SS. ss _Castlégar News October 13, 1985 ENGLISH CORNERS POPULAR IN CHINA Editor's note: The English Corners in the university 3. cities of China not only give the Chinese an opportunity to speak English, but they also serve as a social outing and forum for exchanging views on politics and. philosophy. CP staffer Joan Ramsay visited one such English Corner while in China during a leave from work. By JOAN RAMSAY | HEFEI, CHINA (CP) — Every Sunday, at 8 a.m, people start trickling into Xi Shan Park, gathering at a’ small white. pagoda by a pond. Swiftly, as a red-and-white banner is unfurled and a table set up to register new members, the early arrivals get.down to business: speaking English. While the sign proclaiming the Hefei English Corner -open sags in the early morning heat and humidity, the regulars and the curious begin to fill the pagoda and spread up the small hill, breaking into groups of five or six for easier conversation. “Hello. What is your name?” echoes around the pond, out the pagoda and up the hill, and is lost in’ the murmured, halting replies. So begins in the capital of. Anhui province what is becoming a ritual in university cities across China, where the interest in learning spoken English soared when the government opened its doors to the West in 1979. Usually sponsored by a university, the English Corners operate i of the and each other. And they are modelled on the first English beeen established in the People's Park at Sheree in The idea was brought to Anhui University, | in this industrial city of 500,000, after a visit to Shanghai by Yu Youxin, who together with five other translators in the foreign languages department established a small English Corner on campus in 1982. CATCHES ON It caught on quickly, and the weekly meeting grew into the Hefei English Corner by 1984, Yu explains. “So far, we have 600 members, and it will be larger. English is a language of the future.” Interest is not limited by age or p On any Beauty Salons@U) || i Brian L. Brown CERTIFIED GENERAL ACCOUNTANT oi, THE HAIR ANNEX 365-3744 1241 - 3rd St., Castlegar 270 Columbia Ave. Castlegar Ph. 365-2151 KOIDE. & JOHN CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS 615 Columbia Ave. (Upstairs) Castlegar Phone 365-7745 Henry John, B.Sc..C.A. OGLOW'S PAINTS & WALLCOVERINGS 5-28 © 1985 Universal Press Syndicate **l won't be able-to eat._all of this. Do you want the cherry?”’ Financial Planning Resident Partner Sunday, people from | shilares to the elderly can be seen huddled in ing intently. P students, doctors, teachers and factory workers meet and ideas an And while the main purpose of the meetings is to give people a chance to learn to speak English, they have also become a place to meet new friends and speak freely about concerns, beliefs and ideas, Yu says. And, he adds, Hefei’s English Corner has expanded to include evening classes in reading and writing English, taught by the six directors and volunteers. Yu says he and the other five directors spend much of their free time planning the activities for each meeting and class. And the successes they see “encourage us to do more. “That's why we have more’and more energy. We hope we can serve more and more people.” FOREIGNERS LECTURE Often, foreign experts working in Hefei or Chinese who have lived or visited abroad will be invited to give a special lecture. Or, more often, they and others with experience with foreigners will wander through the crowds, answering- questions or telling stories: One sweltering Sunday, Meng Zhewei, 72, told a group about a young American woman he met in Peking MOROSO, MARKIN & BLAIN CERTIFIED GENERAL ACCOUNTANTS 241 Columbia Ave. Castlegar Ph. 365-7287 ‘RUMFORD PLACE Super Sweep Cer Inspections 735 Columbia Ave. ‘ 41 1 CAN HELP-WITH: * Investment Funds * Guaranteed Investment Certificates @ Registered Retirement Savings Plans * Estate Plannin, © Life and Disability Insurance © Annuities -Cameron A.R. Bond Cali 352-1666 (Collect) 10 a.m. -3 p.m. Mon.-Fri. nvestors PROFIT FROM OUR EXPERIENCE, in 1930, when they were both 16. She to the United States six months later but they wrote to each other for 10 years, Meng explained, his eyes twinkling as he_talked-of-his—‘Ameri he * WEST K CONCRETE LTD. 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