On the graduation ceremony at 9:00 a.m. on December 22, 2021, the “Learning Chinese & Experiencing Chinese Culture: 2021 Henan University Fall Online Program for College Students of the United States” officially ended. The ceremony was held by Zoom video conference, and attendees, from both North America and China, included Dr. Dali Tan of the American Academy of International Culture and Education (AAICE), all leaders of the International School for Chinese Language and Culture (ISCLC) of Henan University (HENU), all instructors and teaching assistants of the program, and 65 college students from the U.S. and Canada.

This program, conducted by ISCLC, HENU, in cooperation with the AAICE, was a Chinese language program, marking another effective cooperation between the two parties after a successful program in the summer. Featuring “Experiencing Chinese Culture”, it covered six topics of Chinese culture, namely music, movies, TV & Idols, the internet, Kungfu, clothing & building. In real-life scenes, students experienced Chinese daily life, learned about the current situation in the cultural and humanities field, and at the same time, studied and mastered the Chinese expressions that and be used in real life. Beginning October 6, this program offered a total of 12 weeks of courses, the first 6 weeks of which were taught online and the second 6 weeks are one-on-one online exchanges between Chinese and American college students under the guidance of teachers.

Liang Jianzhong, Secretary of ISCLC General Party Branch, presided over the ceremony. On behalf of ISCLC, Liang congratulated the American and Canadian students who completed the course, and expressed his gratitude to AAICE and all the lecturers, teaching assistants, and volunteers. Also, Liang emphasized that online international Chinese teaching is the best way to spread the Chinese language and Chinese culture in the face of the epidemic. While conducting regular teaching, ISCLC had successfully run online Chinese courses many times and accumulated rich experience. This program, as another successful case of HENU overcoming the epidemic to develop international education, contributed to spreading the Chinese language and culture in the world. The Center for Language Education and Cooperation, an institute affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE), has given supports, recognition, and praise to its successful operation, and asked us to continue implementing the program and prepare for further expansion, he added.

During this closing ceremony, participants watched a program completion video, heard a teaching summary, and presentations from several representatives, including lecturers, students, teaching assistants, Vice President of AAICE, and Dean of ISCLC.

The video “Make Friends and Love Chinese” made by teachers and students showed the wonderful moments of teachers’ teaching and students’ learning results. Everyone appreciated the teacher’s lively teaching and the students’ positive attitude.

Professor Ma Huiling, Deputy Dean of ISCLC, gave a summary of the teaching in the program. In the first place, Professor Ma expressed her gratitude to AAICE for providing HENU with the teaching opportunity in this program and praised the excellent work of the teaching team and the active participation of the students. In the second place, she highlighted three main features of the program: it is co-created by Chinese and American teachers, taught by teachers and teaching assistants in collaboration, and completed by a combination of living and recorded classes. Moreover, the one-on-one communication between Chinese and American students every weekend has improved each other’s cross-cultural communication skills and made a deep friendship between the young people of both countries.

At the ceremony, three student representatives, Elisabeth Bodin, William Schloss, and Etai Miller, expressed their gratitude to HENU in fluent Chinese and showed their learning achievements.

Zhang Linlin, a graduate student who majored in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of other Languages of College of Chinese Language and Literature, spoke as a representative of the assistant teachers. She said that in this program, she not only met many new friends, but also appreciated more the meaning of teamwork, and more importantly, deepened her knowledge of Chinese culture and understanding of Western culture in exchange.

In their speeches, teachers, including Li Dan, Dou Hui, Zhang Jun, Lv Yingjian, Xue Shufang, and Wang Peng, summed up their teaching in the classes they were in charge of, thanked the leaders of ISCLC for their strong support, and praised the outstanding work of the teaching assistants and volunteers.

Dr. Dali Tan, on behalf of AAICE, highly praised the hard work of the teaching team of HENU and thanked them for building a cultural bridge between China and the US. At the same time, she hoped that the online teaching program organized by both China and the US could make them understand each other better and let American students see a more real, lively, harmonious, and friendly China.

Professor Liu Xiuhua, Dean of ISCLC, pointed out in her concluding remark that this program aroused the teaching enthusiasm of the teaching team and the learning enthusiasm of American students. In addition, she stressed that the teaching team of HENU completed their work with excellent classroom teaching and harmonious teamwork spirit, as the saying goes: “Good combinations turn stones into magnificent buildings and notes into beautiful music”. The international Chinese teaching team of HENU will draw lessons from this program and make contributions to further spreading the culture of Central Plains, telling Chinese stories, and promoting mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations.(Editor: Gu Xiaomei  Photo: Li Yaotong, Hou Jialu, Ma Sijia)