In the first year of 2019, our college ended the examination for the recommended students in foreign language and literature, in which many outstanding high school seniors from different foreign language schools in China became the first group of 2019 undergraduate freshmen through the strict selection test. More than 20 of them from Wuhan, Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Tianjin, and many other cities were invited to live the culture week supported by our college. This activity was designed to help these recommended students know more about Nankai University and our Foreign Language College, in which they had the opportunities to see the youth and vigor in NKU students as well as the charms of academy and culture of our college. Moreover, they could learn more about our school history and establish their patriotic ideals through this activity. The culture week was distinguished for its “one-two-three steps” as follows.
One means a complete and thorough experience and learning of our school history in foreign languages.
To employ our school history to educate the students, our college’s group of docents made full preparations in advance and introduced our school history in English to these recommended students who are the first group freshmen admitted into NKU in its centennial. Through this activity, we fully displayed our school history and spirits and guided them to know more about NKU’s historical development and the excellent examples of teachers and students. In order to help these students further understand the cultures behind our school, the explaining was performed in an immersive manner and our docents showed them around the campus while telling to them the story of every spot, such as Yan Fansun and Zhang Boling Memorial, Yang Shixian Statue, UCSW Monument, etc. The smooth English commentary seemed to reproduce the history in front of us and led all to that time in which we could clearly see our respectable principal Zhang Boling and our schoolfellow Zhou Enlai striving hard for then country. On such a beautiful sunny day when different kinds of flowers were blooming and the fragrance was oozing, we approached the school’s history and our campus culture and got to learn more about its spirits passed through generations.
Zhang Ruilin from Tianjin Foreign Languages School Affiliated to Tianjin Foreign Studies University, said excitedly: “this is the first time to experience English explaining, the seniors of the docent group are kind and careful. Through their introduction, I have a deeper understanding of NKU’s history and I am really really looking forward to my coming four years in this beautiful campus.”
Two means two professional academic activities.
Aiming to let the recommended students have a much deeper understanding of the possible future of foreign languages and of the status quo of our modern society. Professor Wang Chuanying, a Ph.D. supervisor of our college, gave a lecture on the development of the global language services from the perspective of economics. The lecture was begun with some basic knowledge in economy and one heatedly-discussed topic-globalization, in which he employed plenty of cases and large amounts of data to make the lecture easier to understand. His analysis of the trends of language services around the world was insightful and penetrative. In addition, Professor Wang was so humorous in his speech that now and then they burst into waves of laughter. The whole lecture was fraught with vitality. Two hours rolled by in the laughter, though our recommended students felt like listening much longer time and knowing more about this filed. After the lecture, they huddled together enthusiastically talking about what they had learned through this lecture, some about the relationship of translation and the market, some about Professor Wang golden words.
The final of the 8th National Interpretation Competition in Nankai Campus was held in the Academic Report Hall of our college. Ten candidates who stood out from our school’s amateur interpreters were competing in the final and our recommended students were invited to watch it. The final was composed of three sessions: English-Chinese consecutive interpretation, Chinese-English consecutive interpretation and impromptu speech about politics, economy, technology, culture, etc. Our ten candidates did a really good job in every session and their smooth expression, standard pronunciation, good psychological diathesis and professionalism in languages left a deep impression on our recommended students. They spoke highly of this competition and the candidates’ performance, determined to work much harder in foreign language learning, make much more progress and become cross-disciplinary talents.
Three means three auxiliary activities combining the characteristics of foreign languages and the aim to develop our students’ interests.
To allow our recommended students to experience the cultures of different languages, our college invited them to participate in the garden party themed with “Share Glory with Our One-Century-Old Nankai University”. In this activity, they lingered in front of the ten booths of China, Britain, Japan, etc., where they tasted the international cuisines and played those puzzle games cooked or designed by our teachers and students from both China and other foreign countries. they experienced the exotic customs and traditions in such a lovely atmosphere that they unconsciously learned more about the languages and cultures of different countries. They said that through a series of activities they seemed to have been abroad traveling in person in those countries and had gained so much than expected.
On the same day, the Beijing-Tianjin Invitational Tournament, hosted by the APEX English Debating Society and our college, was held in Oriental Art Building. Debaters from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China and Nankai University
Participated and presented to our audience a wonderful game. Our recommended students listened to the debate carefully. Though sometimes the debaters spoke so fast that it was quite difficult for them to react immediately, they still tried best to capture keywords and pondered on the topic. This game let them know the difficulties ahead in language learning and would motivate them to work more diligently.
In the meantime, our college has always attached great significance to the role of the seniors in guiding the juniors. This time many seniors who were admitted to NKU as recommended students were invited to share their experiences and gains. They gave quite a lot of advice on how to attend minor courses, participate in the international exchange programs, play a good role in various clubs and activities and take part in those contests. In addition, they offered many useful suggestions on how to learn a foreign language well, how to plan in advance for future careers and how to make the fullest of the four years in NKU. The recommended students listened carefully to their seniors and asked many questions they cared about.
An Jingning from Shijiazhuang Foreign Language Education Group said after the meeting: “The experience sharing is of great importance to me and lets me know what I should do to achieve my goals in the future four years. I believe I will make the most of every minute in the coming half a year and bring the best in me.”
After two days in our campus, Li Peining from Wuhan Foreign Language School said: “through all these activities I know more about our college and what efforts are needed in the future to be a qualified NKUer. I am so looking forward to my college life in NKU.”
