On the evening of April 2, the 6th Chinese Language Festival for International Students, themed “Building Dreams with Chinese, Sharing Friendship,” was held in Auditorium 423 of the School of International Education. More than 50 international undergraduates from majors such as Clinical Medicine, Marketing, and Software Engineering—who are enrolled in English-taught programs—were divided into nine groups. Led by student volunteers serving as group leaders, the participants practiced their Chinese expression, perceived the charm of Chinese culture through fun interactions, and continued to write a warm chapter of cross-cultural exchange.
At the beginning of the event, the “Self-Introduction” segment kicked off the proceedings. Students utilized PowerPoint slides annotated with Pinyin to introduce themselves within their groups. Strictly following standardized sentence patterns, they clearly introduced their names, ages, nationalities, majors, and hobbies. These concise and fluent expressions not only consolidated basic Chinese sentence structures but also allowed students from different majors to become familiar with one another in a relaxed atmosphere.
Subsequently, the “Sentence Connection” segment heightened the atmosphere of the venue. Staff members distributed cards printed with Pinyin and words to every student. Participants were required to quickly arrange them into correct sentences and read them aloud. The fun sequencing of simple sentences such as “I / like / watching / movies” and “I / am studying / in / China” allowed everyone to strengthen their cognition of Chinese word order while using their hands and minds. It improved their oral proficiency and drew continuous applause and laughter from the audience.
The “Picture-to-Character” segment solidified their foundation in Chinese characters. Students carefully observed pictures and wrote down words closely related to daily life, such as “eating” and “sleeping,” based on Pinyin. Through the correspondence between images and text, they deepened their understanding and memory, exchanged ideas to fill knowledge gaps, and gained a great deal of insight.
The “Who Am I?” fun guessing segment pushed the atmosphere to its climax. Each student had a card labeled with an identity or an animal stuck to their forehead. They guessed the content of the card by asking “Yes/No” questions to their teammates. Teammates cooperated tacitly and responded rigorously. Everyone participated enthusiastically, and the first to guess correctly felt a great sense of accomplishment. Laughter and joy filled the entire hall.
Finally, the “Charades” segment brought the event to a successful conclusion. Students performed daily life action vocabulary such as “drinking water” and “reading books” in groups. Through these fun interactions, they further enhanced their practical application of the Chinese language.
Happy times pass quickly, and the event concluded in a relaxed and pleasant mood. Students were still full of enthusiasm, huddling together to exchange thoughts, share their gains, and repeatedly practice the Chinese characters and sentences they had learned. At this moment, Chinese was no longer just a linguistic symbol, but a bridge connecting hearts and conveying friendship.
The “Building Dreams with Chinese, Sharing Friendship” Chinese Language Festival series has always remained true to its original intention of helping international students improve their Chinese proficiency and deepening friendships between China and foreign countries. In the future, the School will continue to optimize the content of its activities, creating a warmer platform for Chinese learning, helping international students deepen their feelings of knowing and befriending China, and encouraging them to become “youth ambassadors” for the mutual learning of civilizations.
