After weeks of preparation and practice and a full week of competition in which 110 teams competed, nine teams, listed in alphabetical order: Aston, Berkeley, Calgary, Houston, Kent, Liverpool, Montana, Queens and York, entered the Finals of the Choral Speaking Competition on 27 March in the Staff and Student Activities Centre.
The nine teams took to the stage to present poems solo and acappella with rich harmonies. Three teams were chosen for first, second, and third place: Liverpool, Calgary and Houston respectively.
Prof. M. Y. Chan, Associate Vice President, hands pennants to the winning teams. The lead speaker of Liverpool (right in the first photo) was in tears and almost couldn’t believe that they scored number one.
The event, organised by the English Language Centre, was in its third year. Mr. John L Halstead, Choral Committee Chair, thanked the 2,389 Year 1 and Year 2 students for “making the Competition the best ever.”
Every team’s wonderful performance made the venue a full house.
Prof. M. Y. Chan, Associate Vice President; Prof. Eva Lai, Director of ELC; and Dr. Dave Towey, Deputy Director of ELC were invited to join the judges, students and teachers for the wonderful performances. The final, as in previous years, with its display of articulation and projection of the student voices was very impressive. Dr. Towey said at the event.
It is a rather inspired idea to speak English.
The first poem, a Song of Hope, was performed by York. Members marched onto the stage with red ribbons on their wrists and yelled: “The world is waking for a bright new day”. They popped salvos to finish off with a bang.
York finished off their performance with a bang.
First place went to Liverpool with the presentation of True Love. Xiao Wanen, a Year 2 student from the Public Relations and Advertising Programme, led the winning team. They precisely expressed their affection on stage and Xiao and others thoroughly captured the spirit of the poem and the thought of whether true love does ever exist. “I and other fellow schoolmates came up with the performing style, and the rest of the team were very supportive. We had been practicing every day one week before the preliminary started and that made us not feel nervous during the final competition.” said Xiao, with excitement.
First place went to Liverpool with their presentation of True Love.
Calgary recited I Carry Your Heart with Me. The cute lead speaker sat down facing the audience with a drum. Xue Kangni, who studies in the Government and International Relations Programme, said that the idea of using the drum came from an enchanting heartbeat when one falls in love.
Calgary recited I Carry Your Heart with Me.
Berkeley also talked about love.
Berkeley, dressed as hipsters, also talked about love. “I carry your heart in my heart. Anywhere I go you go…” Their romantic rhythms with handmade hearts filled the room with delight.
Montana, Aston and Houston performed Funeral Blues with appropriate grief. Montana shouted with anger while Aston girls, in little black dresses, tiptoed to the stage where a man was lying in the middle. They were holding daisies and mourning the death, when the man suddenly awoke as if he was brought back to life by their words, and said: "for nothing now can ever come to any good."
Third place winner, Houston, did the same poem in a different way. In black formal attire, they voiced the poem in a quick and hysteric beat, shouting out for the loss of great love. Montana sorrowed in low and deep but loud tones.
Third place winner, Houston, voiced Funeral Blues in a quick and hysteric beat, shouting out for the loss of great love. 
Montana (below) shouted with anger while Aston (above) girls, in little black dresses, tiptoed to the stage where a man was lying in the middle.
Kent was in the most orderly costumes as they presented the Moment to the audience, and Queens performed Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. Members of Queens stood on stage with bells, dried tree branches, and umbrellas to picture a scene of the Nordic frost and to show the poet’s deep concern for Nature.
Kent decided to go green (above) and Queens (below) used props for a snowy scene.
Dr. Towey said he was really very proud of UIC students for their enthusiasm and creativity: “The delivery of some of the choral pieces was truly imaginative and effective. Some comments I heard from the audience indicated how much of an impact the groups had. The ability to capture the original feeling of the author and add to it the interpretation of the group, and in such a novel manner, was perhaps the most impressive part of the Choral Speaking competition for me.”
Not only does choral speaking provide essential learning of English vocabulary and structures, it also allows students to learn English as a group where the pressures on individuals to perfect English speaking are removed. The development of teamwork in achieving the end result is an essential part of choral speaking and should be regularly highlighted to the students. Prof. Chan remarked.
UIC’s Choral Speaking Competition has been seen as a means of improving students’ spoken English. It is the art of using various tones and voices in unison to reproduce a piece of poetry or prose that highlights, through performance, the picture and the sentiment that the writer envisioned.
“The poets would be so proud and pleased if only they were still alive,” Prof. Lai concluded.
Reporter: Sze Ying Cheong
Photographer: Cai Mengqi, Wei Xiao, Irene Yu
(from MPRO, with special thanks to IJ Programme and the ELC)
