Judges were impressed with the standard at this year's Rotorua inter-schools Chinese Speech Competition where more than 100 students took part.
Held at the Waiariki Institute of Technology Mokoia campus last week, it was the 14th year of the competition and provided an opportunity for children to showcase their talent at Chinese speechmaking, organiser Laytee George said.
"We had 109 students all together with 16 schools participating. Today we have 25 schools in Rotorua, through to Reporoa and stretching to Tokoroa that have Chinese in their curriculum," Mrs George said.
![Western Heights High School student Stevie Dawson was runner-up in the Year 12 and Year 13 category.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/LFLKRQUEOELCDBNJR2WMIPUBVU.jpg?auth=26026b4114e11640f2377d63cf8f81d514d891d56936cb469a33e93c9439d6d6&width=16&height=10&quality=70&smart=true)
"The highlights for me was how the judges continue to say how blown away they were with the standard, not only the delivery but the pronunciation and content - we're looking at children as young as Year 3. Two of the judges learnt Chinese as university students and they said in their first year they were unable to do the things they saw the students do and wished they had the same head start."