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The 2016 Summer English\nImmersion Programme (SEIP), organised by the University of Macau (UM) Faculty\nof Arts and Humanities, has ended. The programme aimed to help incoming\nstudents improve their English language skills to support their studies at the\nuniversity where English is the main medium of instruction. Participating\nstudents went through intensive training that lasted between three and four\nweeks, with many saying that the programme boosted their confidence to speak English.<\/p>
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The closing ceremony attracted 350 students, parents, and\nfaculty members. Prof Lionel Ni, UM\u2019s vice rector for academic affairs, delivered\na speech at the ceremony, in which he expressed his hope that the summer\nprogramme had prepared the students for their studies at UM, adding that the students\nshould strive to achieve bilingual proficiency during their four years at UM.\nProf Yilin Sun, director of the English Language Centre at UM, also gave a\nspeech at the ceremony. She hoped the students had fun improving English through\nthe programme and that the programme had opened the first door to success on\nthe students\u2019 journey.<\/p>
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A student surnamed Pun from the Faculty of Business\nAdministration (FBA) said she could only speak English in English classes in\nhigh school, but UM\u2019s English Summer Immersion Programme required participants\nto speak English in all the activities, from group discussions to games, and\nthe constant practice helped increase her confidence to speak English. Another student surnamed Lei, who is also from FBA and who graduated\nfrom a Chinese-medium high school, said that previously she had worried about\nher ability to catch up at a university where English is the main medium of\ninstruction, but the programme provided a good foundation to prepare her for\nher studies at UM. Annika, a student from Finland studying in the United Kingdom, was one of\nthe SEIP programme assistants. She found the English\nlanguage skills of the participating students to be better than she had\nimagined, adding that UM students are more hard-working than students in the\nUK.<\/p>
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This year\u2019s SEIP\nenrolled more than 300 students. New features included co-curricular activities\nthat supplemented academic classes in the morning and evening extra-curricular\nactivities that provided variety in the manners in which students were exposed\nto English. Specifically, the\nmorning sessions were focused on theme-based learning with experienced instructors.\nActivities for the afternoon and evening sessions included interactions with\nthe 28 programme assistants from the United States, Canada, the UK, Finland,\nAustralia, and Macao. These assistants lived in the residential college with the\nstudents and helped them practice English and review what the students had\nlearned during the day. In addition to\nproviding an immersive learning experience, the programme also provided an\nopportunity for participants to make new friends while improving English. <\/p>
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Source: Faculty of Arts and Humanities
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Media Contact Information:<\/p>
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Communications Office, University of Macau<\/p>
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Albee\nLei Tel\uff1a(853) 88228004<\/p>
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Kelvin\nU Tel\uff1a(853) 88224322<\/p>
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Email\uff1aprs.media@um.edu.mo<\/p>
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