Children learning Chinese at Hove Park Primary School win competition..

Students' Mandarin leaves rivals red-faced
By Ruth Morgan
Argus Lite 26 May 2008

William Page, 12, shows off his Chinese skills at Hove Park School. Youngsters left their rivals tongue-tied to scoop a top prize at a national language competition.

While many students may turn pale at the difficult task of learning another language, students from Hove Park School showed off their skills to secure a prize at the National Chinese Mandarin Reading contest.

The event was held at the University of Westminster and was entered by more than 26 schools, colleges and universities from across the country.

The six competitors from Hove Park had only been learning the complex language for eight months but managed to beat off competition from 23 other institutions including a University of Sussex team to come third in the non-native speakers category.

The children read out poetry, prose and stories at the event to take home the coveted trophy.Of the 26 institutions that took part, only six were able to walk away with a prize.
In addition to Hove Park's success, pupil Nicola Burt, 14, added to the team triumph, winning a third place individual prize.