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2013 TESOL Symposium successfully Held in GDUFS


On November 15, a TESOL symposium was held at GDUFS. Organized by TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) International Association, in partnership with Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS), the symposium provided a unique opportunity for ELT teachers, teacher trainers and administrators to envision the creation of the future for English language teaching and learning.

Group photo of guests at the symposium

A warm welcome speech from ZHONG Weihe, President of GDUFS, heralded the start of the symposium chaired by Professor LIU Jianda, Vice President of GDUFS. In president ZHONG's address, he noted GDUFS is a fertile land for English Education research, emphasizing the significance of English learning and English teaching. He said,"In today's mobile global world, English has emerged as a link through which people converse and communicate. Scholars are aware that the shrinking world means new demands for English language learners, with rapid economic and social development in China raising expectations for foreign language learning and the construction of related disciplines."


Following President ZHONG was Jennifer Zimdahl Galt, Consul General of the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou, who presented her congratulations to all the attendees. Deena Boraie, President of the TESOL International Association, was invited to deliver the opening speech marking the end of the opening ceremony of TESOL symposium 2013 in China. She gratefully acknowledged the generous support of National Geographic Learning, and its local sponsors, the  Higher Education Press and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. She also gave special thanks to GDUFS and the sponsor of the symposium, the U.S. Department of State.

Deena Braie talking about the history of TESOL


After the opening ceremony, the floor was given over to professors, researchers and administrators who started the plenary sessions in which many issues were discussed and resolved. The theme of plenary session A was Envisioning the Future; the theme of B Rethinking English Language Teaching and Learning and C focused on Working Effectively Together to Implement Change.
 
The closing ceremony was held on Saturday afternoon. DONG Jinwei, Dean of the Department of English and Education at GDUFS who chaired the ceremony. In his speech, he used the five "in-"s to describe his impression of the symposium; (1) intensive, (2) informative, (3) insightful, (4) inspiring and (5) influential. After that followed a Q&A session.
 
Specialists were invited on to the stage to interact with the audience and answer questions raised by them. The questions included why there isn't enough research on English teaching at the secondary education level and how to reorganize the information and finding new directions in teaching. The specialists on the stage provided insightful ideas and useful advice for the problems.
 

After the Q&A session, Vice President of GDUFS, LIU Jianda was invited to give the closing remarks for the symposium. LIU Jianda summarized the achievements of the past one and half days and, as well, gave heartfelt thanks to all the organizers and sponsors. Too, special thanks were offered to the late Prof. HE Haihong, who signed the agreement to host this symposium. LIU spoke highly of the significance of this symposium, saying that the symposium was a fascinating, insightful and encouraging event for all the people engaged in English language teaching and learning. And lastly he declared the closing of the symposium.