28 October 2017

Organised by the Institute for Chinese Language and Culture of HSMC and co-organised by the New Experience Toastmasters Club (NETM), the Hong Kong Secondary School Students Putonghua Public Speaking Competition 2019 was officially launched. The first session of the first phase pre-competition training was held on 28 Oct 2017.

At the kick-off ceremony, the project leader Ms Elena Ko, Lecturer of the Department of Chinese, and Mr Frank Lee, Founding President of NETM, delivered their speeches. Ms Li Chun Hung, Lecturer of the Department of Chinese, and Mr Ahke Yeung, experienced speech trainer, provided training on Putonghua pronunciation and public speaking skills respectively. In the group practice session, students prepared their own speeches under the guidance of tutors. After that, a sharing session was held with active participation by the students.

This competition is supported by the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research and funded by the Language Fund, aiming to provide students with an all-round training on Putonghua, and public speaking and communication skills. The programme will last for two years, during which workshops, intensive summer training and competition will be organised in different phases. The Grand Final Competition will be held in summer 2019.