3D (15-16) Tsoi Ho Wan
Putonghua Day was held in your school recently. In no less than 250 words, write an article to the Young Post to report what happened that day. Give the article an attention-grabbing title.
‘Putong’ but important
Nowadays in Hong Kong, Putonghua becomes a part of ‘Tri-lingualism’, which means ‘Cantonese, English and Putonghua’. The study of Putonghua is compulsory in Hong Kong’s education system. Though Putonghua is not our major language, all students are required to achieve the fundamental level. Thus, my school holds some events to promote the learning of Putonghua and one of them is called ‘Putonghua Day’.
Putonghua Day serves the purpose of improving students’ language skills in Putonghua. Frankly the students in my school only speak Putonghua during the Putonghua lessons (I’m not an exception) and no more Putonghua can be heard after the lesson. However, Putonghua Day can totally change this circumstance. Nearly all the teachers and students used Putonghua frequently on Putonghua Day. Besides the lesson time, I could also hear many of the students try hard to communicate with others in Putonghua no matter whether their Putonghua was fluent or not. Besides, some of the senior form students served as the Putonghua ambassadors and tried to encourage the other students to speak in Putonghua. The activities which were held on Putonghua Day were mainly organized by them. For instance, some activities were related to ‘Pinyin’, which taught the students to translite the Chinese words. All the students enjoy the activities enormously and they put tremendous effort in practising Putonghua that day.
The most popular game or activity must be ‘Tongue Twister’. It was quite challenging for students as many of us were not fluent in Putonghua. Though it was difficult and some students were getting frustrated, they kept trying until they could overcome the challenge. Their sense of accomplishment was clearly shown on their faces and it was a beautiful scene. With the gift coupon given by the Putonghua ambassadors, the successful challengers could redeem a small gift. ‘Tongue Twister’ was such a success that it could encourage the students to speak difficult words and overcome the fear of mispronouncing the words. It was really a golden opportunity to let me and other students know how to communicate better in Putonghua.
Putonghua is such an important language in the world nowadays. Being proficient in it can give us a competitive edge. Thanks to Putonghua Day, we can learn this ‘common’ but important language in a relaxing way.