Jul 09 2010

Students Win CCTV English Talent Contest

 

Wang Xiaoying, a student at NYIT-Nanjing, took second place in the "CCTV Star of Outlook English Talent Competition," sponsored by China Central Television, the major state broadcaster in Mainland China. Wang is a business major and will start her sophomore year at NYIT-Nanjing in the fall. Chen Pengpeng a business major and upcoming junior at NYIT-Nanjing, took first place in the contest at the city level.

The national competition, which is divided into four age groups, is the most famous national English competition in China and was launched by CCTV in 2000. Over 1,000 EFL training schools work in partnership with CCTV to facilitate this program and over 400,000 participated in 2009. In Nanjing there were 4,180 contestants alone.

We recently caught up with Wang Xiaoping to talk about the competition.  

1. What inspired you to enter the competition?

The Star of Outlook English Talent Competition is one of the biggest English competitions in China. I like English and I would like to improve my English skills through practice, so I entered the competition.

 2. How did you prepare for the competition?

I didn’t do any special preparations for the competition. I would like to thank my NYIT teachers including Nathan, Devon, Allyn and Professor Katyna, who helped me a great deal with my English during relevant classes and activities. This laid a good foundation for me to face the fierce competition.

 

3. What were some of the highlights for you during the competition or favorite memories?

It was an honor to compete with so many outstanding contestants. There was one contestant who was already 40 years old. He entered the competition to complete his English dream. His persistence and conscientiousness impressed me deeply. From him I learned that nothing is impossible to achieve if you put your heart into it. And his spirit also gave me motivations to go ahead when facing difficulties.

 

4. What were some of the biggest challenges during the completion?

The no-leader topic discussion might be a challenge. We were required to talk about the given topic in 5 member groups, and each group had only 3 minutes to state opinions. Since there was no leader set for each team, good team work spirit was essential for a team to win. You need to counterbalance well between personal performance and team work, and it might be a bit difficult to achieve both of them perfectly.

 

5. What are your aspirations after graduating?

I hope I can transform knowledge into success and wealth through hard work, and use the money to do some charity work. I also want to be a volunteer to serve people who are physically challenged in my spare time.

 

6. What are some of your favorite classes at NYIT?

I like speech, writing, management and marketing. Our professors represented by Dean Nolt and Professor Yoo are responsible and respectable. Their distinctive charming personalities create active class atmosphere and enable us to learn sufficient knowledge with great fun.