On December 10 and 12, students from the “English for Doctoral Students” course hosted their classmates and seven international students on a tour around their corresponding labs at Tsinghua SIGS.
The class of 51 students was divided into 9 groups. Students majoring in Environmental Science, Material Science, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering proceeded to the New Energy building, while other groups of different majors such as Optics, Art Design, Philosophy and Biology visited labs around campus. Tour guides introduced the history of their lab and the building, showcasing the functions of various lab equipment, and explained their role in research work conducted in the lab.
Alberto Maria Pepe and Autif Hassain, two international students who were invited along the lab tour were very pleased with the event. Alberto said, “I was very curious with all the research tools and tasks, and was happy to receive many questions from the group about my educational background, country and culture.” Autif found the event very informative and was impressed with the keen learning attitude of students.
Apart from great feedback from international students, tour guides from the English course also found the event interesting and meaningful. The lab tour provided an opportunity for students to practice their spoken English, learn more about the campus and increase communication between students of different majors. "Through the event, I learnt a lot more about image processing, research methods in social sciences and intelligent transportation robots," said Wang Songmao, a student of the English course.
DU Dongyu, an engineering major at SIGS added that the lab tour broadened her understanding of other fields. “I usually focus on my own major, with only computer and signal processing in my eyes. I ignored the richness of (other) subjects. I never knew what researchers were doing in these fields before. It was only after a visit to their labs that I found out how interesting their work is! We are all trying to create a better world”, she said.
English for Doctoral Students is a course taught by Professor Xiangming Li, with Nana Owusu-Tieku as the teaching assistant for the Fall 2019 semester. The course focuses on specialized vocabulary and grammar structures required for writing technical English. Professor Li gives typical writing examples of proper grammar and word choice for technical English writing and students put these examples into practice by writing a research paper based on their current project.
Additionally, students acquire real-world applicable skills in presentation by completing a 1-minute project presentation, and in resume writing by creating resumes for academic employment and industrial job positions respectively.
Article by Nana Owusu-Tieku
Edited by Karen Lee
