Job Discussion Forums

[the_otter]

I've been asked to be a judge in a speech competition. This is the first time, so before I go and make some huge breach of etiquette or ask the competitors an insensitive/unfair question, I'd like to see if I can minimize the damage by getting some advice from you.

Have you ever judged a speech competition before? What was it like? Any tips?

[mat chen]

Done many. Same problem, the Chinese English teachers try to impress everyone by asking questions the competitors can't answer. They throw people on the stage who go into shock and can't say anything.
My advice is to ask them questions they can answer. Never ask them anything in the least bit political. Keep your scores close. By this I mean keep the difference between the best and the worst a few points.

[sui jin]

Be prepared to give your opinion or to say a few words at the end of the competition. FT judges are often asked to do this, in my experience.

[the_otter]

Thank you, both.

sui jin - thanks for the advanced warning. I hate having speeches dropped on me without warning, which seems to happen rather often in China.

mat chen - thank you. I was already planning to keep the scores close because, weirdly, I will apparently be expected to judge both students from other universities and students who I teach myself. Seems a bit unfair on my students, since unless one of them completely trounces his/her rivals, I'll feel under pressure to be rather mean with the marks.

[nickpellatt]

When I did them a few years back, my marks seemed to run as perfect opposites to the Chinese judges marks. Assuming there is a panel of judges, you marks will just be one of many, and its hard to remain objective (and even interested) when you have heard 10 speeches on the same topic, often copied from the same book. Few of the speeches are self written (IME).

I never prepared questions in advance, I normally asked a question based on the speech itself. If many speeches were the same, I frequently asked similar questions, but re-worded them. Many students couldnt answer, as they had clearly just memorised a passage from a book and had little knowledge of, or opinions on the topic they made their speech on.

[ymmv]

[ymmv]

[rogerwilco]

Many of the speeches are just money and/or popularity contests anyway.
Depending upon the age of the students, many cannot seem to even answer questions related to the topic of their speech.

I try to keep all scores close, with one obvious winner.
It seems as though in many contests they save the best speaker for last.
Just have a short speech prepared thanking them for being invited, that all the speakers were great, and that you love China

[TexasHighway]

I always leave speech competitions stunned at the results. Chinese teachers tend to choose their own students or other favorites to win. Also, some judges ask nonsensical questions in order to impress others with their own perceived English skills.

[the_otter]

Forewarned is forearmed. Thank you, all.