The English Skills Center (ESC) was recently established at Peking University HSBC Business School with a motive to provide comprehensive English communication training to its students. The ESC aims to promote critical thinking amongst students whose first language is not English by means of varied activities, both individual and group. All the tutors at the ESC are PHBS students who excel in English Writing and Public Speaking and have undergone extensive training to don the hat of a mentor!

 

Even if students do not expect to work in a setting where English is not the working language, with the ever expanding global marketplace it becomes essential for everyone to master strong communication skills. For the same reason, in addition to providing training on English Academic writing, the center will also offer additional assistance to those who seek to improve their public speaking and presentation skills. Since, in most Asian countries, schools do not typically incorporate communication and speaking skills into their curriculum, students often fail to develop the confidence to speak effectively and efficiently. Says Ms. Young, “A lot of students need help in this area as they do no study communication and public speaking in schools like we do in the West. Coursework here often requires them to give presentations and it may become intimidating for non-native speakers to give good presentations in the language that they do not think in.”

 

Often, high scores in standardized tests belie students’ abilities to grasp ideas in English or their proficiency in speaking well. So the center wishes to offer training to students to equip them with the ability to read, understand and analyse in English so as to be able to speak fluently. Ms. Young continues, “We will also help students with reading comprehensions so that they can better understand academic literature. Many students here do not understand a lot of what they hear in the lectures or read in their assignments. Particularly, complex research articles written by scholars are quite often difficult for native English speakers themselves to understand and it becomes even more challenging for non-native speakers to comprehend these.”

 

With the summer holidays just around the corner, the ESC will have a grand opening and an official inauguration when the school reopens for the Fall Semester in September. A lot of exciting events are on the anvil to promote the center including a contest to design a logo and posters for the center. Individual teaching sessions start right after the next term commences. Ms. Young aptly comments, “At our center, we aim to be a comprehensive center for everything having to do with student learning and English language. We do hope students will take advantage of our services”. All teaching services are free of cost and available to students enrolled in all the schools of Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. Prior appointments are required and can be made on the ESC webpage which can be accessed from the PHBS English Website.

The English Skills Center (you can click and get access to its webpage) is located on the 7th floor of the PHBS Building at room 718. For more details, contact Ms. Priscilla Young, ESC Director at pyoung@phbs.pku.edu.cn