The closing ceremony of British Cultural Festival and the final round of the speech contest“U.K. in My Eyes”  were held on Dec. 11,2014. The festival was held by the Department of English, which included a variety of programs such as“the Comparison & Contrast of Campus Life among Tertiary Schools in U.K. & U.S.A.”,“A Brief Introduction to British Literature”,“A Visit to U.K.”,“A Tale of Two Cities–Comparison & Contrast between Melbourne &  Shanghai”,“An English Quick Quiz Show”,“English Songs Singing Contest”and speech contest“U.K. in My Eyes.  

Attending the closing ceremony and the final round of the speech contest were Professor Jon Robinson from Northumbia University, U.K., Professor Xu Zhong, Professor Lu Xiaoyong, Professor Zhu Shichang, the Director of the  Department of Students’Work, Associate Professor Ms. Shen Li, all the members of the Organizing Committee of the British Cultural Festival and class supervisors of the Department of English as well as the representatives from the  students of the English Department.

The closing ceremony was co-chaired by Mr. Wang Chong and Miss Liao Rong from Class 1401 of the English Department. 14 students were  selected to be entering the final round of the speech contest. Every contestant was fully ready for the final round. They shared with the audience what they thought of U.K. from the life style of the British, the way of thinking, the way of  expression to environmental protection and sports. The atmosphere during the contest was exciting and animated.  Through the preliminary and qualifying rounds of the contest, every participant improved their ability to express  themselves, created a favorableatmospherefor learning and most important of all enabled them to have a better  understanding of U.K. During the contest of the final round, they were performing outstandingly, which was  interrupted by thunderousapplausefrom time to time. The first prize winner Miss Li Ge and the Second Prize  winner Miss Yan Jun also sang their English songs, which brought more applause from among the audience.  

Professor Xh Zhong, representative from the panel of judges made inspiring comments on the performance of the  contestants. He pointed out that “The British Cultural Festival is the best one of its kind that he has ever attended in  that it was not only well organized but also had rich and profound connotations in terms of the cultural concepts. All  the members of the panel of the judges on the occasion were much delighted at the performance by the students.”  “Such festival will be doubtlessly conducive to enhancing students’ ability to use and practice the target language,  enhance their cultural awareness, and create a rich cross-cultural atmosphere and it will surely play an important role in this regard.” As the Advisor of the Festival, Professor   Xu extended his sincere wishes that the activities of this kind will be becoming better and better with an increasing  number of students getting involved in this kind of colorful and diversified activities. Professor Jon Robinson also  spoke on the occasion, which was warmly welcomed by the audience. He said that the students could learn many things through taking part in this kind of festival and he also hoped that the students should make full use of the chances that were available to improve their ability to use English. He also praised both the teachers and the students of the Department of English for their devotion and efforts to make the Festival a huge success. After the speech, Professor Jon Robinson, together with the student, gave a performance which was entitled as “Henry VIII and His Wives”, which was again interrupted by the warm clapping several times.

During the final round, it was really pretty tough for the member of the panel of judges to choose the best one. Mr. Zhu Jiaquan got the First Prize with his fluent English and wonderful stage performance. Li Yue and Wang Wenqian  got the Second Prize and Chen Shi, Li yeJie and Jin Zhirong the Third Prize respectively. The distinguished guests  were invited to deliver the prizes to those winners and had a group photo taken with them.

In the name Mr. Zhou Chunlin, Vice Secretary and Vice President of Shanghai Industry & Commerce Foreign  Language College, Ms. Shen Li,the Director of the Department of Students’ Work,delivered an excellent speech. Mr. Sun Hui did the interpretation for her, which itself is an example of the combination of the charm of the two languages. Ms Shen pointed out that“The British Cultural, which was held by the Department of English, has been, so far, the  richest in its cultural content, best organized from her memory.”She expressed her sincere hope that the Department of English would carry forward the tradition and continue to make more endeavor to make the festivals even better in the days to come. In her speech, Associate Professor Chen Cheng, Executive Associate Dean of the Department of English, expressed herprofoundgratitude to all who made contributions to the festival. She encouraged all the students to  strive for more progress, cherish and display the fine traditions so as to enable themselves to“learn English,practice English and use English”to the best they can. And she also hoped that the students would become better competitive  with the time going by.

The British Cultural Festival was successfully concluded after about a fortnight’s programs and all the students  hated to say goodbye to this wonderful activity. When interviewed by the students from the Department of English,  Professor Zhu Shichang, Vice President of the College and the Dean of the Department of English, in future, the  English Department would carry forward the classics of both Chinese and foreign culture. “This British Cultural  Festival has helped to make much closer the cooperative relationships among SICFL, Northumbria University in U.K., Lincoln University in New Zealand and Athlone Institute of Technology and in closing he hoped that with the joint  efforts more cultural festivals like “American Cultural Festivals, New Zealand Cultural Festivals ” would be held in  SICFL in the near future.