November 17, 2009
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On Sunday, Nov. 15, two St. Stephen's Episcopal School Chinese language students received awards at the eighth annual Greater Houston Area Chinese Speech Competition. Senior Robbin Goodman won second prize and senior Alexandra Tully received honorable mention award.
More than 140 contestants competed in this prestigious speech contest in Houston. Robbin and Alexandra wrote and memorized a 500 word and three-minute speech in Chinese. Robbin is a student in Ms. Hai Zheng Olefsky's Chinese level 6 class and Alexandra is a Chinese level 5 student in Ms. Sylvia Lin's class.
"We are very proud of both of them," said Hai Zheng Olefsky, who is also Assistant Director of the International Program and Coordinator of Chinese Language Studies at St. Stephen's. "This is the second year our student has won award. Last year, our senior Adam Schlegle won first prize. We are so happy that we have two winners this year."
St. Stephen’s Episcopal School is one of the first schools in Texas to offer Chinese language programming. The program, which started in 1997, went from four students to more than 60 students in four levels plus independent studies. Throughout the year, St. Stephen’s Chinese language and culture club students reach out to the Asian community, teaching citizenship classes as well as other volunteer activities.
The Chinese Civic Center in Houston, the University of Houston's Foreign Language Department and Chinese Language Teachers Assocation-Texas hosted the competition along with the support and help of the Chinese Consulate in Houston. Ms. Dong Siqi, who is the top Senior National Level Chinese Language Examiner from Beijing, served as chair of the competition jury committee. Other judges include chairs and professors from Houston area universities as well as Houston TV Channel 13 reporters and China US media.
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