Selina and I leave soon - a 7 week adventure - thanks for all the support

[The Choonies]

The British Council write "

We are happy with everything. Selina can safely tell her friends. We'll be announcing the results at the end of next week (13th) on our website.

I am delighted to tell you that Selina has in fact won the first prize in the 8 -11 category of the Languages for the Games competition. 

Selina has won a trip to London at the start of the Paralympic Games. We will be organising a small tour to various London and Olympic highlights. Selina should be accompanied by a parent or guardian. As I said, we will be in contact very soon to organise details including visas etc."

 

 

To comment then hear the latest version of the song - here you can see details about the song.

http://music.weibo.com/t/i/100039544.html

Click on the triangle on Selina's picture.

The best student I have ever had and ever will have,

British Council International Competition - Languages for the games - The Paralympics 2012 in London.

With the only Chinese entry, Selina is up against strong entries from 29 different countries from 5 continents.

For over 4 years Selina has been taught by Martin Hendrick from ME school. She has learned both English and PowerPoint really well and she has been taught how to cartoon quite well too, as well as many other skills.

So it was with great delight that we found and entered "Languages for the games" - a competition for 8-11 year olds run by the British Council for the Paralympic games in London this summer. All entries had to be in by 31st of May midnight. The theme is - my hero or heroine.

It is a strong entry and Selina has drawn all the images and created all the animation by herself.

The song she sings was written by Martin Hendrick called "You are my heroine" with the words she has learned in her research for this project.

Her heroine in Qian Hongyan who lost both her legs at the age of three is such a inspiring story and I urge you to research it on the internet - it will truly move you.

She is sometimes referred to as the basketball girl.

She is from Yunnan province and goes to the Yunzhinan Swimming Club. Qian Hongyan is 16 now and is swimming in this years 2012 Paralympic games in London, England for the first time.

Selina herself is a great swimmer too. It's her best sport and her favorite pastime.

Selina goes to Dong Bei Shi Da Fu Xiao in central Changchun, Jilin province and also ME School for private one-to-one classes. There she works with her Scottish English teacher Martin both for English and IT, especially Microsoft packages such as PowerPoint and Word. Martin is also an artist and musician so both of these skills are highly featured in Selina's classes.

Selina has just turned 12 so Qian Hongyan is just a little older and a great inspiration to Selina. She is very excited about the Olympics and Paralympics.

Selina too is really a very special child with such a beautiful nature combined with an amazing creative mind and always curious and desperate to learn and it has been a pleasure to work with her.

Click here to see Selina's entry on the British Council

Just received notification today from the British Council. This is great news as she will now win some level of prize with the first prize being an all expenses-paid 4 day trip to the Paralympics with pocket money for 2 people, with opportunities to meet the athletes and visit the Olympic Village. But any prize in an International competition is a great achievement for her.

Latest development - British Council want to contact Selina's family directly and also verify her age. All easy enough to do. It all looks good - maybe not top prize but could be in the top 3.

They have emailed 4 times today with questions and confirmations. All very exciting.

Click here for Selina's entry on the British Council site Here you can see her PowerPoint presentation and hear the first version of the song recorded by her on her computer using just PowerPoint.

The English for the games British Council site is here

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games/com...

London 20012 Paralympics Site is here

http://www.london2012.com/paralympics/sports/

The London Olympics Site is here

http://www.london2012.com/

Sina news in English

http://english.sina.com/

Thec Global Education site for the Olympic games is here

https://getset.london2012.com/en/get-set-goes-global/international-...

To comment then hear the latest version of the song - here you can see details about the song.

Click on the triangle on Selina's picture.

http://music.weibo.com/t/i/100039544.html

To just hear the latest version of the song which is now on the weibo charts

http://music.weibo.com/t/player.php?songids=100039544&songlist=...

[CCF Beijing]

Great work Martin

[The Choonies]

I've just shared a few things from CCF to Facebook and twitter. So easy. We should be doing a lot more of this.

[Lee McCrone]

We all cant wait t welcome you home and meet Jing Wen, Thomas and Selina x Your sister Lee, Ali and Katie Qiu

[Carrie Sheng]

Can't wait to see this great news  launched on official website for both Selina and ME SCHOOL. All good luck to Selina and ME SCHOOL .. Cheer up !

[Mary Sun]

Thank you so much Martin. Thank you for the hard work you did for our school and get this greatest, fantastic rewards for Selina and ME SCHOOL . Thank you for being such a great father for Thomas, all the happiest, unforgetable time you spent with him, the best way of teaching you created for him. We are so lucky to have you in our life. I love you!

[The Choonies]

Final poster before I leave. Thanks for all the help and I'll keep in touch.

[The Choonies]

British Council have just confirmed that Selina and her presentation have been vetted and accepted, and that my school has been vetted and accepted as a fully registered and licensed school. Mary's hard work getting through all the very difficult license procedures has really paid off.

[The Choonies]

Thanks David. Also Thanks to the Changchun Live team - Matt and Ferney for giving Selina her first English interview - a bit of a challenge for Selina but she coped well and now has a good idea of what future interviews will be like. It also helped me greatly to know and see what I must do to coach over the next 7 weeks before she goes to the Paralympics - we leave very soon to start first with a week in Beijing, then 2 weeks at a Summer Camp near London and then another 3 weeks living with an English family and attending an English school and finally the Paralympics - so she has plenty of time to practice. What an adventure for a young girl!!!

[David Emmerson Nicholson]

Congratulations. Obviously Selina is very talented but this just goes to show how foriegners such as Martin can influence , nuture and develop the learning process of young chinese minds to their full potential.

[Carrie Sheng]

Congratulations! Martin & Selina. You won such a unbelievable prize. The big moment is coming to you now.