November 27, 2014 saw the opening ceremony of British Cultural Festival held by the Department of English of Shanghai Industry & Commerce Foreign Language College. Attending the ceremony were President Professor Zhu Yixin, Secretary of the Party Committee, Madame Xia Lingyin, Vice President Professor Zhu Shichang and Deans and Directors from various departments. Professor Yang Daliang, Dean of the Foreign Language College of Shanghai Jianqiao University, together with his colleagues, were also invited to make the occasion of the event.  

The opening ceremony was presided over by Mr. Wang Lihui, a young teacher who is quite popular among the students he is teaching and Miss Kuang Yichao, who is the First Prize winner in the National Speech Contest among the Technical & Vocational Tertiary Schools in China. The opening ceremony began with the display of the videos from international cooperative partners, “Northumbria University in U.K., Lincoln University in New Zealand and Athlone Institute of Technology in Ireland, extending their warm congratulations on the British Cultural Festival in SICFL. Professor Gerry Hayden from Northumbria University pared his precious time from the tight schedule and came to the college to make the video tape. Both the Dean of the Business College from Lincoln University and the Director of International Office of Athlone Institute of Technology spoke highly of the event.

The distinguished guestProfessor Yang Daliang believes that the holding of the British Cultural Festival will play an important role inhelpingthe students to enhance their ability to apply what they have learned, to enable them to become better aware of the importance of the target culture and to create a favorable atmosphere for intercultural communication.

Vice President, Dean of the Department of English,President Zhu Shichang expressed his profound gratitude to the members of the organizing committee of the festival, the teachers and the students who have worked so hard to make the successful opening ceremony. He pointed out that the language is the vehicle of communication and an important and integrated part of the culture. If one wants to communicate successfully, it is important for him to understand the target culture coupled with the language ability. Culture, by definition, is a broad concept, which includes every aspect of the people’s life as well as many important things in the society. The rapid development of the science & technology has made the world appear as if it were a global village, which has been accepted by an increasing number of people. But owing to the existence of the cultural differences, people oftenfindthat there is some barrier in intercultural communication. The lack of the understanding of the cultural differences will in one or another result in what is termed as“culture shock”. The holding of the British Cultural Festival is intended to help students to enhance their cultural awareness, broaden their scope of the knowledge so as to enable them to communicate appropriately.

The studentsof the Department of English sang English songs to the audience, which made the audience more excited.

Professor Zhu Yixin,President of the SICFL, declared the British Cultural Festival open. From then onwards, the British Cultural Festival would be going on for a fortnight, during which students would be able to taste to their heart’s content this“rich dinner of British Cultural Festival”.

It could be predictedthat the British Cultural Festival would be playing a significant role inencouragingthe students“to learn English,practiceEnglish and use English”.