Published on: 16 October 2015



In the final weeks of Term 3, four Christ Church boys took part in the annual Chinese speaking competition held in the Alexander Theatre at UWA. The competition is open to students who are learning Chinese as a second language with no prior knowledge of the language.

In the Year 7 division, Anthony Friars was awarded second place and Scott Caporn third place.

Nicholas Patrekios and Alex Rippey represented Christ Church in the Year 8 division and Nicholas was awarded first place for his excellent fluency and pronunciation.

The students worked hard for several weeks practising and memorising short speeches about their families. They spoke about their soccer-mad fathers, mischievous younger brothers, bossy elder sisters, family interests and skiing holidays abroad.

Language teacher Phillipa Nock said each student spoke fluently and with excellent pronunciation.

“The boys included humour in their speeches and there were many laughs from the audience members who understood what was being said. Even those who spoke no Chinese left the competition knowing how to say Dad and Mum in Mandarin!”