LC course registration open

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The new semester language courses are open for registration now

LANGUAGE CENTRE PROGRAMME

AUTUMN 2020

Registration opens on Monday 7 September at 00:30 and close promptly at 17:00 on Thursday 8 October. Classes are expected to be extremely popular and usually fill up quickly, so early registration is strongly recommended.

  • Mandarin Chinese Level 1A
  • Mandarin Chinese Level 1B
  • Mandarin Chinese Level 2
  • Mandarin Chinese Level 3
  • Mandarin Chinese Level 4

Register Now

I just want to thank you, Yu and all the Language Centre team for this course and all the resources over the past few weeks. The free and open access has been fantastic and this Mandarin course has been a great starter for me! 
…
I will certainly keep my eye on Language Centre updates, and hope that I may return to the next course in the future! In the meantime, I look forward to consolidating the Mandarin taught in this course … 

Many thanks again, and please pass my thanks on to Yu for her great teaching, 谢谢！ 

Sophia (from Leeds)

Happy Qixi Festival

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Did you know that the Chinese traditionally celebrate their own Valentine’s Day on the 7th day of the 7th month in the lunar calendar? It falls on Tuesday 25th August this year.

Officially called Qixi Festival (七夕节 Qīxī jié), it celebrates the annual reunion of the cowherd (牛郎 Niúláng) and weaver girl (织女 Zhīnǚ) in mythology, dating back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), which later inspired the Tanabata (たなばた) festival in Japan and Chilseok (칠석) festival in Korea.

It’s been a traditional occasion for girls to pray to the weaver girl for wisdom by demonstrating their talented domestic skills (e.g. needlework and weave). Modern-day celebration highlights the female’s role and contribution to families and society.

Due to pandemic we are unable to host any onsite activities for entertainment and appreciation of its culture. However, here’s the display of last year’s celebration of Qixi Festival, including photos of Chinese paper-folding/cutting, Guzheng music performance and Chinese calligraphy.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=TheLanguageCentreAtQueens&set=a.2185229104939506

LIG volunteers update

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TIME FLIES! It’s coming to the end of July when many of us have been in our summer holiday mode whether travelling around or having staycation. Here’s the update of the Chinese LIG.

  • Two of our Language Interest Group volunteers, Zhenru Shang (尚珍如) and Xiaohui Liao (廖小惠), return to China this month and we’d like to thank them for their contribution to the LIG activities as well as the Spring Festival celebrations earlier in the year. We wish them good luck in completing their degrees in the coming months and make further pursuit in their respective life. While they are back in China, they can still be in touch via Teams, if you would like to continue to make appointments.
  • Meanwhile, let’s welcome a new volunteer, Shamisha Tew (张蜜莎), to join the team in supporting Chinese language practice in real life communication. As a learner of Chinese, she can speak native level of Mandarin Chinese and is happy to meet you online and share with you her intercultural language learning experience.

Lockdown Chinese Recordings

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Lockdown Language Learning – Mandarin Chinese recordings uploaded

With the completion of the last live clinic of Lockdown Chinese session, all the resources and recordings are now available via the Mandarin Chinese Section.

Whilst we do not have an official end date after which these resources will no longer be available, once the initial 5/10 weeks of live clinics comes to an end, we will review the situation on an ongoing basis and the resources will be removed alongside the transition to more normal working routines.

If you would like to stay with us in the follow-up Chinese language courses, please keep an eye on the update of our Language Centre website.

Thanks again for your great participation and enthusiasm! Stay safe and positive for a summer break.

Dragon Boat Festival

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This year the iconic Dragon Boat Festival (端午节 Duānwǔjié) falls on Thursday 25th June. Although it won’t be the same as before that we could get together to celebrate, we welcome you to join the Chinese Culture Forum via MS Teams.

Date: Wednesday 24th June
Time: 4 – 5 pm
Access: MS Teams > QUB Chinese LIG

All Queen’s students and staff are welcome!

Celebrating Dragon Boat Festival online; Follow-up materials access

Happy Summer Solstice

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Today is the longest day in the northern hemisphere – how do you celebrate it?

In Chinese culture, this day is called 夏至 (xiàzhì), literally meaning the extreme (至) of the summer (夏). It is one of the 24 solar terms in Chinese culture.

Watch the video below to see how Chinese people celebrate it. Did you notice any of the celebrations of Chinese friends or neighbours today?

Happy Summer Solstice!

Lockdown Language Learning

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The Language Centre is pleased to offer students, staff and members of the public the opportunity to avail of free, online and accessible language learning resources at beginners level in French, German, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. These resources are intended to help as many people as possible to consider picking up a new language in a positive way to make use of our time during the lockdown fight against pandemic.

Each language learning resource consists of 5 lessons over a 5- or 10-week period. Each week/fortnight you will have 2 hours of pre-recorded language tuition in the form of a number of videos, accessible via these web-pages. There will also be a weekly/bi-weekly live follow-up ‘clinic’, facilitated by your tutor. In these clinics, the content from the pre-recorded tuition can be expanded upon, questions answered and further examples provided. There is no related assessment and you can sign up for as many languages as you wish. Dates for the weekly, live classes can be found on the individual web-pages for each language.

For full details and registration, click the button below.

Lockdown Language Learning

Celebrating UN Chinese Language Day

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Here’s more for you to explore:

The date for the Chinese day was selected from Guyu (“Rain of Millet”), which is the 6th of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars, to pay tribute to Cangjie. Cangjie is a very important figure in ancient China, claimed to be an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters. Legend has it that he had four eyes and four pupils, and that when he invented the characters, the deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained millet. From then on, Chinese people celebrate the day Guyu in honour of Cangjie. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around April 20.

The UN

To celebrate the UN Chinese Language Day as part of the promotion of multilingualism and cultural diversity, ALL Queen’s staff members and students are welcome to sign up for the Taste of Mandarin Chinese online course which is a self-paced learning resource.

Chinese LIG moving online

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Dear all,

Due to the outbreak of corona virus and to reduce the risk of exposure, we are moving the Chinese LIG online, using MS Teams. Students and staff members will be able to join using University login via QOL. You are able to download the App to your own devices for use.

The schedule remains as it is for March currently. We will review it according to future availability and new practice.