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Foreign students contest for Chinese reading in Guangzhou
"Zhōng guó shì wō de dì èr gù Xiāng (China is my second hometown)", in fluent Chinese, accompanied by guitar, 4 foreign students from South China University of Technology (SCUT) won lots of "whoa" on 5th Chinese Reading Contest of Foreign Students on May 13th. The contest, organized by School of International Education (SIE) of SCUT, has attracted nearly 50 foreign students from 22 universities around China.
"I wouldn't recognize it as a foreigner's voice without seeing the speaker's face"! "I bet her Mandarin is even better than many Chinese!" Such remarks are heard frequently from the audience.
Under the theme of "Youth in China", contestants shared their unique Chinese stories. Nguyen Gia Khoa, a Vietnamese student from SCUT talked with passion and emotion about love and care he got from school when he had dengue fever.
It's his second time to take part in the contest. "Last year, I was the guy who helped play PPT, and this year I finally won the chance to speak in the contest and even do my calligraphy", Nguyen Gia Khoa laughed and seemed quite excited after the contest. They wrote their own articles and had prepared this contest for over a week. "Teachers gave us advices and we had rehearsed many many times".
Outside the lecture hall, contestants took the last minute to practice. "Hǎo Jǐn Zhāng! (So nervous)", South African Abner from Beijing University of Technology couldn't help letting out a cry. But when on the stage, he controlled himself and his humorous performance evoked a shout of laughter.
Singing, dancing, guitar, calligraphy and painting performance and even Chinese rap, foreign students played all their cards to demonstrate themselves. Finally, three teams from SCUT, Southwest University and Zhejiang Normal University won the first prize.
"It is a platform for foreign students to communicate and know more about China", according to Anran, Dean of SIE.
SCUT to boost Chinese education for foreign students
On May 12ed morning, a forum about International Communication of Chinese Language under Multicultural Horizon opened in SCUT. Organized by School of International Education of SCUT, nearly 100 scholars from 50 universities around the nation had attended. They discussed issues of Chinese education for foreign students and shared their experience.
"In the new situation of international communication, other than our characteristic science and engineering majors, SCUT is also developing multicultural subjects such as Chinese language education for foreign students", Zhu Min, vice president of SCUT addressed on the forum, "We have cooperated with Lancaster University and the University of Idaho to establish two Confucius Institutes".
SIE focuses on cultivating excellent academic foreign students. One of its Thailand student's master essay was awarded as Outstanding Essay of Master Degree in Guangdong in 2011, a reward which is hard to get even for Chinese students, Dean Anran introduced proudly. Since its establishment in 2004, SIE has enjoyed steady growth and has expanded both its number of student and teaching and researching strength.