To arouse students’ interest in English, the first “Let’s Speak” Show sponsored by the Office of Students Affairs and organized by SFL was kicked off at Room 0202 in the Information Building at 3 p.m., May 27th. Aiming at liberating the students’ minds and publicizing the charm of English, the activity has received widespread attention from postgraduates who love English. Guest speakers included Yong Yuan, Distinguished Professor from the School of Materials Science and Engineering and postgraduates from other four schools. In addition, Tang Jun, Dan Ge, Zhong Feifei and Liu Mingyang from SFL also attended the activity as commenting guests.
A passionate video marked the beginning of “Let’s Speak” Show. Zhang Yu, the host introduced guests and the schedule of the activity. Before each presentation, a video would be slid onto the screen to unfold the life of the speech guests including their studies and work. Uniquely designed and exquisitely edited, the video with beautiful music refreshed everyone. The first guest was Li Gang, a winner of “Si Shi Yang Hua” Award (Si Shi Yang Hua is the moto of SWTU, which means cultivating talents and at the same time to be more honest and practical in order to make contribution to the rejuvenation of Chinese nation), whose speech title was “What we cannot afford to lose”. He mentioned four key words -- “truth”, “Imagination”, “Marriage” and “Expectation” at the beginning of his speech. When the first letters of the four words are put together, the word “Time” was formed, which prompted him to think about the theme of time. With different photos, humorous language and fluent English, he shared his unforgettable or delightful moments with the audience. The second guest speaker was a beautiful girl named Tang Tiantian, a doctor candidate from School of Economics and Management. The topic of her speech was “My Dream and Chinese Dream”, in which she illustrated abstract theories with concrete examples and accounted the individual dream and national one and the personal and overall national interests. She encouraged students to bravely pursue their dreams and integrate such dreams to weave a magnificent scroll. Her inspiring speech and graceful presentation earned her a big applause. In between the speeches, Shi Cong, the guest performer touched everyone by singing an English song-”Angle”. After that, Huang Limin, a graduate of Sino-French 4+4 Program from School of Electrical Engineering, delivered a speech about how to be an excellent engineer based on the two years’ “General Engineer” education he received in France. Taking the advantage of PowerPoint produced by Prezi, he introduced Sino-French 4+4 Program in a novel way and shared his overseas experience and benefits with the audience. The fourth guest speaker was Nguyen Huaian, a vietnamese foreign student. She discussed a very interesting social phenomenon with the listeners “Why more and more Chinese women choose to marry foreign men?” Her opinions were objective and her fluent English impressed the audience.
Professor Yong Yuan, the distinguished guest at the Show, shared his study experience in a foreign country with only 30 Euro. He said “dream” became a luxury for him when 30 Euro was left and what he wanted most was how to survive. Beginning with dish-washing, and then studying in Australia, America and Japan, he eventually established a world’s leading research team. He cast a new light on the philosophical theme of the “Dream & Reality” for the students with his wisdom and humor. He thought it was not bad to have dreams but we can’t set the expectation too high. Only those make progress step by step with solid foundation can stand at the top and have a better vision. After the speech, students interacted with Mr. Yong actively. A foreign student from Pakistan sought advice from him about how to develop competences he didn’t possess. Based on his own experience, Mr. Yong answered the question in very simple English, saying that “The first step- do the thing that nobody else wants to do, and the second step- do the thing that nobody else can do”. Students wowed with thunderous applauses at his answer.
“Let’s Speak” English speech contest was rounded off in an hour and half. The activity provided a platform for students to talk freely and share their unique thoughts about the world, life and the present. As the slogan said “Voice your mind, Change our world”, each spark of creative thinking may lighten the untamed fire for creativity. Hope “Let’s Speak” show will continue and provide more opportunities for teachers and students to communicate and interact with each other.