World Language and Cultures Success Stories

2022 CLTAC Chinese Speech Contest

In March 2022, students from Diablo Valley College participated in the 46th Chinese Mandarin Speech Contest which was held virtually. The contest is hosted by The Chinese Language Teachers Association of California (CLTAC). CLTAC is the largest nonprofit association of its kind in the country with a mission to promote the study, teaching, and research of the Chinese language and culture on all educational levels. Its annual Mandarin Speech Contest boasts of a long history since 1960s. It has become an annual pageant of Chinese education in the region. The event was sponsored by Monterey Bay Chinese Association and Foreign Language Association of Northern California (FLANC).

This year, DVC students competed against students from such notable schools as Defense Language Institute, San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, City College of San Francisco, and University of San Francisco, among others.

At the virtual award ceremony held on April 23, 2022, 7 students from DVC were recognized for their dedicated work and excellent performance, winning awards ranging from 1st to Honorable Mentions. An in-person awards ceremony was held on May 21, 2022 on the DVC campus to honor our students. Division Dean Dr. Janette Funaro and Department Chair Professor Akihiko Kumakura presented the awards.

Professor Sheree Lin, head of DVC’s Chinese program, congratulates all 13 students who participated, and gives special thanks to Professor Huiqin An (our teacher), Jiun Young (our speech coach), Yongfei Du and Kar Ching Ng (our teaching assistants), the World Languages and Cultures Department, and the Arts, Communication, and Language Division for their great support.

DVC applauds the following students for doing an amazing job representing our school!

First Place Winners:

Shireen Lam (Second year, first semester)  Shireen Lam (Second year, first semester）

Fufu Pan (First year, second semester)  Fufu Pan (First year, second semester) 

Second Place Winners:

Jacob Alvarez (Second year, second semester)  Jacob Alvarez (Second year, second semester)

Kevin Jung (First year, second semester)  Kevin Jung (First year, second semester)

Third Place Winners:

Matthew Deng (First year, second semester) Matthew Deng (First year, second semester)

Nicole Grethlein (First year, first semester)  Nicole Grethlein (First year, first semester)

Honorable Mentions:

Amy Wallrath (First year, second semester)  Amy Wallrath (First year, second semester)

2022_Chinese_Speech_Contest_Awards_Ceremony

(Chinese Speech Contest Awards Ceremony at DVC on May 21, 2022.  From left to right: Sheree Lin, Amy Wallrath, Janette Funaro, Akihiko Kumakura, Fiona Kurniawan (2021 winner), Jacob Alvarez, Huiqin An, Shireen Lam, Fufu Pan, Kevin Jung, and Matthew Deng)

DVC students excel at the 2021 CLTAC Chinese Speech Contest!

In March 2021, students from Diablo Valley College participated in the 2021 DVC CLTAC Speech Contest Group Photo45th Chinese Mandarin Speech Contest which was held virtually.

The contest is hosted by The Chinese Language Teachers Association of California (CLTAC). CLTAC is the largest nonprofit association of its kind in the country with a mission to promote the study, teaching, and research of the Chinese language and culture on all educational levels.

Its annual Mandarin Speech Contest boasts of a long history since 1960s. It has become an annual pageant of Chinese education in the region. The event was sponsored by Monterey Bay Chinese Association, Cheng & Tsui, and Foreign Language Association of Northern California (FLANC).

This year, DVC students competed against students from such notable schools as Defense Language Institute, San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and University of San Francisco, among others.

At the virtual award ceremony held on April 24, 2021, 11 students from DVC were recognized for their dedicated work and excellent performance, winning awards ranging from 1st to 3rd places. Our student Hannah Lam’s harp performance Suzhou River 苏州河 was also selected as the opening performance of the ceremony.

Professor Sheree Lin, head of DVC’s Chinese program, congratulates all 17 students who participated, and gives special thanks to Professor Huiqin An (our teacher and speech coach), Jana Jiang (our teaching assistant), the Foreign Language Department, and the
Applied and Fine Arts Division for their great support.

