导语：本文为2009年CCTV杯全国大学生英语演讲大赛(现“外研社杯”全国英语演讲大赛)云南师范大学文理学院带队老师邓国栋对对大赛的回顾。

　　It came as quite a surprise to both Shelley (Tan Siwei) and me that she ended up being in the third place in Yunnan’s provincial competition. I always knew she might be in top five due to her quite good pronunciation and the delivery overall，and luck was obviously on her side as well. As a matter of fact, luck had always been on her side since the very first day of the audition in our college in early September。

　　After I came back from my Georgetown study in August, 2009, I was assigned with the task of selecting and training one contestant for the C.A.S. (the College of Arts and Sciences)， Yunnan Normal University. And, I was determined to make it a school-wide campaign rather than an activity only for the elite club. The first audition draw about 100 participants on Nov., 3. This was considered relatively a lot, given the fact that both the students and I only had about two to three days for preparation. One thing should be noted, as quite a nice surprise to me, was the enthusiasm from the freshmen and sophomores。

　　30 students were selected after the first audition and immediately after that, they were trained with their pronunciation and how to write a good speech, executed by my colleagues, Mr. Wang, Julia and Judy. For the next three weekends following that, each Saturday was the day for their further training ranging from how to make a logical impromptu speech to how to answer judges’ questions, while each Sunday was for a new round of elimination. At the end of September, we had our top five。

　　It was decided that a grand finale would be held on the new campus of our college to attract more young English learners to observe this event and possibly take a few things out of the competition. However, just about one day before the event, it was told that there would be a blackout at that night. The deadline for the submission of our college’s contest was drawing near and too many logistic adjustments would have to be made for a sudden change of the date or time. The only option left for us was to go ahead and hold the last round of on-campus competition without any light。

　　The room was soon crowded with excited students, among whom there were supporters for each contestant. As the darkness was looming, the audience voluntarily took out their cell phones and used the light from them to illuminate the room. After the competition, all the judges joked that that night would probably be the most memorable one in their professional judging life。

　　Anyhow, that was the night when Shelley stood out to be the one for the C.A.S. What was awaiting was even more work. I immediately began to do further minor editing on her speech and she spent her national holiday with an American friend of hers for a better English speaking environment while being asked to watch some past performances in “CCTV” cup。

　　We had another round of practice right on the day before Oct., 18, the Final day in Yunnan Province. To be frank, neither of us had too much expectation. When I was asked of the possible outcome by my colleagues, the only response I gave was that there was likely to be a breakthrough. (For the previous two years, the C.A.S. came in the third prize。) After that, what happened became known to all。

　　As a not-so-prestigious university, Shelley’s victory came as both a shock and excitement. Many of the students in the college watched her performance on CCTV and later said to me that they never knew they were so close to something so surreal. More interestingly, my fellow faculty members feel the same motivation。

　　To better organize the competition at university level and to consistently achieve satisfactory outcomes, I have proposed to set up a team, specifically designed to train students with their skills in public speaking and debate right after our trip to Beijing. It should be noted that most of the Chinese students lack proper abilities to do critical and logical thinking, which are crucial foundations for participation in any competition like “CCTV” Cup. It takes more than a month, even one semester, to effectively foster such abilities. In a longer term, I have also suggested that such skills should be incorporated into the curriculum of our university for language majors. For example, business English major students are supposed to take courses like “Business Negotiation” when they have reached junior year. The two proposals are being seriously considered by the senior leadership in our university and most likely to be approved and executed soon。

　　I would like to thank the “CCTV” Cup for giving schools like the C.A.S. a chance to present itself on a national stage and also for being one particular facilitator of the teaching reforms。(云南师范大学文理学院 邓国栋)