On the evening of April 13th, the Upgrading Launch Ceremony of English Corner was held in the Tangdao Bay multifunctional hall, with Youth League Committee, Office of Academic Affairs and College of Arts as the joint organizers and English Learning and Intercultural Communication Association as the undertaker. Zhang Zhan, secretary of Youth League Committee, Zhang Yongning, secretary of Party Committee, Han Shuqin, deputy dean of College of Arts, Pan Lixia, Party secretary of English Language&Literature Department, Fu Xiao, deputy secretary of Youth League Committee of our college, association mentor Wei Chao, foreign teachers Constantin and Katie and over 150 students took part in this activity. League secretary Zhang Zhan and Party secretary Zhang Yongning unveiled the plaque, which kicked off the whole activity.
Themed as “Travel and Encounter”, this activity adopted an utterly new model where students were divided into ten groups by random cards and entry posters.
The first part of free discussion saw heated discussions among students centering travel fun and gains. Foreign teachers Katie and Constantine also joined the conversion, earnestly listening to students’ introduction to their hometown scenery and specialty food, and sharing their own travel experiences and views of differences between East and West.
Then, English lovers discussed the topic “Where do you want to go, but there is no chance to go?”. Student Cui Huihui said: “I am looking forward to appreciating the poetic scene of the Inner Mongolia prairie, it’s a pity I have no chance.”
In the subsequent game part, students practiced oral English with great joy, and it evoked their enthusiasm for learning English. During the talent show, Constantine's daughter introduced herself in fluent Chinese and sang Halo with the daughters of other foreign teachers. Yan Shiwei, who majored in International Trade, sang the song All too well for everyone, winning the students’ applause.
After the activity, Yu Haiqi from the College of Materials said: “Participating in the English Corner will allow me to communicate with foreign teachers and improve my oral English.” Foreign teacher Constantine said: “It’s a great experience that so many students take an active part in the activity.” Han Shuqin, deputy dean of College of Arts said: “It is the first time we hold English Corner in Qingdao Campus. We hope we could inherit the foreign language learning atmosphere in the Foreign Language Village of Dongying Campus and we hope we could keep our learning passion.
Translators:Jia Wenyi, Wang Minmin, Li Yunting
Proofreader: Xu Baohua
Tutor: Xu Baohua