DVC applauds the following students for doing an amazing job representing our school!

First Place Winners:

Kar Ching Ng (First year, first semester） Kar Ching Ng (First year, first semester）
Jacob Alvarez (First year, second semester) Jacob Alvarez (First year, second semester)

Second Place Winners:

Ezekiel Ivory (First year, first semester) Ezekiel Ivory (First year, first semester)
Second place Fiona Kurniawan (First year, second semester)
Second place Lauryn Leong (First year, second semester)
Mei Wa Yu (Second year, first semester) Mei Wa Yu (Second year, first semester)

Third Place Winners:

Victoria Alger (First year, second semester) Victoria Alger (First year, second semester)
Julian Lau (First year, second semester) Julian Lau (First year, second semester)
Third place Ariana Threatt (First year, second semester)
Third place Sophia Li (Second year, first semester)
Third place Shrinidhi Gopal (Second year, second semester)

Participation:

William Dong (First year, second semester)  William Dong (First year, second semester) 
Favio Lesnjar (First year, second semester) Favio Lesnjar (First year, second semester)
Marwin Fenandez (Second year, second semester) Marwin Fenandez (Second year, second semester)

 

Spring 2020 1st Annual Gānbēi Speaker Chinese Contest2020 speech contest

May 7, 2020, students from Diablo Valley College participated in the 1st Annual Gānbēi Speakers Chinese Speech Contest,which took place online!

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, The Chinese Language Teachers Association of California (CLTAC) decided it was best to cancel this year’s Chinese speech contest. However, our students were prepared and eager to attend. And this gave birth to a new
speech contest, held just for our students.

On the evening of May 7, 2020, students logged in to Zoom and participated either as contestants or judges for the first ever remote learning speech contest. This year we had 17 speakers, 8 judges and 4 speech coaches.

Professor Sheree Lin, head of DVC’s Chinese program, congratulates all the students who participated,and gives special thanks to Yali Bai, Ya-Han Fan, Li Li, and Scott Saifer (our speech coaches and tutors), the Foreign Language Department, and the Applied and Fine Arts Division for their continued support.

DVC applauds the following students on their awards!

                                                                        Beginner Levels (CHIN 120, 121)
First Place Second Place Third Place
Christopher Cassin 客日苏

Yuk Leung 梁钰凌

Shunsuke Misei 見勢井峻介

 Ian Emerson Deck 茅约翰
Robert Mendoz 王冷山
Intermediate Levels (CHIN 220, 221)
First Place Second Place Third Place
Xiaolin Xiao 萧旖旎 Ingrid Nordberg 顾霏霏 Austin Jewison 奥四聽

           

 

Spring 2019 Annual Mandarin Speech Contest

students who participated in competitionsDVC Students competed in two Bay Area Chinese speech contests

DVC students participated in two competitions, last month, both held in San Francisco. The 18th Chinese Bridge – Chinese Proficiency Competition for College Students, at SFSU and the 44th Chinese Mandarin Speech Contest.

 

student giving the speechDVC students competed against such notable schools as Defense Language Institute, San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and University of San Francisco, among others.

In addition to student awards, DVC also received an award for Best Organization for its efforts to promote and improve Chinese pedagogy in northern California from the 18th Chinese Bridge – Chinese Proficiency Competition for College Students.

Student winners included:

Award for Best Performance: 4th Semester Student, Nagashima Momona (18th Chinese Bridge)

Honorable Mentions from 44th Chinese Mandarin Speech Contest

Dasaem Shin, 2nd Term Student

Xiaolin Xiao, 2nd Term Student

Professor Sheree Lin, head of DVC’s Chinese program, congratulates all the students who participated, and gives special thanks to Jun Zhou (our speech coach), Professor Lu Han, all of our Chinese tutors and teaching assistants, the Foreign Language Department, and the Applied and Fine Arts Division for their continued support.

Speech contest history