了。给全场观众留下深刻印象的是一位来自印度家庭，名叫阿妹的演讲，她与华裔学生同年级同等条件参加比赛。在首届中文演讲比赛中，她获得了五年级组第三名。一年后再次参赛，她的中文更加清晰流利，她用生动的语言和动作介绍她喜爱跳的印度舞，和她对印度文化传统的认识和热爱。这次她夺得了竞争十分激烈的六年级组第一名。这次比赛特邀了即将上哈佛大学的美国高中生沙若龙用中文表演单口相声。他的精彩中文演讲和武术表演曾夺得了北京国际汉语桥中学生比赛的最佳人气奖。非华裔学生的精彩中文演讲向中文学校的学生和老师提出了挑战和深思，我们华裔子女怎么中文讲得还不如非华裔的学生。由此可见，搭建中文演讲比赛平台，鼓励我们的下一代学好中文，说好中文，是非常有意义的。