On the afternoon of 24 November, the 6th Coffee Time 2022 (No. 14) Academic and Cultural Exchange event themed “Be Grateful for the New Era, Forge Ahead on a New Journey” was held in R. 102, Dianzi Building. Prof. Chang Xiaomei, Vice Dean of Joint Science College, SDU was present and delivered a speech. Teachers from the academic English teaching group and a foreign teacher, Lizelle, attended in person, together with over 90 2022 cohort students attending online and onsite. The event was hosted in English by 2022 cohort biology major student, Sun Haowei.
At the outset of the event, Chang Xiaomei shared her interpretation of the meaning of gratitude by quoting sayings of famous Chinese and western people, encouraging the students to understand and carry forward the fine traditional Chinese culture, and take up the responsibility to do their bit for the shared future for the mankind and the world peace by learning more about cultures while working hard at their disciplinary subjects and gaining more cultural confidence to present to the world stories of China and of the new era they are living in.
The event consisted of four parts including learning English expressions of President Xi Jinping’s report on traditional Chinese culture at the 20th National Congress of CPC, fun games on the topic of Thanksgiving Day, writing grateful words on the love stickers to put on the love wall, and learning sign language while singing the song “You Raise Me Up”. The students participated with great enthusiasm and passion. They learned attentively both traditional Chinese culture of gratitude with a long history and also the western custom of Thanksgiving Day. In the game part, all the group members worked together cooperatively and creatively. Their performances brought about cheerful atmosphere, with bursts of laughter and applause. Then the students wrote down their sincere thanks to whom they want to for what they have done to them on the stickers and put them on the love wall. The event reached its climax while all the teachers and students in the room were learning sign language and singing the song “You Raise Me Up”. The hand gestures expressed love and encouragement and warmed the attendees' hearts.
This event is aimed to widen the students’ global vision, improve their culture literacy and communicative competence. It is to inspire them to answer the call of the party to shoulder the mission of striving for national rejuvenation, and make their contributions to enhancing China's cultural soft power.
