NCI Summer School 2023 closes in style

1/8/2023

Wednesday 26 July saw nearly 70 University staff, students and local residents join the Nottingham Confucius Institute’s Summer School for the final sessions of 2023 at the Si Yuan Centre, home to NCI.

Building on the success of the first ever Summer School last year, NCI Summer School attracted over 80 registered attendees this year with an average attendance of 60+ every Wednesday evening throughout July.

Each evening event consisted of a one-hour Mandarin lesson and a one-hour cultural workshop, followed by an optional informal Mandarin chat session. For the Mandarin lessons, participants were separated into six classes to match their needs ranging from complete beginner, beginner, intermediate to advanced levels. All classes were carefully designed by our NCI teachers and filled with interactive games and fun.

Each evening the cohort was split into two, with half attending Mandarin lessons and the other half attending cultural workshops during the first hour.  After a break the groups swapped over. Splitting the cohort created smaller teaching groups and made for a better student experience. The cultural workshops conducted in the CI Gallery benefitted greatly from their being under 40 participants for each session: teachers could guide attendees through largely unfamiliar activities including tie dye, Chinese painting and Chinese paper cutting with time to answer all questions and attention for everyone.

On 26 July, the last week of the Summer School, all students gathered in the CI Gallery for a seminar delivered by PhD candidate Ms Peng Yixuan from Tokyo University on music and cultural communication, which started off with a cello and erhu duet “A Beautiful Evening” by professional musicians David Bean (also an NCI evening class student) and Ling Peng. After a delightful Chinese buffet in the private dining room, everyone gathered again for the closing ceremony, which was followed by a lucky dip, mahjong, chess and socialising.

Laughter and applause filled the corridors throughout these delightful summer evenings. A short video capturing some of the memorable moments can be viewed here.

Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive. Many thanked NCI for the opportunity to learn Mandarin and experience varied elements of Chinese culture. Several students who were new to NCI and had never learnt Mandarin before expressed interest in signing up to NCI Mandarin courses starting in early October.

We would like to thank our teachers, volunteers, guest speakers and artists for their contribution and hard work. Also special thanks go to Mr Li Qing Yu, Chinese national first class artist and Seren Hu, our colleague from UNNC CI Branch, who travelled all the way from Ningbo to support our event. It was such an honour to host Mr Li’s painting exhibition alongside the Summer School. Some event highlights can be viewed here.

~ENDS~

盛夏相逢：2023年诺丁汉大学孔子学院暑期夏令营精彩回顾

扬汉语学习之帆

本期夏令营共开设了零基础、初级、中级、高级四个级别的汉语课程。零基础的学员们通过参加汉语体验课开启汉语学习之旅，初、中、高三个级别的学员则在不同的汉语课程中积极互动交流，在真实的交际情境中练习汉语，提高汉语口语交际能力。

触传统文化之美

本期夏令营还安排了扎染、画展、国画体验、刻纸和音乐交流等一系列中华文化体验课。学员们通过折叠、捆扎，亲手创作出了各色规则或随意又具创意的扎染作品；通过观看中国画展、挥洒笔墨，勾勒画就神形兼备的中国画；通过剪刻走进中国剪纸艺术，创作出了各具特色的刻纸作品。通过聆听讲座《音乐旅游中的文化交流与身份认同》来感受音乐的魅力。 

奏一曲《良宵》，道一声“谢谢”

7月26日晚6点，学员们齐聚一堂，一起欣赏由大提琴演奏家大卫先生(David Bean) 和二胡演奏家彭玲女士带来的合奏《良宵》，共同品尝饺子、春卷、宫保鸡丁、糖醋排骨等十几道中华美食，开启了本次结营仪式前奏。

7点40分，由诺大孔院孔莎莎老师主持的结营仪式正式开始。

结营仪式首先邀请学员们共同观看了一段夏令营精彩回顾视频。一段视频，无限回忆。当大家看到视频中记录的点滴和自己的面孔时，脸上洋溢出了欢乐的笑容，还流露出了感动与恋恋不舍的神情。

随后，诺丁汉大学代表可信研究中心主任杰森·菲利（Jason Feehily）先生、学员代表伊曼（Amanda Tribble）和诺丁汉大学孔院中方院长谢芳芳女士分别致辞。

杰森·菲利先生在致辞中回顾了2022年首期夏令营的成功举办，对本期夏令营学员积极参与活动并取得的成果表示赞赏，还对诺大孔院团队的辛勤付出表示感谢。

学员代表伊曼在发言中讲述了自己参加2022年和2023年两期夏令营的感受，对诺大孔院组织夏令营表示感谢，也表示期待大家在2024年夏令营活动中再相聚。

谢芳芳女士则在致辞中感谢学员参加本期夏令营，对在本期夏令营活动中见到诸多熟悉的面孔与新面孔感到欣喜，也对诺大团队与诺大志愿者的努力付出表示感谢。她还提到，诺大孔院致力于中国语言文化教学与交流，欢迎大家参加孔院的各类文化活动，促进相互之间的交流与理解。

 结营仪式上，杰森·菲利先生和谢芳芳女士还为孔院教职员工颁发了纪念品，孔院经理张华女士也为诺大志愿者们颁发了优秀志愿者证书和纪念品。

结营仪式还设置了抽奖环节，气氛热烈，最终六位幸运学员分别获得了孔院课程全额奖学金、半额奖学金及其他不同金额的奖学金。此外，诺大孔院还在结营仪式上推出了“NCI Online Co-Study”项目，为学员们提供在线自学与咨询的新平台。

最后，中国传统桌游成为了夏令营的欢乐大结局。学员们在游戏中放松身心，展现出竞技的风采，同时也深入体验到中华传统游戏的智慧与乐趣。

诗人威廉·卡洛斯·威廉斯曾写道：In summer, the song sings itself。这首歌，对于一些人来说，是离别之歌，对于一些人来说，又是重逢之曲，我们都是作曲者与演奏者。这首夏季之歌，语言是琴键，阳光是调号，微风是节拍，我们期望通过这场暑期夏令营，让文化的种子在交流中生根发芽，绽放出更加灿烂的花朵，谱写更温暖的音乐诗章。

撰稿 | 吴爽
排版 | 吴爽
图片摄像 |程洁、Andrew、Vicky、 Sally
审核 | 谢芳芳
 诺丁汉大学孔子学院
confucius.institute@nottingham.ac.uk

~终~