Young reporters in the spotlight at Xiamen English competition finals

“Can you give us a brief introduction of the grading criteria this year?”

“What advice would you give to students who want to take part in the competition next year?”

“What is the significance of this competition for English teaching and learning?”

These are some of the questions you might have heard primary school students asking in fluent English if you were at the finals of the Individual Groups C and D of the 2018 Young Ambassadors Xiamen Youth English Proficiency Competition on May 20.

These students are in fact young reporters of the city’s official website xmnn.cn, on the premises to interview the judges of the competition.

Their professionalism and the relevancy of their questions won them high praises from the judges and other participants.

The Young Reporter team is a nonprofit association created by the city’s only official English website xmenglish.cn. It aims to uncover young and promising journalist talents and provide a learning platform for all students from the city’s primary and secondary schools.

Most of the young reporters' parents believed that the interview was a valuable experience for the children, helping them to build confidence and learn journalist etiquette.

The organizers revealed that all young reporters and winners of the competition would be invited by the Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Xiamen Municipal Government to attend various foreign affairs in Xiamen, including concerts and art performances by sister cities, culture and art exhibitions, special promotions and ceremonies.