收获流利英语，走上人生巅峰

——记“枫叶杯”赛前高中校区培训会

春回大地，万物复苏，我校的各项英语活动也在如火如荼地开展。一年一度的“枫叶杯”希望之星英语风采大赛武汉市决赛即将在我校举行。而一向英语能力突出的枫叶学子们，正在积极备赛。

During the days which the spring is returning to the earth and everything is embracing vitality, Maple Leaf International School is also actively holding various kinds of English activities. The annual Wuhan final round of “Maple Leaf Cup” Star of Outlook English Talent Competition will be held in our school in April. The Maple Leaf students who always have the outstanding English skills are preparing for it now.

2018年3月22日晚，我们请来了本次比赛的资深评委薛老师，为我校高一高二的参赛选手们进行了赛前培训指导。

On the evening of March 22^nd, 2018, we invited experienced judge of this competition, Ms. Xue, to conduct a pre-competition training course for our high school contestants.

薛老师首先为学生们简要梳理了赛前的准备工作。英语的学习从来不是一蹴而就，它是一个长期积累学习的过程，对于第二外语的学生来说，尤其如此。平时不仅要训练单词量、句型，还需要注意语音、语调、语速和停顿，同时还要学会训练自己的记忆力。有了良好的语感与记忆能力，学生再尝试用英语做演讲，出口成章，口若悬河，就不再是问题。

Initially, Ms. Xue briefly introduced the preparatory work for the students. Learning English is never a piece of cake, but a process of long-term accumulation of learning, especially for the second-language learners. It is not enough to train words and sentence structures, but also to pay attention to pronunciation, intonation, speech rate, and pause. At the same time, we must learn how to train our memory. With a good sense of language and the ability to remember, then, it’s not so difficult for the students to make a speech in English with good eloquence and fluency.

之后薛老师针对本次比赛的三个环节，依次为学生介绍了准备的方法和应对的技巧。比赛的第一个环节是自我介绍，薛老师说这是一个让选手用一分钟的时间向考官推荐自己的机会。比赛的第二个环节是演讲展示。在这个环节中，薛老师以讲中国的旗袍为例，从旗袍的起源，旗袍的运用，旗袍的美三个点着手，给学生们展示了如何就《我眼中的中国文化》这个话题做清晰陈述。比赛的最后一个环节是即兴演讲。关于这个环节，很多选手都很紧张。薛老师表示，这个环节大家应该放轻松，无论拿到什么样的话题，都必须保证自己在和评委交流。Afterwards, Ms. Xue introduced the preparation methods and the coping skills for the students according to the three stages of the competition. The first part of the competition is self-introduction. Ms. Xue said that this part was a chance for the contestants to sale oneself to the judges in one minute. The second part is a speech presentation. In this session, Ms. Xue showed how to make a good speech about the topic of Chinese Culture in My Eyes. Ms. Xue took the Chinese cheongsam as an example and said that the contestants could present the Chinese cheongsam in detail from the following three aspects, including the origin of the cheongsam, the use of the cheongsam, and the elegance of cheongsam. The last part of the competition is an spontaneous speech. Many contestants are nervous about this part. However, Ms.Xue said that all the contestants should relax in this part and ensure that no matter what kind of topic he or she got, one must ensure that he was communicating with the judges.  

培训结束后，同学们紧紧簇拥在薛老师周围，询问了关于比赛的即兴演讲环节应该如何应对，话题应该如何选择等问题，现场气氛非常热烈。

After the training course, the students surrounded Ms. Xue asking about how to prepare the spontaneous speech and how to choose a topic, actively.

最后预祝选手们好好准备，秀出自我，通过“枫叶杯”这样的平台收获流利英语，走上人生巅峰！

Finally, wish all the contestants make full preparation to show themselves, gain fluency in English and set feet on the way to the top of their lives!