Each year, the Language Centre (LC) at Universiti Brunei Darussalam has the pleasure of hosting international students from all over Asia for both short-term as well as longer-term courses of up to two academic semesters. For the MOFAT China-Brunei Exchange programme, the LC once again welcomed Government officers from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the first semester of the 2015/2016 academic year, this time for an intensive eight-week course designed to improve the officers’ proficiency in the English language.
The two officers, An Ying (Ann) and Xu Li Ming, arrived in November 2015 towards the end of UBD’s academic semester, allowing the LC lecturers to dedicate more time to the PRC students with most of the classes conducted exclusively for the participants.
Nonetheless, Ann and Li Ming were still able to mingle with other UBD students -especially students from various ASEAN countries- in larger classes as well as within their shared accommodation at The Core.
Although their time at UBD was relatively short, the receptive students displayed significant development and improvement, showing increasing confidence in expressing themselves in the English language and greater willingness to share their opinions; a marked difference from the initially reticent officers.
As the two-month programme ended, the LC held a farewell ceremony for Ann and Li Ming, during which each officer demonstrated their newly-acquired skills and ease in the English language by delivering a presentation on their stay in Brunei, sharing their experiences and expressing their enjoyment of their time at UBD in addition to their regret at having to leave so soon. The LC’s Deputy Director Hjh Suciyati Hj Sulaiman congratulated the participants on their achievements and presented them with souvenirs as well as their well-earned certificates to mark their time and hard work at the LC.
LC looks forward to welcoming the next batch of students for the programme in the middle of 2016, and continuing one of the Centre’s longest-running consultancies of over fifteen years.