The tenth GoodTalk (Global village) Children & Youth Bilingual Speech Convention was held at the California State University, Long Beach on Saturday, with more than 50 competitors from China and the United States.
Working with U.S. peers, students from over ten elementary and middle schools in China came on the stage, delivering bilingual speeches with the theme of "China in My Eyes."
Competitors talked about China from perspectives including history and culture, historical sites, development of science and technology, and people's daily life, depicting China's changes and friendship between peoples of the two countries.
Henry Koch, a 13-year-old student from Costa Mesa, a city located 35 km southeast of Los Angeles downtown, won the second prize. He has been learning Chinese since two years old, his father Mark Koch told Xinhua.
"Chinese has become one of the most spoken languages in the world. Studying Chinese let Henry learn about China and he will have advantages in his future career," the father said. "For example, he might do business with Chinese companies and he can talk to the people directly."
Dina Hermosillo-Burrus, mother of a 12-year-old American contestant Kahlen Burrus, said, "Learning Chinese can make your daughter more competitive among her peers in the future."
Hu Xinwen, an eight-year-old girl from Suzhou, is able to communicate with American students with fluent English. She was deeply impressed by this trip to the United States.
"Everyone here is very enthusiastic. English shortened distance between us," she said.
The special event, founded in 2009, aims at building a platform for young students from across the world to communicate with and learn from each other in both Chinese and English. Tens of thousands of students from China, Singapore, Australia, and the United States have participated in the competition during the past decade.
