On December 15th, the Northern California Chinese School Association held the “MasterChef Creative Video Contest” awards ceremony at the South Bay Overseas Chinese Education Center in Northern California. The event showcased six champion works from participants who delivered creative and engaging performances, generating laughter and earning enthusiastic applause from the audience.
This event is one of the cultural activities promoted by the Overseas Community Affairs Council in Taiwan, aiming to encourage overseas students to integrate Chinese learning into their daily lives through creative competitions. By incorporating the preparation of Taiwanese cuisine, the event not only enhances language skills but also deepens cultural identity and promotes family bonding.
The President of the Northern California Chinese School Association, Naia Lee, expressed that her primary mission after assuming the presidency is to create a platform for children to showcase their learning achievements. Through the “MasterChef Creative Video Contest,” children are encouraged to integrate creativity and fun while incorporating Chinese into their daily lives, thus achieving practical application of their language skills.
Suzie Chuang, the director of the Overseas Chinese Education Center, emphasized the significance of the event. Children not only expressed their creativity in Chinese through video production but also experienced Taiwanese culture, enhancing parent-child interactions. She extended her gratitude to the Northern California Chinese School Association for providing this platform, giving children and TCML students the opportunity to showcase their learnings and encouraging everyone to continue learning Mandarin.
The contest comprised six age groups: Elementary School Group A, Group B, Middle School Group, High School Group, Parent-Child Group, and TCML Group. The judging panel included public speaking expert and Fremont City Councilor Yang Shao, Chef Jianxuan Li, and professional anchor Zhibin Zhang.
Parsa Aldavood Zolyad, a student at the Cloud Chinese School and a member of FASCA, produced a video titled “Breakfast for Dad” under the guidance of mentor Anton Chen. The video, in which the entire family participated, including grandma, dad, sister, and even the pet goose and orange tree at home, portrayed a heartwarming scene of the family working together and successfully won the championship in the High School Group.
Isadora Wang from the Fremont Chinese School clinched the first place in the Middle School Group. In her video, she demonstrated how to make her favorite beef noodles with props and cheekily teased her mother, leaving the audience amused. She mentioned practicing over ten times at home to prepare for the competition.
Ani from the AIFEIYANG Chinese School, who had been learning Chinese for only eight months, won first place in the TCML Group. Using cards, she introduced the process of making a cake. Principal Shengling Shan mentioned that Ani first wrote her lines in English, which were translated by Google and then revised with the help of her teacher. Remarkably, despite the event transitioning to online, all Chinese characters in her video were handwritten by Ani herself.
The awards ceremony was live-streamed simultaneously on the ANCCS official website, Facebook, and YouTube. Additionally, all participants received awards to acknowledge their efforts, dedication, and careful preparations.