This year’s overseas summer program has hit a new bright spot. On June 29th, students of BNU and BNUZ founded a joint international class and went to study abroad. There are 42 members in the joint international class, including 13 from BNU and 29 from BNUZ. They will spend two weeks in Acadia University and Saint Mary’s University in Canada. Thanks to the joint efforts of BNU School of Chinese Language and Literature and BNUZ School of Chinese, BNU and BNUZ, for the first time, work together to generate the global vision of undergraduate education. Beijing Normal University attached great importance to the program and Prof. Chen Guangju, vice president of BNU see the students off on departure. The international class is under the escort of Prof. Wang Lijun, deputy dean of BNU School of Chinese Language and Literature, with Liu Jia, director of Office and outreach director of BNUZ School of Chinese as his assistant. The goal of the program is to foster students’ global vision, cross-cultural understanding and communication skills as well as the ability to study collaboratively.

The students arrived right on the occasion of Canada Day, July 1st. They participated in a series of activities and added much festive joy. Two teachers from the Academic English Center of Acadia University, Nick and Liz, gave presents to the students in the morning, inviting them to join the Campus Scavenger Hunt together. In the afternoon, students were led to participate in the celebration in the park, talking and playing games with local residents. In the evening right after having a Barbeque of Canada Day, local residents dressed themselves into different kinds of historical figures and invited students to participate in the interesting “Wolfville Gravely Ghost Walk”. Carrying old lanterns, students followed the “historical figures” to travel around the town, experiencing the special customs and culture there.

In the following days, students were engaged in course study. The curriculum was carefully arranged by Acadia University. In the morning, ten famous professors, including Prof. Perrins, dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Prof. Herman, vice presidents, etc. who are of different fields like geography, history, literature, biology, policy, and so on taught courses on history and culture of North America. Some of the courses include field study. In the afternoon, teachers respectively taught academic English based on the English level of the students. Students were also encouraged to take part in activities like going to farms, zoos, cinemas, concerts in the evening and cultural tours at weekends.