Call for young linguists to enter "Chinese speaking X Factor"
19 September 2011
Entries have opened for the British Council and HSBC’s ninth Mandarin Chinese Speaking Competition for students at UK schools - with the top prize of a trip to Beijing on offer.
Thursday 13th October 2011 is the deadline for 11-18 year-olds to sign up. The competition is a chance for individuals and groups to show off their language skills, and is aimed at students who have learnt the language from scratch.
The nationwide competition is recognition that a growing number of schools teach Chinese, and aims to encourage greater levels of interest in the Chinese language. Chinese is already spoken by more than 1.3 billion people worldwide and is gaining greater and greater importance, with China overtaking Japan to become the world’s second biggest economy earlier this year.
This is the ninth year that the British Council and HSBC have joined forces to run the competition. The British Council builds relationships for the UK through English, Education and Culture, and already links around 43,000 pupils and teachers in the UK and China. HSBC’s Global Education Programme focuses on international understanding, disadvantaged children, financial literacy, and environmental education.
Students can enter the competition through their schools – and X Factor-style regional heats will be held in London and Newcastle in December. The final will be held at the British Museum in February 2012. Full details of how to enter and terms and conditions are online at http://www.britishcouncil.org/schoolpartnerships-chinese-speaking-competition.htm.
Dominic Hughes, a student from Calday Grange Grammar School in the Wirral, was one of last year’s winners. He said: "I have known for a long time that I want to go on to study Chinese at university. The trip I won in the competition has helped to cement this plan. Before the trip, I had no idea what I wanted to do after university. However, after going on the trip, I have now become interested in teaching English out in China. After watching other English teachers having a great time with the students, I think I would really enjoy teaching English."
Martin Davidson, Chief Executive of the British Council and fluent Chinese speaker, said: “Having a good knowledge of Mandarin Chinese has never been so important. With China recently becoming the world’s second biggest economy, our children need to understand China in all its facets if we are to be successful in working together, whether in business or in other ways in the future. This competition rewards students who make the effort to master the Mandarin language, and it is one of many ways in which the British Council is helping children in the UK to prepare for life in a global society and work in a global economy.”
Lorraine Thomas from the HSBC Global Education Programme said: "HSBC has supported education projects around the globe for many years as part of our commitment to community investment. This exciting competition gives young people the opportunity to showcase their language skills as part of a wider programme to encourage Chinese knowledge and cultural understanding. HSBC has a long heritage in China - a country that is increasingly setting the pace for international business and technology. ”
For more information, please contact Mark Moulding in the British Council Press Office on 0207 389 4889 or mark.moulding@britishcouncil.org
Notes to Editors
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide. We work in over 100 countries in the arts, education and English and in 2010/11 we engaged face to face with 30 million people and reached 578 million. We have 6,800 staff worldwide. Our total turnover in 2010/11 was £693 million, of which our grant-in-aid from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was £190 million. The remainder was generated through trading activities such as English language teaching. For every £1 of taxpayer money invested we earn £2.65 in additional income. For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org
The HSBC Group
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of the HSBC Group, is headquartered in London. The Group serves customers worldwide from around 7,500 offices in over 80 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, North and Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$2,691bn at 30 June 2011, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations.
