CW Chu College The Chinese University of Hong Kong eNewsletter

On 29 March 2017, Prof Eugene PONOMAREV, a College teacher from the School of Biomedical Sciences, hosted a Russian Cultural Night to share Russian culture with College students.

Prof PONOMAREV introduced his home country, Russia, in terms of its history and traditional customs. A virtual tour in the form of a video clip was included to introduce St. Petersburg, one of the most famous and largest tourism destinations in Russia.

To let the participants understand the food culture in Russia, Prof PONOMAREV and his family prepared traditional Russian delicacies and beverages, and treated all the participants to an authentic Russian culinary experience.

Social English Workshop

With a view to honing students' social communication skills in spoken English and equipping them for social occasions, the College organised three sessions of Social English Workshop on 12, 18 January and 16 March in Term 2, 2016–17. Ms Tessa STEWART, an experience facilitator, acquainted students with colloquial expressions and encouraged them to make communication more interactive. She highlighted the skills to communicate with exchange students, and included interactive games to make the workshop even more interesting. The students benefitted greatly from the workshop.

Toastmasters Club Taster Sessions

Toastmasters Club Taster Sessions encourage students to improve their public speaking skills in English through prepared speeches, impromptu presentations and peer evaluation. Two sessions were held on 8 and 15 February 2017. Ms Tessa STEWART, an experienced Toastmasters advisor, also the Honorary Advisor of United College Toastmasters Club, was invited to join and give feedback to our participants.

Greek Mythology Workshops

On 21, 23 and 28 February, and 1 March 2017, Prof Frederick CHEUNG Hok Ming from the Department of History hosted four intellectually rich workshops on Greek Mythology that featured etymology, literature, and culture surrounding the legacy of Greek myths, which he explored with reference to real-life examples.

Be they heroes, demons, gods or goddesses, these figures brought the audience through a trip back in time to the origin of many literary allusions—Achilles, Hercules, Odysseus, Prometheus and many others. Not only did the students learn the Greek origins of some English words and expressions, but they also shared in the love and sorrow of these ancients who exhibited real, human emotions.

Seal Engraving Workshop

Ms Kady FUNG, the founder of Sealing Stone DIY Studio, hosted a seal engraving workshop for students on 22 March 2017 to teach them the art of zhuanke. Students learnt to arrange Chinese characters into imaginative patterns and to appreciate the beauty of Chinese characters.