The Department of Portuguese under the University of Macau (UM) Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FAH) today (30 November 2021) held the 19th Portuguese Speech Contest. The event aimed to promote Portuguese language studies, increase students’ interest in learning Portuguese, and reward the best-performing students. UM student Che Chong Hei won the championship in this event.

Students from the Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM), and UM participated in the contest. All participants went through a rigorous selection process. The topic of this year’s competition was ‘The times are changing, and the will is changing.’ All contestants were interviewed by a panel of experts and public figures to improve their Portuguese comprehension and speaking skills. The second place and the third place went to Yang Hou Pan from UM and Chen Wangying from Macao Polytechnic Institute, respectively. The Excellence Award went to He Yijia from the Macau University of Science and Technology.

The Portuguese Speech Contest is an annual event organised by the Department of Portuguese. The prizes for this year’s contest were sponsored by local donors, namely the Macao Foundation, Tribuna de Macau, Orient Foundation (Fundação Oriente), and the Banco Nacional Ultramarino. The Macao Post Office and the Macau Government Tourism Office also sponsored gifts for the participants.