Update

Meera Rajah achieved 2nd place at the final of the 2010 British Council/HSBC Chinese Speaking Competition at the British Museum on 4 March.  She competed against over 300 students in the regional competition and against 95 in the final competition to obtain this excellent result.

Meera Rajah (L6 GIH) will showcase her linguistics skills at the final of the 2010 HSBC/British Council Chinese Speaking Competition at the British Museum in London on 4 March. She will compete against over 90 other students from schools across the UK to win a place on a cultural trip to Beijing.

The competition is organised by the British Council and funded by the HSBC Global Education Programme to support and promote the teaching of Chinese as a modern foreign language in UK schools. Some 300 students applied, taking part in X-Factor style regional heats in London and Newcastle. The best 95 were invited to attend the final, and only ten will be going to China in April.

Meera and the other contestants will compete in either the language ability or performance category. In the language category contestants give a pre-prepared short speech in Chinese, translate sentences and phrases from English to Chinese and are tested on their knowledge of China in a Q&A round.

In the second category, groups of six students perform a piece of drama, dance or poetry in Chinese. The judging panel will include the Chair of the Edexcel Board of Examiners for the Chinese GCSE, Chinese academics and representatives of HSBC and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.