[GDUFS:Past and Present] Days are gone when cassettes meant everything

Editors' Notes: Time elapses quickly in even a blink of eye, GDUFS has changed with the time. It's our hope that through the comparisons between the past and present, GDUFSers are able to have a taste of the past, and never forget to move forward.

Back in the 1980s when life was still tough, the most intimate and trustable friend to relieve the rigor of life was the cassette. Cassette! The very thing that stayed with students loyally, the very thing that helped students make huge progress, the very thing that opened the golden door of a bright future for students.

Without question, cassettes also meant a huge amount to students at GDUFS at that time. However, as GDUFS moves forward with the world, cassettes have gradually left us. Then what replaced them? What’s the new fashion now at GDUFS?

Morning reading

Every morning when the enchanting sun shines on the cajuput, when fresh air embraces our campus, students at GDUFS are already having their morning reading. This tradition has continued for so long. Lily graduated from GDUFS 20 years ago, and when she was still an undergraduate, cassettes tape recorders were extremely important for students. She excitedly expressed that the way she practiced her spoken English during morning reading was definitely the most precious memory of her entire studenthood: “Every day I followed my cassettes, sometimes rewinding the cassettes over and over in order to imitate the speaker better. With my cassettes, my spoken English improved little by little; I could even feel my progress every other morning! I couldn’t thank cassettes more!”

It’s only 7:15a.m.!

What about students now? Amber is a new student this year, and the TED phone application is her best friend during everyday’s morning reading. “I’ve found so many people using their phone apps at the morning reading!” When the author asked her if she had used cassettes during morning reading, she replied: “Not really, actually cassettes have been abandoned. After all, phone apps can do even more!” There is no doubt that phone apps have replaced cassettes at morning reading.

Teaching

If you walk past classrooms during teaching time, you will absolutely be surprised by today’s modern multimedia teaching systems! The phonetic teaching system at GDUFS is now updated every year, providing better and better learning equipment for students at GDUFS. “When we are taking our English classes, undoubtedly we can feel how important technology is! Of course, the days when cassettes meant everything have gone, and we won’t be nostalgic about those days!” Amber said.

Teaching building 6, which is the newest teaching building now.

Yes, though the days when teachers still used cassettes to teach are just 20 years ago, it seems as if it is long long ago. Thanks to the technical staff at GDUFS, we are able to bravely put down those cassettes and still access high quality education.

Library

Have you ever noticed that we have a GDUFS online library? We can not only figure out what new books have come out, but also directly read E-books on our own computers!

New student Amber shared her experience of finding the resource she needed for a survey just in front of her computer in her dormitory: “It is exactly the best way to protect our conventional paper book resource! Plus, I can easily get what I need now!” In this way, we can see that students now don’t have to find that cassette in the library to get the resource they want, they just need to click the mouse and smile!

New library, which was built in 2003

Of course, we can still see those cassettes in the library, which were one of the most essential tools for saving various resources. Years ago, students listened to cassettes to cultivate more, to practise their listening skills, and even to have a taste of the past from the mysterious voice of the speaker…

The library interior

How time flies! More and more techniques have replaced old, outdating things. This is not the end, and we will definitely follow the pace of the new era and go move ahead!