By ZHOU Xingzi

As the summer is coming, the semester is approaching to the end. The School of Foreign Languages held many different kinds of activities in this semester, including overseas teachers'' lectures, English Corner and the Movie Night. All of these activities serve a purpose to improve students’ English as well as broaden their horizon.

There are six overseas teachers'' lectures in this semester and two of them are Doctor Forums. The lectures and forums have covered all kinds of topics such as history, language, culture, life in the west and entertainment etc. and have aroused great interest of the students and expanded their knowledge in different fields.

Lecture 1: Observations of British Life from 1960 to 1990

Hosted by: Mr. Gerard Brent

Mr. Gerard Brent described the early life of British from different aspects such as the important events happened in the British history, science, fascine and so on, which captured all the students attention successfully.

Lecture 2: Racing: an Overview of Motor sports Worldwide and in Zhuhai

Hosted by: Mr. Joe Nicolas Rudynski

By showing a large number of pictures and videos, Mr. Joe Nicolas Rudynski showed a magical world of motor sports to the students, some of who never had a chance to know about it before. Many students expressed that they would like to visit the circuit in Zhuhai after the lecture.

Lecture 3: Growing up in America

Hosted by: Ms. Cecily Hurst

Growing up is an everlasting topic, and it also touched the students most. Through introducing the life experiences of her children, Ms. Cecily showed a special culture of America and also demonstrated a real America to the students.

Lecture 4: The Relation between Cantonese and Japanese

Hosted by: Mr. Wataru Sato

In the lecture, Mr. Wataru Sato, who is a very popular Japanese teacher in the SFL made good use of his humor and the advantage that he could speak both Chinese, Cantonese and Japanese. All of these merits helped him to hold a “language feast” to students.

Doctor Forum 1: Hyde-ing the problem: what Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde tells us about late Victorian Britain

Hosted by: Dr. Phillip Stevenson

In the Doctor Forum, the attendees mainly came from the graduate school. Dr. Phillip Stevenson introduced his favorably book Jekyll and Hyde and analyzed the condition of British society in the late Victorian-era through the book.

Doctor Forum 2: Chinese-Australian Cultures: Gambling in The Last Chip by Heng Tang

Hosted by: Dr. Maria Sofia Pimentel Biscaia

Dr. Maria Sofia introduced that in the old times, Australia had a so-called “special” notion about multiculturalism. On the one hand they tended to exclude immigrants from their own land, and on the other hand they spread a notion of tolerance to the immigrants. And the movie The Last Chip could show the special background thoroughly and make a further study of the narrow concept of multiculturalism.

Apart from the overseas teachers'' lectures and doctor forums, the English Corner held every Wednesday was also really popular among the students. The topics of the English Corner were always hot spots or close to our daily life. Many students not only improved their oral English but also learned a lot about culture that they could not get from the textbooks. In addition, some other students became a big fan of the Movie Night, which was held every Thursday night. “I can watch movies with my friends here, and it really feels like we are in the cinema,” a feedback of the students represents everyone’s thought of the Movie Night.

For years, the SFL is always committed to encourage students to learn English as a habit in daily life. And the special activities stimulated communication among students and overseas teachers, which helped students speak out after class and use English more frequently in their daily life.