Speech for the 2018 Graduation and 15th Anniversary of SFL
Tao Wenhao
30 June 2018
Good morning, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, staff members of the School of Foreign Languages, family members and especially all graduates of all years!
It is my great happiness to be here with you today to celebrate a day filled with joy and hopes. Graduates of 2018, how lucky you are to witness the growth of School of Foreign Languages at this 15th Anniversary ceremonial moment during your departure time with those marvelous graduates of all years.
Strongly inspired by a dream, I came to BNUZ 15 years ago at a similar season like today after a severe epidemic SARS and commenced my unforgettable life journey. I felt in love with this starry grassland, blooming lotus, murmuring waterfalls and lush trees and promised to keep her hands for the rest of my life from then on. The past 15 years has experienced her development and growth of SFL, seeing its efforts and cultural transmission and witnessing its foundation and achievements.
It was in the year of 2008 that the students of English majors took their first TEM 8; it was in the same year that the students of 2008 celebrated their graduation; it was in that year the employment rate of SFL reached 98.6%; it was in that year an all-round reform of College English teaching was conducted. Yes, it was her 5th birthday.
Later on, College English was rated as one of the “Quality Resource-sharing Courses” of Guangdong Province. The 4th version of SFL website was adjusted. The school motto “Love, knowledge, morality and integrity” was proposed. The SFL hosted the 1st Annual Conference of Guangdong Provincial Teaching Committee of English Majors. Students of double majors from the collaborative program English major and TCFL（Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language）were about to graduate. Yes, it was her 10th birthday.
Today, it is her 15th birthday and a mature and well-planned developing school is standing before us. Since its foundation, the school has been constantly aiming to train first-rate interdisciplinary, independent English and Japanese professionals for Guangdong Province and the country at large by taking College English teaching as its basis and English and Japanese teaching as its core tasks. Now, I am proud of having such a strong staff of 72 members, among which 16 are native teachers of English or Japanese, 1/5 Chinese teachers are pursuing their doctoral degrees and 4/5 Chinese staff once had their education or work abroad.
Where there is ability, there is fame. The school has been exploring every avenue to fine-tune its talent training and cultivation either in the offices of Liyun Building or Leyu Building. It is ardently expected soon that more outstanding teaching staff with PhDs and high academic titles will be employed thus guaranteeing a high-quality teaching. We also manage to conduct PhD education in talent cultivation in the coming future.
For the graduates of 2018, I also have my expectations and blessings. You will have accomplished your genuinely important and worth celebrating campus life today, either going to work or pursuing your further studies home or abroad. It is not an end of learning but a commencement for another page. Do you still remember the excitement and enthusiasm on your first school day? Do you remember the anxiety and worries when you were preparing for your first TEM 4? Do you still remember the voluntary work in typhoon Hato? Do you still remember the web celebrity “BNUZ pig” in this environmental friendly university? … Should all these memories be forgotten in our lifetime? At the same time, I would like to request all of you to keep the mottos of BNUZ and SFL in mind. “Of Studies, Be the Master; Of Behavior, Be the Model” and “Love, Knowledge, Morality and Integrity” will be served as guidelines for your action in the following days. Be grateful, ambitious and diligent, devote yourself to a higher civic engagement in the new era, you will then find your dreams come true in the striving life.
My dear graduates, you are going to begin a new life in the different places. I hope some of you could come back one day in the future like your outstanding fellow students today to share the achievements of the school. Four years is short but priceless, deeply rooted in our young life. Please remember, no matter how much distance there exists between us, you are our children forever! Please stay in touch because we are one family!
Looking back, we feel proud of your excellence. Looking forward, we are full of expectations towards your achievements. The past 15 years has gone and we stand ready to write and describe the history of another 15 years. I firmly believe that a bright future of SFL is there waiting for us. Happy graduation and wish you all the best as you begin your adventures that lie ahead!
