SM Tenom overall champion in Chinese Poetry Declamation Competition
KOTA KINABALU: Chinese language teachers have been urged to pass down ethnic culture, including poetry declamation, which is regarded as a cultural heritage, whilst imparting knowledge to students.
Lai Heuy Yann, State Education Department assistant director of Chinese Language of the academic management sector, said poetry declamation was an artistic expression.
The reciter, she said, communicates thoughts and content of a poem through enunciation and body language, with the aim to create resonance among the audience.
Lai said this at the prize presentation ceremony of the statelevel Chinese Poetry Declamation Competition for secondary schools here yesterday.
The competition was jointly organized by State Education Department, Federation of Sabah Chinese Women Associations and Chinese language teachers of secondary schools in Sabah.
Lai said the students who took part in the competition should give themselves a 'Like', referring to the thumbs up sign on Facebook, as they possessed an extra ability to recite poems.
In the process, she said the participants would learn how to appreciate a poem's content and composition, which would be helpful as they learn the Chinese language.
On the other hand, Lai said the competition was a major event for Chinese language teachers and students who took up Chinese language in Sabah.
“There are not many Chinese courses organized by the Education Department, therefore (Chinese language) teachers rarely have the opportunity to gather on top of their hectic teaching schedule.
“This time every year is when the teachers from various districts in Sabah meet and catch up.
“For students who opted to study Chinese language, today is their time to showcase their ability in poetry declamation and win the opportunity to represent our State to compete in the nationallevel competition in Perlis this October.
Meanwhile, Federation of Sabah Chinese Women Associations president cum event chairperson, Datuk Agnes Shim, said poetry was an expression of culture for many races in their literature development.
Ancient poems, Shim said, was a means for the literati to express their thoughts.
She believed that poetry declamation would learn more about the composition, artistic achievements and aesthetic of language used, thereby enhancing their Chinese language.
Shim added that poetry declamation was a cultural heritage and she urged teachers and students to work hard in organizing the poetry declamation contest to preserve the Chinese culture.
SM Tenom emerged as the overall champion of the competition upon winning the first place in the lower secondary category and third place in the higher secondary category.
The first runner-up of the lower secondary category went to a student from Kota Kinabalu High while the third place went to SM All Saints.
Meanwhile, SMK Tawau won the first place in the higher secondary category, followed by Kota Kinabalu High School as the first runner-up.
Also present was organizing chairperson Chin Siew Ket.