The Language Centre of Tsinghua University (LCTU) hosted an English Corner themed The Call to Adventure: Cinema & Storytelling at the THU Zero Carbon Space on 14 October. The event attracted 50 enthusiastic participants from various schools and departments across the university, forming a diverse and engaged group.

The event was facilitated by John Paul Grima, lecturer at LCTU, and aimed to help students recognize film genres, analyze key stages of heroic narratives,including the call to adventure, the mentor and the ordeal, and compare iconic hero figures across different cultures. It offered an overview of universal story patterns, citing well‑known works such as Star Wars, Ne Zha, Harry Potter and Spirited Away. The activity featured a “speed‑chat” icebreaker, vocabulary and sentence‑frame practice, and a group movie‑riddle activity for collaborative discussion. Reflective group exchanges further invited students to think about hero archetypes and real‑life parallels.From this time, English Corner seesinternational student volunteersparticipatingin the activities alongside the local students and encouraging everyone to speak English, renderingEnglish communication more authentic.

The event helped students build practical English skills for film discussion and deepen their understanding of cross‑cultural storytelling. It was well‑received by participants, who noted clearer insight into narrative structures and expressed their intent to apply learned expressions when appreciating films in study and daily life.

Writer: John Paul Grima

Photographer: Zhi Hui