THE 11th Beijing Foreign Language Festival opened at the Working People’s Cultural Palace on October 24 and 25. It was sponsored （主办） by the Organizing Committee of the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program.
The Beijing Foreign Language Festival is an important part of the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program. This year, the Festival focused on （聚焦） foreign language learning. Its theme （主题） was “Traditional Culture and International Perspective” （传统文化 国际视野）.
Many famous language experts （专家） and scholars （学者） attended the festival and gave lectures. Visitors were also able to meet with TV and radio hosts （主持人）, and take part in foreign language shows and games.
Other activities include an international language and cultural exchange exhibition （展览）, a simulated （模拟的） Beijing English Testing System (BETS) exam, a job fair （招聘会） for intermediate and advanced-level （中、高级水平的） foreign language users and an on-site （现场） children’s painting display （展示）. Some famous foreign language training institutions （机构） and international primary and secondary schools also set up information booths （咨询台）.
The Festival attracted （吸引） a lot of people in Beijing. Many hoped to improve their English proficiency （熟练程度） by taking part in the activities.
专家寄语
陈琳 北京市民讲外语活动组委会顾问团团长、北京外国语大学教授
Lovers of English, dear friends:
Long time no see! How have you been?
During the great upsurge （高涨） of English learning in the years of the preparations for the 29th Beijing Olympic Games, you all worked hard to improve your English so that you could offer volunteer work to foreign friends coming to attend or watch the Games. And you did great work and won praises. Now that the Games have been successfully concluded, what should we do? Should we stop learning English and stay idle （闲着的） at home?
I am sure the answer is “No” for many of us. In fact in many communities （社区） and work units lots of people are continuing their foreign language learning and volunteer work. That is great. Comrade Liu Qi, Secretary of Beijing Municipal Government CCP Committee and Chairman of Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee has called on us to continue to help improve Beijing’s internationalized （国际化的） environment and deepen and broaden our volunteer service work with the foreign language abilities we have acquired （获得）.
To provide （提供） our English learners with good learning material, the China Daily’s 21st Century Group and the Organizing Committee of Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program have decided to continue the publication （出版） of the English Lovers, an English newspaper of our own. We hope all of you who want to continue your English learning will make good use of this paper, so that you could do a better job in your volunteer work and help make Beijing a more beautiful and more internationalized city.
