NHS Student Named Finalist In National Chinese Speech Contest

By Eliza Hallabeck

Just ten months after Newtown High School sophomore Marina Lleonart Calvo started speaking Chinese with exchange teacher Ding Hong, she earned third place in the 5th Annual Chinese Bridge United States High School Student Chinese Contest, held in Marlboro, Mass., at the International Academy of Boston on Saturday, April 24.

Chinese has become the fourth language for the 15-year-old, who moved to the area from Barcelona, Spain, before starting at NHS this school year. On Monday, May 3, Marina said she is also fluent in Spanish, Catalan, and English.

She first learned about the contest through an email sent out by Mr Ding.

“I decided to give it a try, because you really don’t know what you can do until you try,” said Marina.

According to Marina’s father, Douglas Filter, Marina was one of nine finalists in the beginners category to compete at the contest, and she was the only student in the group with less than a year of learning experience.

“I am very delighted to have witnessed Marina’s success,” said Mr Ding this week, who attended the contest in Massachusetts. “Like many students in Newtown High School, she is extremely enthusiastic, hardworking, greatly motivated, and above all, she was brave to take the challenge.”

Mr Ding also started at NHS in September 2009 during the beginning of an exchange program with the high school’s sister school, Liaocheng Middle School #3, in the Shandong Province of China.

Marina said Mr Ding is a great teacher, and he really helped her.

“I defiantly know what I want to do,” said Marina, “I would like to be involved in international affairs.”

With her sight set on becoming an ambassador with the United Nations, Marina said she is also aspiring to study international affairs at Harvard, or another college with the program.

To be named as a finalist in the contest, Marina and students from all over the country had to submit a personal speech in Chinese and English along with a recorded version of the student reading his or her speech. There were three levels in the competition, and Marina placed in the beginners category.

There were 23 finalists selected to compete in the contest from around the country, and each presented his or her speech in oral and written Chinese.

Mr Filter said his daughter has a gift with languages, and added she plans to study in Shanghai this summer between July and August.

“They really do an amazing program with the Chinese initiative at the high school,” said Mr Filter.

 The contest is jointly organized by the Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools (CLASS) in the United States, Hanban (the Chinese Language Council International), and University of Massachusetts’s China Institute.

Mr Filter said it was the combination of Marina’s skill with languages and Mr Ding’s enthusiasm and dedication that brought Marina the accomplishment.

“She competed against other students from prestigious schools, including one school in San Francisco, which teachers in both English and Chinese,” Mr Filter said.

Mr Ding said Marina had the will, and found the way to learning the Chinese language.

“I am confident of even greater success for her in the future,” said Mr Ding by email this week. “Her success, on the other hand, is quite encouraging. It shows that the Chinese language is not difficult, it is just different. Once you know the difference, you will be on your track to success.”

 

Speech Entry (In English)

Hello colleagues,

My name is Marina Lleonart Calvo. I am from Barcelona, Spain. I am 15 years old. I have a big family with three brothers and two sisters. I have lived many years in Europe and many years in America. I speak 3 languages: Catalan, Spanish and English, and I want to speak Chinese too because I want to “expand my horizons.” Now it is time for me to open my mind to Asia.

I love meeting people, and I love new experiences. Chinese will open a door to a new culture, a new language, and a new experience. This will make my soul and my heart richer, bigger and warmer.

My school, Newtown High School, has a sister school in China, Liaocheng Middle School #3 of Shandong Province. During February, I had two students from this school in my house for two weeks, Sun and Pan. They came from China as my guests, now they are my brothers and I have a bigger family. Being able to speak to them in Chinese helped them understand more about America and feel more comfortable in Connecticut. I want to honor them; I want to honor my Chinese teacher, Mr Ding, and I want to honor the entire Chinese community by speaking the Chinese language. In Spain, I speak Spanish. In Barcelona, I speak Catalan. In America, I speak English. In China, I must speak Chinese.

I know many Chinese traditions, and have some knowledge of the Chinese culture. However, experiencing celebrations and culture is one hundred times better than reading from a school book. Experience is the greatest teacher.

I want to learn Chinese because learning a language lets me speak to others, and it opens the doors to literature, customs, and beliefs of the Chinese people that I would not get by speaking with them in English. The more I know and understand Chinese language, the more I can know and love China.

I have an excellent Chinese teacher at Newtown High School. He is enthusiastic, happy, and inspiring. I feel that my teacher has taken my hand and led me over a bridge to an amazing world. And by uniting the two worlds, my life is better. I hope I can also teach Chinese people Western culture, and connect the two cultures.

I really like learning Chinese in high school, however, I would like to study Chinese in China because being with Chinese people and living the culture will promote my learning.

Studying and speaking Chinese in America has many benefits. I have access to a community of Chinese people and Chinese speaking people in Connecticut who share my beliefs and help my learning.

Chinese will help me forever.

Thank you.