Faculty News

: FOH News; 27 December 2023

The Winter Camp 2023 at the Chongqing Normal University

The Winter Camp 2023 organized by the International College of Chinese Language and Culture of Chongqing Normal University, started on the 1st of December 2023 and successfully ended on the 11th of December 2023. Twelve Undergraduates have participated in this program representing the Confucius Institute at the University of Kelaniya. The Chinese Co-Director, Dr. Wu Hongyuan also participated in guiding the students during the Winter Camp Program in China. This event lasted for 10 days and provided students with an opportunity to deeply understand Chinese culture and a precious experience of Chinese culture.

During the program, the students got the chance to learn Chinese Traditional Paper Cuttings, Chinese Calligraphy, The Art of Traditional Chinese Painting, Traditional Chinese Dance and Traditional Chinese Music, Chinese Martial Arts, and basic Chinese Language and Cultural Courses.

At the same time, they were able to explore the beauty of the historical cities and places in China by visiting Chongqing City, Chongqing Normal University History Museum, Chongqing Zoo, Jiefang Bei, and Hongya Cave, Rongchang City, the Rongchang Ceramic Museum, the ancient city of Wanling, the Violin Museum in Wanling City, the Dazu rock carvings, the Xiabu tie, and traditional Chinese Cloth dyeing, according to the program's inclusion. As well as they could taste the famous Hotpot and many other Chinese Cuisines.

The Twelve Undergraduates had the greatest opportunity to interact with Chinese Culture during this program period by participating in various Cultural Activities, participating in different cultural games, and visiting Chinese urban and historical places. Therefore, students could deeply experience the natural essence of traditional Chinese culture and traditional and modern Chinese Customs, able to broaden their horizons of book-related Chinese Language and Cultural knowledge through this unforgettable educational experience as well as gain a rich comprehensive understanding of China.

We are very thankful to the International College of Chinese Language and Culture of Chongqing Normal University for providing our students with this greatest opportunity, which is a huge inspiration for their Chinese Language Learning Journey to explore China.

: FOH News; 12 December 2023

The Confucius Institute at the UOK successfully held the Final Examination of the Weekend Certificate Courses in Chinese Language 2023

The Final Examination of the 24th Batch of the Weekend Certificate Courses in Chinese Language conducted by the Confucius Institute at the University of Kelaniya was successfully held at the University's Confucius Classroom and Japanese Language Laboratory on 09th and 10th of December 2023 from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. The Final Examination was conducted according to three levels.

- The Certificate Course in Chinese Language

- The Intermediate Certificate Course in Chinese Language

The Final Examination of the Certificate Course in Chinese Language was held on the 09th of December 2023 and the Final Examination of the Intermediate Certificate Course in Chinese Language, and the Final Examination of the Advanced Certificate Course in Chinese Language were held on the 10th of December 2023 respectively.

This is the first Onsite Course of the Weekend Certificate Courses in Chinese Language after 2020. The Course Coordinator, Dr. Jani Samarakoon, the Local Chinese Lecturers as well as Native Chinese Lecturers were actively engaged in the whole teaching process.

There is a high demand from people from different fields and occupations for the Weekend Certificate Courses in Chinese Language due to the productive and practical course content as well as the strong commitment, enthusiastic teaching methods, and well-organized lecture preparations of the Lecturers of the Confucius Institute.

This course was able to be held successfully for 05 months period. The students who participated in the course have given very commendatory feedback about the success of this course.

We wish all the students would be able to get the best results.

: FOH News; 12 December 2023

Senior Professor Janaki Wijesekara publishes three books on Psycholinguistics

Senior Professor Janaki Wijesekara of the Department of Linguistics has recently published three books covering various aspects of psycholinguistics. The books are titled ‘Reading Difficulties of Slow Learners and Children with Dyslexia’, ‘මන්දගාමී සහ ඩිස්ලෙක්සියා සහිත දරුවන්ගේ පාඨන ගැටලු’, and ‘පාසල් දරුවන්ගේ ලේඛන දුබලතා’. Professor Wijesekara handed over the copies of the books to the Vice-Chancellor, Senior Professor Nilanthi de Silva, on Friday, 08th December 2023.

: FOH News; 08 December 2023

The First Paper-Based Chinese Proficiency Examination in the Confucius Institute at the University of Kelaniya in 2023

The Confucius Institute at the University of Kelaniya has successfully held the HSK/HSKK Examination for the third time this year on the 03rd of December 2023. It’s also the very first Paper Based HSK/HSKK Examination which is conducted by the Confucius Institute at the University of Kelaniya after 3 years since 2020. Among all the four test centers in Sri Lanka, the Confucius Institute at the University of Kelaniya was the first test center that stepped forward to conduct the paper-based Chinese Proficiency Examination for the first time after 2020.

More than 150 University Undergraduates had requested the opportunity to sit for the HSK/HSKK Examination through the Data Collection we obtained. Due to the strict rules and regulations of the Chinese Test Centre in Beijing, we had to fulfill all the relevant requirements as a responsible examination center. Therefore the applicants have been limited only to the University Undergraduates.

On the 02nd of December 2023, the Mock Examination for the Oral Test was conducted to familiarize the examinee with the HSKK Examination process. The Final Examination was carried out in five Examination halls for HSK Level 1 to HSK Level 4 for 159 University Undergraduates. All the Chinese and Local staff members followed the standards of the HSK Examination during the whole Exam period.

Through different obstacles and months of hard work of the Confucius Institute’s staff members, the HSK/HSKK Examination was able to finish successfully.

The Exam Results are due in a month. We wish all the examinees would be able to get the best results.

: FOH News; 08 December 2023

A Special Lecture on Ramayana delivered by Dr Justin Wesley Henry from the University of South Florida

A special lecture titled ‘The Ramayana and the Role of University Humanities in Public Life’ was delivered on the 5th of December 2023 by Dr Justin W. Henry, Bhagwan Padma Prabhu Endowed Assistant Professor of the Department of Religious Studies, University of South Florida, USA. The event was organized by the Department of Linguistics and was held in the K14 boardroom of the Faculty of Humanities.

The academic staff members of the Department of Linguistics and the Faculty of Humanities; internal students reading Linguistics, Translation Studies, and Translation Methods; and postgraduate and diploma students participated in the event. The purpose of the event was to expand academic horizons and strengthen international relations through multidisciplinary studies.

Dr Justin W. Henry has worked with the Department of Linguistics as a visiting research fellow from 2008 to 2009 and has spent several years in Sri Lanka studying Sinhala, Sanskrit, Pali, and Tamil languages, and religious literature.

The lecture was followed by a discussion session with the participation of the academic staff members and the students. Dr Henry donated copies of his book ‘Ravana’s Kingdom - The Ramayana and Sri Lankan History from Below’ to the University Library and the Department Library.

Dr Henry met Senior Professor Nilanthi de Silva, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, and Dr Sudath Senarath, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, after the event and discussed the possibilities of extending the academic partnership.