On the morning of October 4th, our school welcomed 220 elementary school students in the global village. They were guided by a Chinese and foreign teacher to walk into 13 language country villages. In addition, they took part in some knowledge and culture based activities named “Little Diplomats live together in the Global Village.”
The opening ceremony was held in the Global Village hall.
This activity was held by the Chinese office of Jilin province. 27 volunteers were selected from our university to provide services for all aspects of the competition. Ma Xiaoxu, a junior majoring in Spanish, stressed that all the students were willing to provide help for this activity while sacrificing their personal time during the National Day holiday. The students showed that while communicating with the foreign students, they also practice their spoken Spanish. Furthermore, they can show their achievements by introducing the Global Village to these “little diplomats”.
Meanwhile, the foreign teachers and students coming from Russia, France, Spain, Kazakhstan, India, Ethiopia, Japan and other countries spontaneously took part in this activity and volunteered to introduce features of their foreign languages and cultures.
Indian student Luo Ouhan talked with the pupils.
Luo Ouhan, an Indian student who likes children, volunteered to participate in the event. He said: "I like Chinese children very much. They are cute, innocent a brave. I hope to help them understand the culture of other countries and broaden their horizons."
Spanish foreign teacher Harvey congratulated the winner in this activity.
Spanish foreign teacher Harvey was the host as well as the judge of Spanish culture in this activity. Harvey showed that although we come from different places, we all live in one world and cultures should be spread to and celebrated in countries all over the world. Harvey voiced that as a teacher of Huaqiao, he expects more Chinese students to foster a great passion for learning about and appreciating foreign cultures by attending this kind of activity.
All the pupils took photos to remember their time with the foreign teachers and students in the Global Village.
It is well known that the Global Village of HuaQiao is the only large-scale comprehensive language and culture education base with distinctive characteristics in China. In total, it occupies 3991 square meters, containing 13 language villagesfor the pavilion of China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Arab, English country and the United Nations as well as Africa. Each village is equipped with e-learning equipment, and displays the country’s political, economic, historical, scientific, educational, environmental, folk and food cultures through miniature landscapes, display panels, sand table simulations, and some physical objects of the iconic buildings. The Global Village is a collective place of teaching, practicing, researching and communicating, which was created as a provincial experimental teaching demonstration center by the Jilin provincial department of education in 2011. In 2013, it was regarded as the national experimental teaching demonstration center by the Ministry of Education, as the “World Multicultural Education Center,” and as the “Jilin Huaqiao Foreign Languages Institute UNESCO Association Club” by UNESCO. The 30,000-square-meter new global village currently under construction, with more than 20 language villages, will create a better world-culture focused education environment for students.
“Here, almost every cultural element is infiltrated with the rich cultural heritageof each country. Students can integrate language and cultural learning more closely, and they can experience the different cultures and unique customs of the world without going out of school. The unique style of enhancing cultural learning through language and language learning through culture, improves cross-cultural communication ability." Wang Jie, assistant to the principal and director of the International Exchange and Cooperation Division, said that in order to adhere to the function of the university's service society, the global village has been and will be opened to primary and middle school students in Changchun City many times. It is hoped that through such activities, opportunities for communication between Chinese and foreign students will be created to bridge the gap between Chinese and foreign cultures.
Wang Jie, the assistant principal and director of international exchange and cooperation, showed that almost every cultural element is infiltrated with the rich cultural heritage of each country. Students integrate language and cultural learning more closely, and they can experience the different cultures and unique customs of the world without going out of school. Culture and language are closely related and students can strengthen their linguistic performance as well as cross-cultural communication ability by learning them at the same time. In order to fully adhere to the function of the university’s social service, global village has opened up many times for the primary and secondary school students in Changchun. It is hoped that through such activities, opportunities for communication between Chinese and foreign students will be created to bridge the gap between Chinese and foreign cultures.
