From December 4th to 11th, the 2015 "FLTRP Cup" National English Public Speaking Contest was successfully held at the Beijing FLTRP International Convention Centre. 124 contestants from 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan participated in the national finals and have presented a feast of thinking and language. After a week of intense competition, Li Xiaozhen, student of French major of Class 2013 from IBC, finally won the third prize of the 2015 "FLTRP Cup" English Public Speaking Contest National Finals, which has also helped IBC achieve the best record in history.

The National Finals of the "FLTRP Cup" English Public Speaking Contest brought together numerous exceptional contestants both from the national ground and online competitions, including English elites from well-known universities such as Tsinghua University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Fudan University, as well as many English majors. Li Xiaozhen stood out from over 5,700 online contestants and entered the national finals. It was the first time IBC student was in the finals arena. Her speech revolved around the traditional Chinese story "The Seeds of Gourd",which contains the implication of exploring the potential value of things. Aiming at the pragmatism supremacy, an unhealthy social value in today’s society, she expounds the connotation of ancient Chinese philosopher Chuang-tzu’s saying ‘the usefulness of the useless is the greatest’ combining with her own understanding. And then points out that it is futile to overstate the difference between usefulness and uselessness. It is pleased to see her novel and thought-provoking ideas were quite impressed by the audience, and at the same time the confidence in calmness, beautiful tone and promptness also won her praise when answering the judges’ questions. On the whole, Li’s performance indirectly shows the spirit of diligence and adaptability, which reflects not only the overall level of students’ English proficiency but IBC’s achievements in comprehensively improve students' quality and train talents in multiple dimensions.

Jointly organized by the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, the Advisory Committee for Foreign Language Teaching in Universities of the Ministry of Education, and the Advisory Sub-committee for English Major Teaching in Universities of the Ministry of Education. The "FLTRP Cup" National English Public Speaking Contest has become the largest, most professional and influential competition in China for 14 years since its establishment in 2002. It builds a comprehensive promotion platform for college students to fully show their abilities in foreign language learning, communication and critical thinking. Through learning and interacting with other contestants, students can gain valuable opportunities to broaden their horizons and obtain experience.

Date: 2015-12-25