An Unforgettable Speech Contest

張貼日期：Jan 30, 2016 12:41:11 PM

Stephanie Wu

When I was in Senior High School, I participated in a Hakka speech contest. My mom is a Hakka; therefore, I can understand Hakka. But actually I don’t speak Hakka. My Chinese teacher was looking for a volunteer to take part in the Hakka speech contest. And my classmates recommended me because they thought I could speak Hakka. I refused and told the teacher that I couldn’t speak Hakka. Somehow, the teacher encouraged me and said the school would assign a Hakka teacher to teach me. I had participated in some speech contests. However, this contest is the most unforgettable. And I have learned from this experience that everything is possible as long as we believe we can do it.

At first, when my classmates recommended me to the teacher, I was shocked and refused immediately. Eventually, I chose to take the chance to participate in the Hakka contest. The speech contest was first held in my school, and the winner of the contest would have to take part in another Hakka speech contest which was held by I-Lan City Board of Education. I am a passive person. Although I had taken part in several speech contests before, I was asked to participate them every time. I just don’t like attracting attention. Furthermore, I don’t speak Hakka. How could a person who doesn’t speak Hakka take part in a Hakka speech contest! But my Chinese teacher kept encouraging me and she told me that this must be a great experience. I decided to brave myself to sign up the application form for the contest.

All in all, I spared no effort to prepare for the contest. When I met my Hakka teacher, she gave me a stack of paper. Those were the topics of the speech contest, and there were more than ten topics. I told the teacher that I couldn’t speak Hakka. She said the only way was to memorize all of them. While I heard this, I doubted that I could really do it. The teacher was so enthusiastic that she taught me word by word. And I had to mark the phonetic symbols to most of the words on the paper. I was stressed out at that time but I didn’t want to give up. Fortunately, my mom always accompanied me when I was practicing for the speech contest. She comforted me and helped me when I encountered any difficulties. I kept practicing day and night and the Hakka teacher said she was very glad to see that I took the challenge and worked so hard to complete the mission.

The consequence of the speech contest was beyond my expectation. On the day of the Hakka speech contest, I was very nervous. After I talked to the other participants, I became even more nervous because most of them can speak Hakka fluently. After giving my speech in front of the judges, I knew I wouldn’t win the speech contest because I forgot some words. I wasn’t disappointed. On the contrary, I was proud of myself for finishing the competition. Although I wasn’t the champion, I still participated in the Hakka speech contest held by I-Lan City Board of Education. The winner of the contest was unable to take part in that contest; therefore, the school asked me if I wanted to take part in the contest. This time I said yes immediately since I thought this would definitely be one of my most special memories.

At last, I got the second place in the Hakka speech contest held by I-Lan City. From this experience, I realized what “Just Do It” meant. To tell the truth, I never thought that I would receive this award. A person like me who doesn’t speak Hakka could defeat others who speak Hakka through constant practice. Everything is possible if we believe it. I am really thankful to my teachers and my classmates. Without their encouragement, I wouldn’t have made up my mind to give it a try. Besides, I was very appreciative to my mom for her supporting me all the time. After that, the results were not always the most important thing to me. I think believing that everything is possible is the most precious lesson that I have learned from this experience.