On May 26 2021 the Adult Department at the Confucius Institute at the University of Sheffield gathered to celebrate the End of year event, which was organised to give a special send off to students and teachers at the end of the year.
The event was planned and organized by the Sheffield Confucius Institute and was co-hosted by Duan Zhipeng, an in-house teacher from the Confucius Institute, and Olivia Hodson-Barnes, the SCI Project Coordinator.
In the opening, the two hosts first gave an introduction of the event in both Chinese and English, and then used a short video to show the history and growth of the Sheffield Confucius Institute.
Project Coordinator Olivia then gave a detailed introduction of the programmes and activities available at the SCI, including the virtual summer school, HSK exams, scholarship programs and teacher Duan Zhipeng introduced the language & culture exchange SEC, the Sino-English Corner.
During the main part of the event, students' showcased their great enthusiasm for learning Chinese and their love of Chinese culture through various videos and performances they had prepared. Our student Zin, who has studied with us for two semesters now prepared a vlog that highlighted her love of learning Chinese, watching Chinese TV series and her travels to China in 2019.
Teresa recited the poem "Yi Dong" and demonstrated how far her Chinese language skills have come along. Anisa sang "The Moon Represents My Heart", a Chinese song made famous by singer Theresa Tang. Many of our students and staff also joined in the song as well!
To finish, the multi-talented teacher Zhipeng sang "I miss you so much", a cheerful song which bought so much joy to everyone listening.
The second part was an online quiz designed to test students’ knowledge of China, organised by Teacher Wang Hui and Teacher Duan Zhipeng. In order to obtain points, students had to type their answer into the Chat box the quickest.
The students were enthusiastic about answering questions and the atmosphere was sometimes tense, sometimes quiet, relaxed and lively. The three students with the most points won the first, second and third place respectively, as well as prizes carefully prepared by the Confucius Institute.
In the latter part of the event, the SCI organised a touching teacher-student farewell. As a number of the SCI teachers will soon leave the UK and return to China, it was an especially warm and moving part of the event in which the teachers could express their gratitude and appreciation to the students, as well as their teaching achievements at the Sheffield Confucius Institute and their love for their job over the past few years.
Teacher Luo Sufang said, “Please don’t thank me, I want to thank you because you have contributed to a better me!” Many of the teachers, students and staff present were almost moved to tears by the teachers’ comments. Likewise, the students expressed their gratitude to the teachers one by one, highlighting the teacher’s hard work and commitment, particularly during the last year.
At the end of the event, the students and other participants took part in a Q&A and then everyone joined in singing the Chinese song "You and Me". Accompanied by the familiar song, the SCI Adult Department End of Year Celebration Event came to a successful conclusion.
This was a very enjoyable event...amazing what students prepared and showcased. I've been self-isolating since March last year so this was lovely at a personal level. So well organised too and the tech worked flawlessly.
SCI End of Year Event feedback
GM - SCI student
When I was in lockdown and I lost my job, studying Chinese has given me such a focus and structure. Given how difficult it's been, every time term started and the teachers have been there, the programme gets more and more interesting...so I just really wanted to say thank you, because I feel it's been really consistent and enriching for me.
SCI Language programme feedback
Theresa Bruno - SCI student
I want to again say thanks to Luo Laoshi, she really was one of the best teachers I've had.
SCI Language programme feedback
SCI student