The debate team of Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) won the champion of eastern China division of the 22th "FLTRP CUP" National English Debating Competition, which was held on Mar. 24 in Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Students from about 120 universities took part in the contest.

Students of Honors College has ranked top in series of English debating or speech contests in two years. On the same day when the 22th "FLTRP CUP" National English Debating Competition was held, Xiong Xin, a student from SISU’s Honors College won the first prize in the national final of the 24rd "21st Century Coca-Cola Cup" English Speech Contest organized by China Daily. Xiong Ziqing, a student of SISU’s first Multilingual Experimental Class of Honor College, won the national third place last year. He also ranked among the world’s top seven in the 38th International Public Speaking Competition (IPSC) held later in London.

Since Honors College’s establishment in 2016, cultivating students’ ability in logical thinking and oral expression has always been its focus. Honors College cultivates students’ abilities in critical thinking, cross-cultural communication and comprehensive quality based on curricular teaching, extracurricular activities, club activities, contests and innovative practice.

Honors College has three required courses equipped with top teachers- Art of Speech, Creative Thinking and English Speech and English Debate. As one part of education reform, its teaching modes and assessment methods have been innovated.

Chen Weihe, a student from the multilingual advanced interpreting and translation program of Honors College, has won many awards in the speech debate contests both inside and outside the university. She said," The daily training in Honors College has laid a solid foundation for us. Teachers have systematically trained our speech and debate abilities.

Honors College also has created a series of brand activities, among which, Excellent Speakers Program is a series of activities aimed at cultivating students’ creative thinking and logical expression. Through high-level lectures, one-to-one tutoring, simulation of actual combat and other activities, students can enhance their ability and confidence in expression.

The cultivation of public English speech and debate ability not only improves students’ oral expression, but also is an important way to cultivate International elites with humanistic accomplishment and critical thinking abilities. Honors College insists on using competition to improve abilities. It encourages students to join in all kinds of competitions and provide them with required guidance and support. “Without SISU supporting us in all ways, we could’d have made our vision a reality,” Xiong Xin said.

Original Article From: http://en.shisu.edu.cn/resources/news/

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