和而不同，异量之美——看西外外教如何解锁文化差异
2018-01-12 牛栎珺 胡文宁
中西融合
文化活动
外国友人到中国之后，culture shock随之而来。但西外的外教似乎更容易适应中国的文化和生活。
Why？？
虽然文化差异我们无法改变，但在西外，“中西融合，和而不同”是我们一直不变的追求。
文化活动
Chinese culture is broad and profound. The splendid civilization of five thousand years has been admired by the world. During this holiday season, when people were ready to welcome a new year, the Foreign Affairs Office of Xiwai and Art Center held an interesting cultural activity for foreign teachers of Xiwai on December 29th, 2017. Entitled “Speech Contest – My Understanding of Chinese Culture”，it also included interactive activities such as Paper cutting, fan painting and ladle mask painting, which were organized to enrich the foreign teachers’ personal life and cultivate their interest in Chinese culture.
After enjoying the wonderful Chinese traditional instrumental music performed by several students and teachers, the speech contest started officially. Carlos Tamayo was the host for this contest.The judges were: Monika Pan, Enrico Piccinini , Emanuel Ruiz , Steven Herring , Michelle Wang and Pony Ma. Foreign teachers who participated in this contest shared their understanding of China and Chinese culture.
For example, Mark Wilkinson told the audience what he learned about China from TV when he was a kid, assuming that Chinese culture amounted to Chinese Kongfu. When he arrived in China, however, he then started to better appreciate the richness and diversity of Chinese culture.
Kurt Goetzinger introduced some traditional Chinese festivals, such as the Spring festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day. He also shared his trip to Tibet with the audience.
Natalie Couch discussed the differences between Chinese peoples’ and American peoples’ attachments to their families that she found from an investigation, emphasizing that Chinese people put greater values on their elder family members.
Eric Williams presented the evolution of Chinese characters. Then he demonstrated his passion for Chinese characters and wrote his Chinese name---WeiLian, which won everyone’s praise.
David Sanchez's fluency in Chinese was very impressive. He said that if people want to understand Chinese culture better, they need to learn Chinese well. Then he sang a cheerful Chinese song which activated the atmosphere, so he finally won the first prize!
Rachel Smith told the story of Mulan and the influence of that character on herself. She also expressed her love for Chinese culture. Charmaine Carstens, wearing a beautiful Chinese cheongsam, said that in China, and especially at Xiwai, she could feel the warmth of a family.
Some of the contester’s speeches were inspirational and some were moving; Some made people laugh and some made people think. In general, everyone’s speech was unique and all of them were great!
After the contest, the foreign teachers also experienced a series of Chinese traditional folk arts, including paper cutting, fan painting and ladle mask painting.The foreign teachers were very creative and their work received compliments from the instructors. Let’s enjoy the masterpieces of our teachers!
Comments from Eric Williams:
“I am really glad I participated in the Chinese Culture event. I like the speeches my fellow teachers gave! It was so interesting to learn what their experiences have been living in this exciting country.”
中文版
2017年12月29日，西外外事办和艺术中心联合为外教举办了一场内容丰富有趣的文化活动：“演讲比赛——我心中的中国文化”和体验中国传统文化活动：国画、马勺、剪纸。我们邀您共看西外外教如何解锁中国文化！
中国文化源远流长且博大精深，但很多外教对中国文化的认识还停留在电视节目里所谓的“中国印象”。
外教Mark Wilkinson对此深有感触。小时候他认为中国文化就等于中国功夫。谁知来中国之后才发现，中国文化何其悠久，何其丰富多彩。
汉字是中国文化的一大“代言”。
Eric Williams老师向大家介绍了汉字的演变过程，展示了他对汉字的热爱。他在黑板上写下了他的中文名字---威廉，方方正正的字，虽然笔画复杂，但他写得很是认真，带着一种对文化的虔诚。
David Sanchez老师流利的中文令人刮目相看。他谈到如果想更好地了解中国文化，就要把中文学好。为了展示自己的中文水平，他即兴高歌一曲，赢来无数掌声！
外教们的演讲打开了我们认识中西文化又一新的大门，也让我们认识到了文化差异的积极意义，更让在场的中教不由地升起一股民族文化自豪感。
外教们还体验了一系列的中国传统民间艺术的创作，有剪纸，画扇面和画马勺脸谱。
Do they look like hard-working students when they focus on their work?
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